Why Is There Hell?

Christian teachers tend to not focus on Hell. That’s too bad, really. According to studies a vast majority of Americans believe Hell exists, but most believe they won’t be going there. Another issue people have a problem with in the concept of Hell, is why a loving God would condemn a person for all eternity for sins that lasted a moment. That’s not a fair comparison, according to Gregory Koukl. In his book he has a pretty good example. Imagine you have a son in junior high school who punched a classmate for no good reason. He inflicted a shiner on the other boy. Will he get grounded? Probably. Let’s say punched an adult neighbor? Even if no charges are filed, that son of yours will have a more severe punishment. What happens if he punched you? The upshot is, the crime is of greater import depending on who the victim is. In the case of sin, the victim is ultimately the Creator of you and the universe – God. The punishment in that case is an eternity of suffering. That’s justice. Perfect justice. A loving God would have to have perfect justice, or He wouldn’t be loving. I’ve written about that in another post. The perfectly loving God, though, as a perfectly loving remedy – someone perfect who already paid for your sins. All you have to do is accept that Jesus already paid, and that you cannot. We all are sinners, because nobody besides Jesus was perfect. Believe those things and you’re good. No Hell for you. Some people, though, don’t want to accept the help of Jesus. Since He is God, they’re telling Him they don’t want God. So when they die, God simply gives them for eternity what they’ve chosen all their life: existence without God. Since all good things come from Him, existence without Him is without goodness. Keep in mind, the visions of Hell as lakes of lava with screaming people and laughing demons is a work of fiction. Dante’s Inferno in allegorical – a metaphor to teach a broader lesson. That means it’s fiction, but meant to teach a lesson. It’s not a treatise on the afterlife. Another thing to remember is that demons do not rule in Hell. Satan is going to be suffering right along with the sinners. He will not be getting a kick out of a sinner’s torment because he’ll be experiencing torment as well. To boil it all down, if someone ends up in Hell, it’s only God giving them what they asked for.