“God provided a way for anyone, anywhere, any time, to avoid having to pay the penalty for any wrongdoing that he committed. <> It’s a gift. All free for the taking by anyone just for the asking. What more could a person want? That God force it down his throat against his will?”
Okay, let’s say everything you say is true. If someone offers me a “gift,” I have the freedom to accept or not. Someone offers me a drink, let’s say. I don’t drink (alcohol) so I politely decline. Do I now deserve retribution? Do I deserve to suffer endlessly because I declined the gift? If I must accept or suffer excruciating consequences, is it really a gift? Since when does a gift involve coercion?
Why would a loving God create a “system” that involves everlasting torture for those who decline the gift? Would you do that? Would any decent person do that?
I believe your analogy is a bit flawed. Someone offering you alcohol, which can be harmful to your health, is not akin to someone offering the Gospel.
A better analogy would be you and metmom are on a sinking ship in the middle of the Pacific and she offers to pull you in a life boat, and you refuse.
You live in a country that allows people to rip children from mother's wombs.
Are you a decent person?
God did not *create a system*. God is not punishing people for not accepting His gift.
He told Adam and Eve specifically, that if they sinned, they would die. It’s a natural consequence of their disobedience.
The punishment is for the sin we commit. God is holy and sin cannot endure in His presence.
The gift gives us the option of avoiding that. That’s where the love kicks in. Yes, God is love. but God is also just and sin needs to be punished. Would God be just if He didn’t punish wrong doing?
God is HOLY, HOLY, HOLY. Nothing short of Holiness can be in His presence. The only access to His presence is through His spotless Son Jesus Christ. When we put on Christ, The Father sees the Son’s Righteousness based on His shed Holy Blood.
That is the access. Submit to His Son or forever be separated from His presence.
FWIW, Hell was not created for man, but for the Devil and his angels.
God’s intent for man was never to have separation from Him. Man is the one who decided to do that. And yet we see that all the while that man was sinning and rebelling against God, God is continually reaching out to him.
Hell is merely a place without God. The torture comes from its inhabitants. We make the decision here in our physical life to either be with Him, or to be separate from Him.
We choose our own fate. God merely gives us what we want.