If God forgives everyone, why is there a hell?

Answer 1

So Bill & Hillary have a place to go in the after life.

Answer 2

God is willing to forgive everyone for their sins, no matter how bad or how many they may be. However, God's forgiveness is a gift. He does not force people to accept His gifts.

Unfortunately there are people who, for whatever reason(s), actually do not want God's forgiveness. In fact, some reject God altogether.

It's important to recognize that God NEVER sends anyone to hell. People choose hell by choosing a life, and by extension - the afterlife, without God.

The real danger in this is that some people believe they are following God - but they aren't. Those who say one thing, but do another, are living in a fantasy world that may lead to a downside in the afterlife. Jesus says, "Not everyone who says 'Lord, Lord' will entire the Kingdom of Heaven."

Answer 3

God forgives everyone even if they don't ask forgiveness, that is how we must try be too. "Hel" is the the queen of the Norse underworld. The Norse Religion predates Christianity. Which are you going to believe, the original or the religion that was hijacked by roman warlords? Another word you might find in the bible used for hell is Hades which is the God of the underworld of the Greek Religion, it also predates Christianity...

(edit)
God is omnipresent so there can never be a place or "absence of God", it would be impossible for such a place to exist with an omnipresent God.

I can forgive my enemy when they do not ask for forgiveness or they don't agree to be my friend, how much more will God not be forgiving than me???

Answer 4

Good question.

Someone will no doubt give you the full Biblical mythology of the war in heaven that created hell, but needless to say it happened (according to the Bible) before humans came on the scene.

Now, if you believe that God is speaking all the time (i.e. he/she didn't stop speaking 2000 years ago when the Bible ends...) then you might consider the essential covenant and promise of
the constitution of One-heaven http://one-heaven.org which is:
"That all souls shall henceforth be reunited, that the gates of hell shall be sealed forever."

In other words, God itself/himself/herself demands that Hell is now closed and that all people awaken to compassion and forgiveness. Some will hear the words and change. Some will not and continue to curse and condemn. This is called Judgment Day.

Regardless of how many christians, jews, muslims and others refuse the word of God, Hell no longer exists.

Answer 5

A common missunderstanding.
Hell is the common grave of mankind. The ground you walk on.
A resting place untill resurrection. Jesus said we will be asleep in the grave.
The spiritual hell is not for man. It is the end of Satan and his demons, and all those who follow satan, and judging from the number of followers professing allegance to him there seem to quite a few.
Earth as we know it will be cleaned up by God and his angels after the evil ones have been done away with.
It never was God's purpose to have mankind with him in heaven. That is why he created earth in the first place, a home for man to occupy and have domain over. "The meek shall inherit the earth"
Our heavenly parents are good, kind, loving, and forgiveing.

Answer 6

Hell was not originally made for man, but since man chooses to follow him own way and reject God that why there is a hell. Yes God forgives but we have to turn away (repent) from whatever separates from Christ and follow Him totally, not every now and then.

Answer 7

Ok, bear with me cause this is new for me.

God does forgive everyone, but there must be repentance and a true act of contrition. Simply asking God on your own for forgiveness is never enough. (you know, sitting in your room, feeling bad about what you did and you ask God to forgive ya, uh..no doesnt work. Why not, you ask? Well, for one...you would never post on this site if you knew that it worked. How would you know if you were forgiven?

Second...why is there a Hell? Approach it like this. It is a mystery not of a cruel God, but of man's power to hate God.
Sin begins with a perverted love of self. But love of self can grow monstrous, a sort of idolization of self, crowding out the love of all else and capable of turning into hatred of God. To self love grown monstrous, God will seem hateful once he is seen as a rival to the adored self. Man then, chooses separation from God. The principle pain of hell results inevitably from the separation. We were all made by God for union with him. Choose self and you deny God.

To answer the other question that came from this question. If God made the universe, who made God?
No one. God is uncreated. God is infinite. God is eternal.
God is a spirit. Think like this, imagine your body away and seeing your soul existing and functioning bodiless: it is partless, spaceless, immortal; it knows, loves, decides, acts. And all these things are true of God. But our soul is not God's equal, it is only his image. For God is infinite, we are not.

If nothing existed except receivers of existence, where would the existance come from? In order that anything may exist, there must be a being that simply has it. God can confer existance upon all other beings, precisely ecause he has it in his own right. It is his nature to exist. God does not have to receive existence, because he IS existance.

Answer 8

Indeed. Only "mercy" (not sacrifice) is obtainable at "the throne of grace": Hebrews 4:16; Also only "help" (not hindrance) to solve the mystery of God "in time". And "there is no respect of persons with God", nor any partiality with the Son of God. So if any are forgiven, then all are forgiven. Ephesians 4 says God hath (past tense) forgiven you, and notably for Christ's sake; Which also speaks of Christ: "the end of the law" being the perfect man we all are one should grow up unto, to be like (perfect, merciful), and one with, Christ who is like and one with God, who was notably in "Christ" reconciling the world unto himself, and notably by not law imputing sin, death, and hell to anyone.

There is much biblical information about forgiveness many ignore, such as blasphemy the Ghost is unforgiveable; So if God hath forgiven you, then God is not the Ghost, since everyone has in some way and at some time blasphemed (spoken against) the Ghost(Law), even if to say as a child it's not fair, which is true.
http://www.godshew.org/ShewBread3.htm#unpardonablesin

And when looking at the Lord's Prayer, at forgive us as we forgive, and at the PS following the prayer, it seems forgiveness is a mission impossible. For unless you forgive all men all their trespasses, then neither are you forgiven.
http://www.godshew.org/ShewBread2.htm#LordPrayer

But God hath forgiven you, all, and while ye were yet sinners. So it boils down to forgiveness of any, thereby all, is only plausible via the abolition of law, which imputes sin, death, and hell to all, not some only.

So, when reasoned out, God hath forgiven you, all the KofG within you, and for Christ's sake, speaks of abolition of all law.
http://www.godshew.org/ShewBread.htm#Forgiveness

The "grace" of our Lord Jesus Christ with you all. Amen.

Answer 9

Well, you have to believe that there are two supernatural forces in the universe that are diametrically opposing - Good and Evil.

Once you have reached this stage, you have to place them each in their respective places. Short of being God's official physicist, Heaven and Hell suffice for this purpose.

When the Human experiment comes to a close, souls that are basically evil will be banished to hell and those good will be taken to heaven.

I'm sure you'll get a lot of answers but like I said, I am not the Almighty's physicist so... it's a working theory.

Answer 10

God is more than willing, seventy times seven times over again, to forgive your sins, but if you do not repent (the original meaning of repent is to turn and walk in the other direction) you will commit the sin again.

If someone continually slaps you, then asks for forgiveness, then slaps you again, after the 10th time, would you believe they were sincere in asking for forgiveness?

Answer 11

Thre is hell becasue theat is what mankind has used to frighten people into believing in God...

It is very unlikely there is a hell or heaven - think about it - these concepts are so 'man made' reflecting human culture and observation in terms of there being good and bad.

Do not fear hell - just live your life treating others with repsect - n oneed for any daft 10 commandments...