How can a loving God send someone to hell?
My 2-year-old is in a phase of life when she wants to do everything herself. While I know that eating soup is easier with a spoon than a fork, pants fit better with each leg in a separate side, and that walking rather than running on uneven ground is less likely to end in scrapes and bruises - she doesn’t always want my help, and I don’t want to force it on her. Afterall, this is the process by which she is learning. God has granted us this same freedom: to make our own choices and learn, most often from the mistakes and the heartbreaks, that there is a better way. His way is always better than our own, but it takes the work of the spirit in us to come to this conclusion.
Rather than forcing His will upon us, God, who is rich in mercy, has granted us the ability to choose for ourselves whether we will follow Him, and whether or not we will allow Him to remain on his rightful throne at the center of our lives. As Shawn put it, “Our hearts are rebellious against God and His design for how we are to live. God has made known what we are to do and how we are to treat one another, but our sinful hearts defy God and His design. So sin is choosing our way over God’s” Thank the Lord then that he has created a way for us to live other than by our sinful nature. He sent his only son Jesus, to die for our sins, so that we might be washed white as snow. God has freely given us access to himself and his spirit through the son. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9) The gift is there, available to and accessible by all, but we must choose to let God have control of our lives.
What began with Adam and Eve in the garden choosing to eat of the fruit by their own wisdom, will end with the day of judgement. God will allow all of those who have chosen to set aside their fleshly nature and live by the Spirit, seeking to glorify God rather than our earthly desires, into eternity with him in heaven. And he will allow all those who have chosen to deny Christ and to live by their own desires into an eternity without him in hell.
“God our Savior, desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Tim. 2:4) It is God’s deepest desire that all his children be saved. He is not a loving God that sends people unjustly to hell. He is a gracious and loving father who offers any of us who will accept Him, completely undeservingly, access to eternity in heaven. Choose today who you are going to place on the throne and let rule your life, because the choices we make in this lifetime determine the way we will spend all of eternity.
-Lauren