Why Would a Loving God Send Someone to Hell?

Belief in Heaven vs. Hell:
• 72% of Americans believe in Heaven.
• 58% of Americans believe in Hell.
• 85% of people who identify as Christian believe in Heaven.
• 70% of people who identify as Christian believe in Hell.
• 4 in 10 Americans believe Hell is where God sends all people
who do not accept Christ as their savior.
Isaiah 55:8-9 NIV
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my
ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your
thoughts.”
What Does the Bible Say About Hell?

1. Hell is a real place.
   Matthew 10:28 NLT
   “Don’t be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot touch
   your soul. Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in
   hell.”
   Luke 16:19-26 NIV
   “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and
   lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named
   Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich
   man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. The time
   came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s
   side. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was
   in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by
   his side. So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and
   send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue,
   because I am in agony in this fire.’ But Abraham replied, ‘Son,
   remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while
   Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you
   are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm
   has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you
   cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’”
   Other Words for Hell:
   • Sheol (Hebrew)
   • Hades (Greek): refers to an intermediate state of torment
   waiting for final judgment
   • Gehenna: a place of final perdition that is eternal (Lake of Fire)
   Final Condition in Hell:
   • Separated from God (2 Thessalonians 1:9)
   • Total darkness (Matthew 22:13)
   • No rest or sleep (Revelation 14:11)
   • Alone and forgotten (Isaiah 26:14)
   • Hopelessness (Isaiah 38:18)
   • Consumed with fear (Psalm 73:18-19)
2. Hell was never created for mankind.
   Matthew 25:41 NKJ
   “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you
   cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his
   angels…”
   2 Peter 3:9 NKJ
   The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count
   slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, NOT WILLING that ANY
   should PERISH but that ALL should come to REPENTANCE.
3. Hell is a choice.
   Joshua 24:15 ESV
   “And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom
   you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region
   beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you
   dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
   Romans 1:18-32 NLT
   But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked
   people who suppress the truth by their wickedness. They know the
   truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. For ever
   since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky.
   Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible
   qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no
   excuse for not knowing God. Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t
   worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think
   up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds
   became dark and confused. Claiming to be wise, they instead
   became utter fools. And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living
   God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds
   and animals and reptiles. So God abandoned them to do whatever
   shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and
   degrading things with each other’s bodies. They traded the truth
   about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God
   created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal
   praise! Amen. That is why God abandoned them to their shameful
   desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex
   and instead indulged in sex with each other. And the men, instead of
   having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each
   other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this
   sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved. Since
   they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to
   their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be
   done. Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed,
   hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and
   gossip. They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and
   boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their
   parents. They refuse to understand, break their promises, are
   heartless, and have no mercy. They know God’s justice requires that
   those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway.
   Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too.
4. God’s love saves us from Hell.
   John 3:16-17 NKJ
   “For God so LOVED the WORLD that He gave His only begotten
   Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have
   everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to
   condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”
   The Cross: Justice and Love
   Colossians 2:13-14 NKJ
   And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of
   your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you
   all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that
   was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of
   the way, having nailed it to the cross.
   Ephesians 2:1-8 NKJ
   And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in
   which you once walked according to the course of this world,
   according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now
   works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once
   conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of
   the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just
   as the others.