Board index ‹ Heaven and Hell

[Newbie]

Why would a good God send an otherwise good person to hell simply for not believing in Him? The very concept of damning someone to an eternal torture is abhorrent to me, but to do it for something so simple as not worshiping you? That is even more terrible, and to make it worse you don't even allow people to make an informed decision? You could easily prove your existence, but you don't. You just ask them to take it on faith, and when they can't they go to hell. How could a "merciful" god do something that is so blatantly wrong?

[jimwalton]

The answer to your question is that God doesn't—not for that reason.

The Bible speaks of two possible natures a person can have: a sin nature (born with it), where a person is separated from the life of God, or the nature of Jesus, where a person is a participant shares the life of God. The Bible talks about it metaphorically as light and darkness, life and death, even sheep and goats.

Hell (and heaven for that matter) have nothing to do with good and bad. Those who love God and wish to share his life and spend eternity with him can. The invitation is open to anyone. Those who don't love love God, and don't wish to share his life or spend eternity with him aren't forced to. They can have what they will, and can be separated from God.

We know from the Bible that there are different degrees of punishment in hell. (This is not the same as "levels" like purgatory, limbo, and that stuff.) Not everyone who has chosen to be separated from God will be treated the same, but it will be fair to what their life was like. It will be the same in heaven for those who want to be with God.

So your premise is a little misguided. First of all, God doesn't send an otherwise good person to hell simply for not believing in him. People choose hell, because they don't want to be with God. That's pretty straightforward.

Secondly, God does allow people to make an informed decision. The Bible is about 1600 pages long, filled with stories of people who claimed to have interactions with God. There are stories of God himself coming to earth and interacting with people, telling them all about himself. The Bible claims that nature shows design, order, reason, cause and effect, beauty, and purpose, all of which can point to the existence of a creator. It claims that people have built in mechanisms such as conscience and morality that can point to the existence of a creator. Even reason itself points to a source of reason rather than one of pure chemistry and biology. So it seems to me, not being disrespectful, that you're being a little disingenuous to say that you're not being allow to make an informed decision. There are also logical arguments giving evidence for the possibility of the existence of God. while these don't prove there is one, there is logic and reason behind them.

God doesn't ask anyone to just "take it on faith." He always showed himself first, gave evidence of his being and character, and then asked people to live based on that knowledge. Though they didn't always see everything they wanted to see, they were given enough evidence to make informed, logical, and reasonable choices. Faith is making an assumption of truth based on enough evidence to make that assumption reasonable.

It's not accurate to say you're being kept in the dark with nothing to go on except a blind leap of faith, and if you dare use your brain you're going to hell for it.

What God in his mercy has done is revealed himself to humans, had them write down stories of his interactions with people and what he told people about himself, came here and invited anyone who wanted to to join him in a loving relationship, and that no matter what it is that separates you from him, he's willing to forgive it so the relationship can go forward. That's mercy, and it's what is blatantly right.