{"id":4115,"date":"2013-04-19T09:34:11","date_gmt":"2013-04-19T09:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/?p=4115"},"modified":"2016-01-06T14:40:57","modified_gmt":"2016-01-06T14:40:57","slug":"hell-part-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/demolition-squad\/hell-part-two\/","title":{"rendered":"Hell: Part Two"},"content":{"rendered":"

God wouldn\u2019t send<\/em> good people to hell<\/strong>.<\/h1>\n

Last week, we looked at the idea that there are no \u2018good\u2019 people for God to send to hell: There\u2019s Jesus, and then everyone else. Here we want to look at the idea that God doesn\u2019t send<\/em> anyone anywhere \u2013 we satnav our own eternal destination.<\/p>\n

A lot of people seem to think that the statements “God is all loving” and “Some people go to hell” are explicitly contradictory. Why would God, if He is all-loving, allow anyone to end up in hell \u2013 whatever it is that hell is<\/em>? It seems so unjust! And I agree, it does seem<\/em> unjust.<\/p>\n

The first thing to say is that without a God of Justice behind everything, our sense of justice and injustice would be totally flimsy. If human death is the end of existence, then there is no such thing as ultimate judgement or ultimate justice. There is no such thing as fairness! Live how you want, and the result will be the same: nothingness.<\/p>\n

For something to seem unfair, it has to first be measured against a definite, immovable standard of fairness. An orange wouldn\u2019t approach the colour Orange and say, \u2018I don\u2019t think you\u2019re very Orange.\u2019<\/p>\n

You just don\u2019t get a definite standard of justice without God. So when we worry about God being unfair, we\u2019re worrying unnecessarily because He is Fairness. He is Justice.<\/p>\n

According to the Bible, God’s nature is both perfect Justice and perfect Love. Both of these are equally powerful, and neither can be compromised. With God, you are guaranteed both unconditional love and perfect justice.<\/p>\n

But this is precisely the problem! Because God’s Justice exposes our inadequacy. The Bible says that every person has failed to live up to God’s moral law (his standard of goodness) and so we find ourselves guilty before God. The biblical word for this failure is sin. You might think you\u2019re a good person compared to rapists or politicians, but you are not going to be judged against them.<\/p>\n

The prophet Ezekiel declared, “The soul that sins shall die” (Ezekiel. 18.4), and the apostle Paul echoes, “The wages of sin is death” (Romans. 6.23). You reap what you sow. This is justice in its purest form. By yourself, you fail the entrance test into heaven.<\/p>\n

But why doesn\u2019t God just stop us from sinning? Well, because He loves us. God has not made us robots. We have Free Will. We can use that Free Will to accept his offer of love and \u2018life in abundance\u2019, or we can use it to do our own thing. He will not and cannot force us to believe in or follow Him. You cannot force someone to love you \u2013 we have a different word for that.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t be misled\u2014you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature.\u201d (Galatians. 6.7-8)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Heaven isn\u2019t a treat. It\u2019s not Center Parcs. Heaven is the undiluted presence of God. And if you\u2019ve spent your entire life rejecting that presence, why would you suddenly want to be there in the midst of it?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s horrible to think that people I know may end up in hell. I reject it on an emotional level. But I wonder whether we put too much emphasis on how we feel, and not enough on God\u2019s holiness. Sin just cannot exist in the presence of God. It would be like a damp book thrown into a furnace – by the nature of those two things, the book would just get burnt up. And we are sinful \u2013 we\u2019re damp books. We can do good things with a small \u2018g\u2019, but we are not wholly Good. Without some kind of protective suit, we are going to get burnt up.<\/p>\n

Next week, we\u2019ll look at what we call this protective suit. But, to end, remember that we don\u2019t preach hell. We preach Jesus\u2019 offer of \u2018Fullness of Life\u2019. Nobody else in history has ever made you that offer. It\u2019s not \u2018turn or burn\u2019 \u2013 it\u2019s \u2018turn, and see what it means to live life in all its beauty\u2019.<\/p>\n

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