God, evil and moralityDraft · awaiting advisor review
How can a loving God send people to hell?
In short
The Bible speaks of judgement and of hell, often in the words of Jesus himself. Christians hold that judgement is God putting wrong right, which a good God must do, and that God takes no pleasure in anyone being lost. They differ on what hell is like.
The Objection
Endless torment for wrongs done in a short life is out of all proportion. A God who makes people suffer for ever would be worse than any human tyrant. Hell looks like a doctrine designed to frighten people into belief.
Put as its strongest advocates would put it.
The Christian Case
- Scripture
Jesus spoke about hell more than anyone else in the Bible, as a warning meant to rescue, not to frighten for its own sake.
- Philosophical argument
A God who did nothing about cruelty, abuse and injustice wouldn’t be loving. Many people who have suffered injustice find the promise of judgement a comfort: wrongs will not simply be ignored.
- Scripture
God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, wants no one to perish, and has made a way of rescue at his own cost.
- Scripture
The Bible describes God’s judgement as fair, in proportion to what people knew and did.
- Philosophical argument
Some argue that hell is, in part, God giving people what they have chosen: life apart from him. C. S. Lewis wrote that its doors are “locked on the inside”.
- Christians differ
Christians differ on what hell is. Most through history have held that it is conscious and unending; others hold that the lost finally cease to exist (conditional immortality); a minority hope that in the end all will be saved. Many read the images of fire and darkness as pictures rather than literal descriptions.
Where the Evidence Is Weaker
The Bible’s language about hell is vivid and partly pictorial, and its exact nature isn’t fully clear. No answer removes the weight of the doctrine, and many Christians hold it with grief, and with humility about the details.
Arguments to Avoid
- Speaking about hell with satisfaction, or using it as a threat.
- Telling a grieving person that someone they love is in hell.
- Presenting medieval paintings or popular images as what the Bible teaches.
Read for Yourself
Matthew 25:31–46
31When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: 32And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: 33And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. 34Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: 36Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. 37Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? 38When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? 39Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? 40And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. 41Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: 42For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: 43I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. 44Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? 45Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. 46And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.
Ezekiel 33:11
Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?
2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
Further Reading
- The Great Divorce · C. S. Lewis (1945)
- Four Views on Hell (2nd edition) · Preston Sprinkle (editor) (2016)The main views, each answered by the others.
- Erasing Hell · Francis Chan and Preston Sprinkle (2011)
Drafted with Opened AI and awaiting review by Opened’s apologetics advisors. Labels show the kind of support each point has: Scripture is what the Bible says; historical evidence and philosophical arguments can be checked by anyone; “Christians differ” marks questions on which faithful Christians disagree.
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