Rejecting God Because of Hell Is Illogical

"I could never believe in a God who sends people to hell." This common objection, while sincere, is nevertheless untrue and illogical. How can you say it is "untrue" Dan if someone really means it? This is how. Just walk through the reasoning with me if you will.

First of all, think about what the person is saying. He is saying that if the biblical teaching about heaven and hell is correct, then he would never believe in a God who allows people to spend eternity in a place of suffering. This rationale is both illogical and irrational. His objection is based on a premise that the biblical teaching about hell is correct, which is a premise he already rejects.

It's like saying, "I could never believe in a God who sends people to a place which I am convinced doesn't exist." Huh? How do you know you could never believe such a thing when you do not yet even believe in hell, yet alone believe in Christ?

An unbeliever is someone who does not believe in Jesus as Savior. And I have yet to meet an unbeliever who is convinced that hell as described in the Bible is real. So an unbeliever's lack of faith has to do with a lack of faith in Jesus, rather than a lack of faith in hell. He is first an unbeliever in Jesus, and only later an unbeliever in hell.

We can all agree that the following statement is true: "The biblical description regarding hell and those who go there is either true or false." So the objection is that the person would never believe in God if the biblical description is true. I disagree, and I think you will too in a couple minutes. Here is why.

The biblical teaching, as well as the personal experience of Christians, is that a believer is given a new heart and begins to love God because of what Christ has done to save his soul. Millions of Christians believe in God while also believing the difficult doctrine that God sends people to hell. It is not only possible to hold these two positions, but many Christians accept both of them simultaneously.

So it is possible. It does happen. I, for one, believe in Christ as my Savior, and also in the reality of hell as described in the Bible.

It is irrational to say, "I could never believe in a God who sends people to hell." It's like saying, "Even if millions of others claim to believe in both Christ and hell, I could never believe such a thing myself." That is untrue. You could believe it.

Let's say you were convinced that both heaven and hell are real places where people spend eternity. If you were convinced of that fact, it would be absurd for you to say, "I would rather go to hell than believe in God." No you wouldn't. You don't really mean it. Five minutes in hell would convince you otherwise. If you truly believed you were going to spend eternity in the same place of misery and agony where you spent the previous five minutes, you wouldn't stick to your unbelief and your rejection of Christ. You would know at that point that hell is real, and you would want any way out.

There is no way you would choose to stay in hell "just to prove a point." It wouldn't happen. You would become a believer very quickly. And you would see that you can indeed believe in a God who sends people to hell. There is no one who despises his soul so much that he would choose eternal punishment in hell over eternal pleasure with God in heaven.

And there is no one, except Satan, who hates God so much that he would spend five minutes in hell only to say, "I still don't want that new heart, and that new life, and that peace in paradise." It simply isn't logical or rational to say that a person would stick to this flawed position "just to make a point." In that situation, you would swallow your pride, bow your knee to your Creator, and accept Christ as your Savior and your only path to paradise.

If you are going to reject God's love for you as demonstrated in the death of His Son on the cross, it is because you are choosing to reject Jesus as the Messiah and Savior. But it is not because of what the Bible teaches about hell. People only think that is one reason they don't believe in God, but it isn't. It is not a logical position to claim such a thing. It is completely unreasonable. Man loves his personal comfort way too much to stick to that position "just to make a point." It wouldn't happen. If he could get it, man would definitely ask God for a lifeline after just five minutes in hell.

But of course the Bible does not offer a shred of hope that such a lifeline will be available to people after they are sent to hell. Once a person enters hell, reality quickly sinks in. People then see that their perception while on earth was terribly wrong. They see that they could indeed have previously believed in a God who sends people to hell, even though at the time they may have sincerely said they "could never believe in such a God."

Do you know why Jesus spoke at least as much about hell as He did about heaven? Because heaven and hell are actual places where people do exist forever. The biblical teaching about hell is probably the second toughest thing in Scripture to grasp. So what's the first? Here it is: God loved you enough to send His only Son to die in your place on the cross. Seriously, who does that? God did.

The Lord wants you in heaven forever and not in hell. If you repent of your sins and receive Christ as your Savior, you will be saved and safe forever, period. (see Mark 1:15, John 3:16, John 1:12, 1 Timothy 2:4, 2 Peter 3:9, & 1 John 5:13)

At the same time, if you continue to reject Christ, that's on you. But either way, it is nonsensical for someone to make the illogical statement, "I could never believe in a God who sends people to hell." And I suspect you now see why that premise, albeit sincere, is false and illogical.

Everything just makes more sense when you are trusting Jesus to forgive your sins.

-- Dan Delzell is the pastor of Wellspring Lutheran Church in Papillion, Neb. He is a regular contributor to The Christian Post.

The important thing is to avoid going there, and to share the Good News with those that are.br />

I agree with that to a degree. However, I've discovered that the "eternal torture" message is also a brick wall for many non-believers. It just sounds too goofy and does not match the personality of the God of the bible. When God metes out punishment in the OT, he DESTROYS AND KILLS, often utterly annihilating all evidence of their existence. There is not one case of Him keeping them somehow alive to torture as a "final condition". He may torture them in their hard headedness as he did with Egypt. But the fate of every person or society that receieved God's wrath was utter destruction. That is God's justice.

The important thing is to avoid going there, and to share the Good News with those that are.br />

I'll even take it a step further: As a Christian I wish no eternal suffering on any of my enemies. Not even Obama or Hitler. I would only wish that they be permanently removed from the mix. It's not even about their fate. It's about the fate of the rest of us having to put up with them. Their fate is not relevant insomuch as how it affects them.

Still, I think we will still experience time as linear.

I don't know, one way or another. I only believe that it may not be that way and doesn't have to be. In fact, my perception is as follows: Time is a current that flows in an ocean called eternity. Think of that current the turtles are travelling in finding Nemo to get a very good example of what I'm talking about. This is why I believe it was Jesus who dislocated Jacob's hip and spent some time in a furnace with three jewish boys.

Thus, an accurate translation of the verse would be: “The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the Beast and false prophet were cast, and he shall be tormented day and night, forever and ever.”

Your analysis is 100% wrong, there is not one shread of truth in it.

It is apparent that you know exactly zero about translating NT Greek.

Still, I think we will still experience time as linear.

It only matters to me when discussing Christianity with non-believers. For the intellectual agnostics (of which I was one), the eternal suffering message is a real show stopper regarding the rest of the “God is loving and just” claims.

When we can avoid that and focus on the Gospel, hearts are opened.

I have explained hell to non-believers as eternal separation from God.

As a believer, I understand the implication of that separation. A typical non-believer will not fully understand that and it will not be a “roadblock” to further exploration of Christianity.

It is only AFTER they become a believer do they understand the full importance of that separation. That it is eternal torture - knowing that the source of all light and love in the universe wanted a relationship with you and you rejected Him. That you could have basked in the glory of the Creator and His love, but because of your own selfishness you rejected that prospect and now are eternally separated from all love, all light, everything that is good, for eternity. Worse, you know that YOU put yourself in that place.

Truly horrible, beyond description, almost beyond comprehension.

Only God himself knows why he does what he does and we can only read his word to learn from it.
Having said that, there are many " hard sayings " in God's word that on the surface ? that causes our faith to be shaken up.

Here could be, or the reason why God had to destroy the earth with the flood.
It could be the reason why God told Israel to destroy their enemy completely.

The Canaanites ? notice there are none left here on Earth ? suppose ? God wanted the rest of them to be whiped out because their DNA was tainted.

This could help explain it.

Nephilim Among Us: Human-Animal Hybrids, Eugenics

Nephilim: TRUE STORY of Satan, Fallen Angels, Giants, Aliens

I understand your position, but that doesn’t exactly square up with passages like this, at the very end of Revelation:

Rev 22:14 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.
Rev 22:15 For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.

The dichotomy is those inside the gates of heaven (verse 14), and those outside the gates of heaven (verse 15). Why would the Holy Spirit say anybody is outside the gates of heaven if they’ve been utterly destroyed, as you believe? If sentient beings aren’t there, why mention them? As it reads, it strongly indicates living souls both inside and outside heaven.

...almost beyond comprehension.

Almost? ;-)

I confess that I get on a fair number of threads on other sites that are started by Christianity haters. Many of them start with the ol’ “you say your God is a God of love but he causes people to suffer for eternity”, blah, blah, blah. I will usually say something like, “I’m a Christian and I don’t believe He will do that. Where did you get that notion? It’s certainly not in the bible.

Very often, their response is to pull out all the stops using scripture (yes, a lot of them know more about the bible than most professed Christians) to prove that those that don’t accept Christ will be eternally tortured by what they consider a sadistic “god”. It’s interesting to see them fighting so hard to make that case. But some of them come around. They end up getting something to think about for the first time.

People try and try to construct a nice, safe god that acts more like the popular conception of Santa Claus. Something to put on the shelf and assure them they are going to get a pat on the head and a bowl of ice cream after death.

Except that God is not nice. Jesus was not nice. He said some rather not nice things to the authorities in Jerusalem, tore up the temple market, and called them a bunch of white washed tombs (not a nice thing to say).

God is Good. That means something much more than nice.

That’s simple to understand. Those who DO His Commandments have the right to the Tree of Life and MAY ENTER the gates into the Kingdom of God.

Those who will find themselves outside the gates and unable to enter are those who are wicked and unrepentant.

It’s simply stating who will and who will not be allowed to enter - not that both the Righteous and the wicked are living in eternity - one inside and one outside the gates. There is no Life outside the gates.

I personally do not subscribe to the doctrine of an eternal soul. I believe in the Resurrection and that Christ has my reward with HIM when He returns.

I don’t have a problem with God taking lives - the closing of the Red Sea, the death of the first-born of Egypt - but for Him to make his people kill children, babies, the unborn in their mothers?

I had a dream where the Angel of Death reached into me and lifted out my unborn baby (did not come to pass with that baby) and the Angel was impersonal, only doing the job he had been sent to do and no pain, no harm came to the dream baby - she went from my womb to heaven. So the Angel of Death and the first born I can accept.

But Ameleks hardened in sin? What was their eternal fate? If baby Ameleks were slaughtered did they go to heaven since their whole tribe was so evil it must be wiped out? A little two year old Amalek seeing his whole family bleeding on the floor before he was dashed against the wall?

What of virgin girls of other tribes given a few weeks to mourn their slain families before they became concubines. We hate the Muslims for that.

God fed the Israelites 40 years in the desert. Why didn’t He turn the desert into a land of milk and honey, instead of sending the Israeites into the lands of others?

Again, God can take my life any time He wants - it is His to take. But to send someone to destroy me? That wrongs the one sent.

Absolutely there is a hell.

Absolutely wicked people will burn there.

However scripture teaches that the wicked will burn up and die.

Mal_4:1 "For behold, the day is coming, Burning like an oven, And all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble. And the day which is coming shall burn them up," Says the LORD of hosts, "That will leave them neither root nor branch.

The wicked will be burned up, fully destroyed. It's agree with what Christ said:

Joh 3:14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
Joh 3:15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
Joh 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

The choices are: Perish OR Eternal Life. That's what Jesus Christ, God, says.

The word translated perish means that, to perish. To be destroyed fully. It agrees completely with the verse in Malachi.

The other choice is eternal life, to live forever without dying.

Eternal life IS a gift from God for believing through Christ. If we don't have eternal life, we perish, are fully destroyed.

Modern thought has it this way: We ALREADY have eternal life WITHOUT believing in Christ. That's just not right.

Because of this belief the message of John 3:16 has been changed to "I gave you eternal life. And if you believe in me i will give you eternal life. If you don't believe in me I will plunge you into fire and you will burn forever because I gave you eternal life."

That's not what God teaches.

I don’t have a problem with God taking lives - the closing of the Red Sea, the death of the first-born of Egypt - but for Him to make his people kill children, babies, the unborn in their mothers?

I have no problem with any of it, assuming God told me to do it. Thing is, I compare this life to eternity as comparing life in the womb to life outside the womb. An even better analogy is this life as a video game. I play by the rules, knowing that the “game” will come to an end and I will be in the “real” world outside of this life.

And the movie “The Matrix” is a very good analogy as well. Christians took the Red Pill and see this world for what it is. We are still not to murder, but if God instructs us to, so be it. The context and perception of the Matrix makes it alright.

One of the overpowering messages of the New Testament is that this life on this world is infinitely brief and insignificant compared to eternity. What happens to the body is almost utterly irrelevant. Of course, it doesn’t mean I go around disemboweling pregnant women, but God’s wisdom is such that, for generations to come, it is a righteous path when he instructs it. Some Jews just might wish someone had done that to Hitler’s mother.

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