Do you really believe that a loving God would sentence any human being to eternal suffering in Hell?

Question

It is hard to fathom a loving God doing this. Perhaps there are a few truly evil people who might deserve to go there. But have you ever met a human being who is unworthy forgiveness?

Answer 1

All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
We are all unworthy but God has chose to pay the penalty for all who accept the atonement.
God is a righteous God he does not agree with any sin.
God is merciful and does pay the penalty of death for us and those who accept this atonement are by faith made new.

Answer 2

I don't know about you but I don't know much of the percentage of the population of the earth. I am especially not familiar with the criminal side of society. You might want to ask a cop, or someone who literally know people who have killed and will kill again, or other evil acts.

I imagine that out of the trillions of human beings who have inhabited the earth there will be millions at least who have done evil and are not sorry for it. Why should god forgive someone of sin and reward them with heaven if they do not even wish to be forgiven?

You may liken this concept to our current lives here on earth, when a child acts wrongly, he or she is punished to encourage good acts. When they act good, they receive rewards to continue to encourage good behavior. No matter how much a parent loves a child these disciplines are enforced so that child can function in society.

God is also a just god, as well as a loving god. How can he be just if there is no punishment for behavior?

Answer 3

I too do not understand this about Christianity. If this were "true" it would mean that forgiveness is ultimately an illusion since those who are burning in hell for all eternity are unforgiven for all eternity. Thus meaning that Jesus is truly an unforgiving person.

Also, humans lived on this earth millions of years before the birth of "Christ". Even Christians believed that Adam and Eve appeared before Christ. So does that mean all those people are burning in hell because they were alive before Christ appeared. Is this logical at all?

People who say Christianity is the most loving and caring religion in the world don't know much about other world religions

Answer 4

In the state I live in there were serial killers like Ted Bundy and Gary Ridgeway. Of course in human history Mao Tse Tung, Joseph Stalin, Adolph Hitler..

Even by human standards there is no room for forgiveness for these.

But you are right billions of people are not that evil. But God sees that they all can be forgiven. So he had a plan of salvation made up before the universe itself was created. All a person had to do was to accept God's way of forgiveness and they can be reconciled to God.

Answer 5

Are there humans unworthy of forgiveness??
YES!
Read this account in full:
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=4059515

Can you actually feel after what they did to that family, and innocent children, that great pain should not be levied upon them?
If I was god I would put the full furry of my rage against them for all eternity.
Now christianity says that god can forgive those who seek it, even with the great evil such as that - and that is something I have trouble rectifying.

But I have no problems understand why hell exists - it needs to exist because of the level of extreme evil that exists. Extreme evil requires extreme justice.

Answer 6

God is love. Love does not always mean nice. I love my son, but that's the same reason I discipline him when he does something wrong.
Having said that, God exhibits his love to us by the fact that He gives Everyone, EVERYONE the same opendoor pollicy to get to know Him in the forgiveness of their sins by the sacrifice of Jesus.
The problem is not with God. The problem is with people who somehow are disturbed by the notion of God becoming a man to atone for or sins for us out of love for us. Everyone who has heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ has had the same oppritunuty to accept or deny Him. That is not God's fault.
The bible clearly lays out the condition that mankind is in and the reason for it. He clearly explains that it is humanly impossible to fix our condition. He tells us that if we do not believe and accept the free gift of eternal life through Jesus that we are destined for the same fate as Satan, the Devil.
All of this is clear yet, many choose not to believe. It really is more a matter of denying the gift rather than accepting it because it is everyones for the taking.
Love demands justice as well as mercy. Both were met in the person of Jesus Christ. God's Justice for our sin was paid in Him so that he could freely express his mercy toward us. If people reject that, then God's mercy is not allowed to be extended to them and only his justice is available to them.
The punishment is seperation from him in Hell forever. Hell is a place that was created for Satan and his followers as a prison. We (humans) do not have to go. If we try to make it on our own without God though, what choice does He have when he's already given us a way out?
There is no one, not even the Hitler's and Jeffery Dahmer's who are unworthy of forgiveness except those who don't accept it. The choice is totally ours.
If you are not a believer in Jesus then I would encourage you to think about how you plan to make peace with God without Christ.
Your works are only good enough for for human standards because God's standard is perfection in thought speech and deed. Your intentions are only that intentions. Your intellect is not good enough to reason you out of justice when you've broken His law. It is only the blood of Jesus that will get you in peace withGod.

Answer 7

No, that was the one sticking point I couldn't get around in Christianity and what would keep me from giving it another chance.

The only person I ever met unworthy of any kind of forgiveness was my stepfather and I sincerely hope he is in some sort of eternal torment.

Saying that a good person will go through eternal torment if they slip up and forget to ask for forgiveness is horrible. Eternity compared to the relative shortness of life, rather unfair.

Answer 8

In John 3:17 God said that he did not send Jesus into the world to condemn the world, but save it- but if we do not believe we are condemned already. So we actually condemn ourselves- if God wanted us all sentenced to death and suffer in hell, He would never have sent His Son.

The wages of sin is death, BUT the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. ALL have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God.


When we compare ourselves with someone else we can always find someone that is worse than us, but when we look at ourselves through the eyes of a HOLY GOD- then we know that we ALL deserve eternal punishment and death and hell.

So we are condemned already due to our sin- however- all can receive forgiveness and life through the shed blood of Christ. Reach out and you will find your forgiveness, He is waiting for you.

Answer 9

And what responsible judge would sentence someone to life for stealing an apple. Does 70 or 80 years of sin justify a sentence of eternal torment. Of course NOT! God is a lover of justice. Why would people accuse him of such atrocities. Obviously, Satan is behind this slander on the Almighty, Jehovah. He is and will clear his holy name.
Beside a burning hell is not a biblical teaching. Those who try to use that ILLUSTRATION in the bible - have you not learned that Jesus always used illustration and not otherwise when he would teach.

Answer 10

Because of the fall of man in Genesis 3, we all fall short of the Glory of God and deserve eternal punishment in hell. But, God wants us to get into a saving relationship with Himself. The one and only way that this will happen is to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Part of this is realizing that you deserve eternal punishment. But, when Jesus died on the Cross and raised from the dead on the third day to pay the price for all sin once and for all. All you have to do is accept this in faith.