How can you believe in a God who would condemn people to suffer
the torments of hell eternally? I have been asked this question
many times and, if you are a Christian, you probably have too. If
you haven’t, you would do well to get working on an answer because
the question may not be too far off. Hell is no laughing matter,
despite cartoons and lampoons to the contrary. In all the world, in
all eternity, there are few matters weightier than this one, and to
every man and woman there is no issue more urgent.
How can you believe in a God who would condemn people to suffer
the torments of hell eternally? I reply with a question of my own:
“How can you believe in a God who would not?”
To ask the first question is to fundamentally misunderstand the
very nature of God; it is to re-form God in the image of man,
because here’s the thing: If you want a God who is good—truly
good—and if you want a God who is just and holy, then you must have
this God, this God who condemns people to suffer the
eternal torments of hell. You cannot have the God
you want unless there is a hell.
You cannot have a God who is all-knowing and all-powerful and so
very good. God’s goodness doesn’t negate eternal punishment in
hell; it demands it.
On what basis can I so strongly and confidently assert the
necessity and existence of eternal, conscious torment in hell, even
if my heart naturally cries out in rebellion against the thought?
Only because God’s Word is clear on the matter. The Bible describes
hell as a place where God pours out His wrath on people who have
been created in His image (Matthew 10:28; 25:46; Revelation 14:10–11; 20:10–15). God the Father has
appointed His Son to be the eternal Judge who will condemn people
to hell (Matthew
25:31–34, 25:41; Acts 10:42). This is not
momentary or temporary torture dispensed by Satan or his demons,
but eternal torment poured out by God Himself. This punishment will
be inflicted upon conscious human beings, people who know who they
are, what they were, what they have done (Luke
16:22–31).
It is truly, literally impossible to imagine a worse reality
than this one. Yet the Bible, the best of books by the best of
authors, the perfect book by the most trustworthy of authors, tells
us it is so. If this is His judgment, then anything less wouldn’t
be worthy of an infinitely holy, just, and good God.
Who am I to question God? If this infinitely holy and just God
declares that hell exists and asserts that hell must exist, then
rebellion against His will reveals a failure in my own
understanding of justice and goodness. Do I know better than God?
Or is it possible that I am far worse than God, infinitely worse,
and that I fall woefully short of a complete understanding of God’s
goodness and sin’s wickedness? To ask the question is to answer
it.
Why Eternal? The eternal, neverending nature of
the sinner’s punishment is directly related to the infinite and
eternal nature of God. When you sin against an infinite God—and all
sin is primarily oriented toward God—you accrue an infinite debt.
This is the only way to explain the Father’s decision not to spare
His Son but to deliver Him to suffer in our place (Romans 8:32). An eternal,
infinite being was needed to bear the weight of an infinite
punishment.
Why Torment? The torments of hell are directly
related to the transcendent holiness of God. Those who face that
weight of condemnation have sinned against a God who is truly,
purely holy. God’s holiness is unable to tolerate anything or
anyone that is unholy; His holiness is like a gag reflex that acts
out in wrath against all sin (Romans 1:18) so that on the
Cross even Christ had to cry out in His forsakenness, cut off from
all that was good and pure and holy (Matthew 27:46).
Why Conscious? Those who have sinned
consciously must also bear their punishment consciously. The Bible
tells us that we have not been passive in our rebellion against
God, but have been willing participants, active rebels. In some
mysterious way we were even willing participants in the sin of
Adam. Justice demands conscious punishment, not mere annihilation
of the person or his or her sin. What clearer example do we have
than Jesus Christ who consciously bore God’s wrath against sin? If
Christ’s suffering for our sin was conscious, so too will be the
suffering of those who bear their own sin. God will not ask less of
them than He asked of His Son.
The God every person wants is a God who is good, a God who gives
good things to the ones He loves. But to have a God who is good, we
must first have a God who is holy. God’s goodness flows out of His
holiness. The God of the Bible is a holy God. This attribute of God
draws attention to His otherness, His set-apartness, the vast gulf
between Creator and creature. It tells us that God must be
separated from sin, and it says that He is committed to seeking His
own honor. God is unimaginably holy, utterly perfect to the
greatest degree and the farthest extent. And because He is holy, He
is good.
What a stark contrast we make. We human beings are sinful in
body, mind, and spirit—no part of us has escaped or remained
undefiled. It is only God’s restraining grace that keeps any of us
from pursuing our sin to a greater and greater degree, from
becoming as utterly and horribly sinful as we could possibly be
(James
1:14–15; Romans
1:28–32; 8:2). Only the grace of God
stands between any one of us and the vilest of sins. We are not
this way because God made us this way, but because this is what we
have chosen for ourselves (James
1:13–14). No one has forced us into such
unholiness, such moral depravity. This is what we have desired and
the path we have taken. Our moral freedom has led us to utter moral
corruption.
It is this contrast that makes hell a horrible necessity. The
holiness of God demands that He remain separate from sin, that
those who commit sin must be kept out of His presence. How could
such holiness mingle with such impurity? Holiness flees from sin.
They are incompatible, irreconcilable. And so sinners must be cast
out, and they must be kept out of God’s presence.
The Bible leaves us no option but to recognize that hell is the
punishment due to sinners who have rejected the goodness of an
infinitely good God. But there is hope. God has not left us without
a means by which any of us can be rescued, by which our sinfulness
can be taken from us and exchanged for true goodness. Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, became man and served as the substitute for sinful
humanity, taking upon Himself the guilt of our sin and then facing
God’s curse against that sin. Amazingly, astoundingly, the infinite
Son of God suffered infinite punishment upon the Cross.
What is so remarkable and so praiseworthy is that He did this
for others instead of for Himself. He had no sin but took the
punishment for the sin of others; He took that sin upon Himself and
now freely offers forgiveness and His righteousness to all who will
receive it (2 Corinthians 5:21; John 1:12; Titus 3:5–7). He Himself is the
way, He is the door, He is the escape. And all He requires is that
we put our faith, our trust, in Him, trusting that He is God, that
He has made that way. To these people He now offers all the joy of
an eternity of holiness, an eternity basking in His pure and holy
presence. This is grace, this is God offering what we so badly need
but could never do for ourselves.
When you cry out against a God who punishes people in a place
like hell, you cry out against the God who has revealed Himself in
the pages of Scripture. You cry out against His goodness, holiness,
and justice; and all the while you minimize your own sinfulness or
the sinfulness of others. Those who understand hell best, those who
grasp it most deeply, are those with the greatest sense that they
deserve to be there. They marvel at the grace that has called them
from that place to a place that is far, far better—infinitely
better!
To wish away eternity in hell is to wish away eternity in
heaven. It is not that they exist in some kind of mutual dependence
so that one can only exist alongside the other. But sin demands
eternal punishment, while grace calls for eternal love and joy, the
re-establishment of the good and holy relationship that our Creator
intended to enjoy with us forever. How can I believe in a God who
condemns people to hell? I must believe in this God, for He poured
out the punishment of hell on Jesus Christ through whom I have
hope.
Source: http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/am/v7/n3/eternal-torment