Will asks: “Ok, a friend of mine had a question about Hell that I didn't know how to answer. The question goes like this, "why would God (as a Father figure) send his children into Hell if He loves them. I know that my parents love me, and no matter what I did, they wouldn't want to send me to eternal punishment. If God can do anything and He loves us, then why does He send us to Hell?” I'm excited to hear what you find. ttyl!”
Great question Will! I’ve heard this argument over and over from the atheistic community. The question, at first glace, seems to make a lot of sense. I mean, why *would* a supposedly loving God send the beings he claims to love so much to Hell simply because they don’t “follow” Him? The answer comes in two parts: misunderstandings about who sends whom to Hell and the nature of God Himself.
Presuppositions
Those who pose this question to Christians are raising a presuppositionally faulty question. When one states, “Why does God *send* His children to Hell if He loves them?” they are assuming God is doing the sending and thus is at fault. Obviously, then, if God isn’t the one doing the sending, then He isn’t responsible for those who end up in Hell.
It is obviously my position that God sends no one to Hell. But if not God, then who sends the unsaved to Hell? The answer might sound confusing at first: the person who rejects Christ sends *themselves* to Hell. The reason behind this is the nature of Heaven and Hell. Heaven is where all things pure and holy coexist with God the Father. Hell is the place of the Devil and any of those who side with him (Matthew 25:41). In light of these definitions of Heaven and Hell, consider the following passage:
Ephesians 2:1-3, “1And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; 2Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: 3Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.”
Paul is writing to the Ephesians in the passage about who they used to be: dead people living in sin as they “walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.” (v. 2). Paul is saying that what they were before they became followers of Jesus Christ was controlled by “the Spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience”—Satan. That means that in truth, according to the Bible, there are only two dominions: the world controlled by Satan and the Kingdom controlled by Christ. Thus, if a person is not a Christian, they belong to Satan’s dominion. This in no way is meant to state that non-Christians are *possessed* by Satan—but rather they belong to his *dominion*.
So if Hell is the place reserved for the Devil and his followers, where does that put the unbeliever when he or she rejects Christ? It puts them in the category of those who will spend eternity in Hell.
What it boils down to, then, is this: there are only two dominions in this world: God’s and Satan’s. If a person rejects Christ, they are choosing to be in Satan’s kingdom (whether or not they wish to admit that is another matter). Thus, God *sends* no one to Hell—the person who rejects Christ sends themselves to Hell. Ironically, then, I would agree with the atheists that if a loving God sent his creations to Hell, it would make Him unjust. Seeing as this is not the case, however, we see that God is just. William Lane Craig goes as far to say God must allow this in order to respect free will and thus God should be praised for allowing his creations to choose their own fate.
The Nature of God
The question can also be dealt with purely by considering the nature of God Himself. When one considers that God instilled man with free will, it would be worse if God didn’t allow people against their will to enter Hell than if He let those who rejected Him enter Hell. Why? One must consider the consequences of if God violated His creation’s free will to see.
If God committed such an act, it would mean God doesn’t hold true what He’s told Creation: that He has endowed them with free will--and it makes the question in the question valid: “Why does God *send* His creations to Hell?” It would mean that God is responsible for sending His creations to Hell—which obviously presents a problem.
Thus, the way one must view the situation is as follows: God loves His creations enough to allow them to *not* choose Him. He respects the free will He’s given us that much. This is a point to the credit of God, not to His degradation.
Conclusion
In closing, then, God sends no one to Hell. They side with the Devil by rejecting Christ—whether they realize that or not—and thus end up sending themselves to Hell. Great question Will!
God bless,
Robert A. Rowlett