“How can a loving God send people to hell?”Reasons for God Pt. 5

Christians are not at their best when they make signs about hell

“I doubt the existence of a judgmental God who requires blood to pacify his wrath,” said a frowning grad student. “Someone had to die before the Christian God would pardon us. But why can’t he just forgive?”

LOVE & JUDGEMENT CAN’T BE RECONCILED

“All that is troubling, I agree,” responded Josie, who worked at a local coffee cafe. “But I have even more of a problem with the doctrine of hell. The only God that is believable to me is a God of love. The Bible’s God is no more than a primitive deity who must be appeased with pain and suffering?”

LOVE & JUDGEMENT CAN’T BE RECONCILED

The logic of this defeater of the Christian faith is simple:

God must be loving + judgment is not loving

= therefore a God of judgment simply cannot exist.

Christianity claims to have a God that is loving + judging

= therefore the God of Christianity cannot exist.

LOVE & JUDGEMENT CAN BE RECONCILED - Tim Keller

“For the sake of argument, let’s imagine that Christianity is not the product of any one culture but is actually the transcultural truth of God. If that were the case we would expect that it would contradict and offend every human culture at some point, because human cultures are ever-changing and imperfect. If Christianity were the truth it would have to be offending and correcting your thinking at some place. Maybe this is the place, the Christian doctrine of divine judgment.”

LOVE & JUDGEMENT CAN BE RECONCILED - Miroslav Volf

“If God were not angry at injustice and deception and did not make a final end to violence - that God would not be worthy of worship . . . The only means of prohibiting all recourse to violence by ourselves [now] is to insist that violence is legitimate only when it comes from God. . . My thesis that the practice of non-violence requires a belief in divine vengeance will be unpopular with many . . . in the West. . . [But] it takes the quiet of a suburban home for the birth of the thesis that human non-violence [results from the belief in] God’s refusal to judge. In a sun-scorched land, soaked in the blood of the innocent, it will invariably die . . . [with] other pleasant captivities of the liberal mind.”

Small Group Discussion:

How would you respond to someone that said: “How can a God of love also be a God of judgment? If he is loving and

perfect, he should forgive and accept everyone so why doesn’t he?”

“How can a loving God send people to hell?” A Biblical Response in Luke 16:19-31

“19"There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21and longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. 22"The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24So he called to him, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.' 25"But Abraham replied, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.' 27"He answered, 'Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father's house, 28for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.' 29"Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.' 30" 'No, father Abraham,' he said, 'but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.' 31"He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.' "

ACT I Rich ManIn Life: Banquets without pain

In Death: No banquets with un-ceasing pain

Two Acts of the Parable of The Rich Man & Lazarus

ACT II LazarusIn Life: No Banquets with un-ceasing pain

In Death: THE Banquet with no pain

“The community around Lazarus respected and cared for him as best it could. The only man in town with the resources to meet his medical needs was the rich man, so members of the community carried him to the rich man’s gate each day in the hope that the rich man or his guests would feel some compassion and give Lazarus something. The practice is common in the East.”

Social Setting of the Parable: Kenneth E. Bailey, Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes

“How can a loving God send people to hell?” - A Biblical Response in Luke 16:19-31

This parable tells us many things about judgment and Hell:

In judging us God is allowing us to take our choices to their final end. Hell is of our own making and is deeply personal (we can see

this even in how addictions overwhelm us now).

Heaven & Hell are deeply relational, not simply situational. If God didn’t judge he would be forcing someone into an eternal relationship they didn’t want.

God’s final judgment responds to injustices He and us have had to bear and enables us to suffer even when those that harms us aren’t judged in the moment.

The more significant question is not

WHY a loving God would judge

but WHAT that means for our lives now?

“How can a loving God send people to hell?”Reasons for God Pt. 5