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[coolguy1234]

Here's a question I haven't seen asked before, at least on this site. How can God morally send us to hell? I'll expand on that idea in a minute, but first, I want to get it out of the way that we definitely do not send ourselves there. I see this a lot and I want to explain how this is incorrect. I'll use an analogy of a mugger in an alley way and a victim of said mugging. The mugger approaches the victim and says "give me your money or you'll get shot." The victim refuses and gets killed for doing so. Is it the victims fault that he got killed? Of course not. It is however the muggers fault. There is one thing I don't like about this analogy, however. That is, the fact that the victim of the mugging refuses to give the mugger his money as a choice of his own. This brings me the main point of the post. If we don't choose what we believe, how could God send us to hell? Because unlike the victim, we don't choose what we believe in. If I told you to believe that the Earth was flat, (I hope) you would say that that's nonsense and that you couldn't believe it unless you had proof. You might be able to pretend that you thought the Earth was flat, but you would never truly believe it. That's where my issue lies. How could God, an all good being send us non-believers to hell for a choice where we can't choose? It doesn't make sense, at least not to me.

[jimwalton]

Thanks for the question. I'm glad to talk about it.

First let's deal with the idea that we don't get to choose what we believe. I think we have to make a separation, a distinction, because there are times we don't (as you indicated with the Flat Earth Society) and times we do. As you said, we can't just make ourselves believe that the Earth is flat. That doesn't work from any angle or in anyone's imagination. Right? Duh. The Earth isn't flat, and so that's not a belief I can just choose.

But there are beliefs we do choose. For instance, President Trump right now is the subject of scrutiny for impeachment based on interactions with the Ukrainian government. In this case, you do get to choose what you believe. We all get to look at the same evidence. Some of us will choose to believe he is guilty and worthy of impeachment, other will choose to believe he is guilty but not worthy of impeachment, and yet a third group will choose to believe he's not even guilty.

This is where Christianity is—not the former situation (the one you brought up about a flat Earth), but the latter situation (weighing the evidence to infer the most reasonable conclusion). In this case the evidence isn't hard science (as it is with the Earth), but instead of logic, reasoning, evidence, and experience. We have to examine the evidence and reasoning that's there, and we get to choose what we believe about the existence of God and His activity in our lives.

So we can't just lump all beliefs together as if they're all the same and are treated the same.

Second, I don't think your analogy of the mugger is true to the situation of hell. I agree with you in your scenario that it's not the victim's fault that he got killed. But that's not the situation here.

Instead, the Bible pictures it this way: Let's suppose there are two doors, one leading to eternal separation from God, and one leading to eternal joy in his presence. Door #1 was only prepared for Satan and his sycophants, and door #2 was prepared for all people. Jesus is standing between the doors, and as people approach, he expresses his love for them and invites them to enter door #2 and bliss. But when people grab the handle to door #1, he cries out to them, "Don't do that. It's a terrible thing. You don't want to go there. Come this way, into door #2." But they choose to enter door #1 anyway.

That's the scene according to the Bible: God invites each person into a loving relationship with himself. He has prepared a wonderful place for them, and leaves the door wide open. But the choice has to be yours because love has to be chosen. It doesn't make God barbarous that a person refuses to come in and chooses of their own free will to go their own way. People who reject God choose to be separated from him, and they will go to a fate that was never meant to be theirs. We are free agents, and the choices we get to make regarding spiritual truths are real choices. God does not force anyone towards heaven or hell. Those choices are ours alone to make.

So then let's tackle the third thing, your main question. How can God morally send us to hell?

The Bible says God loves you (Jn. 3.16), knows that you can't save yourself (since no one is worthy), and so has made every provision for your rescue, offering it as a free gift to all comers. We must repudiate what separates us from God (repent of our sins), and turn to him in love (very different from "religion." It's much like a marriage ceremony, where you forsake all others to commit yourself in love to the one who loves you.) That's ours to do. Since love must always be chosen and never forced, he informs and invites all people to come to him for rescue (salvation). The choice belongs to each individual, and it is always ours to make. No worthiness is involved, but only choice and love. All sincere comers will be accepted. All who refuse and choose to have nothing to do with God will endure the consequences of that decision: life without God, and eternity without God, if they get all the way to the end of life spurning his every invitation. They weren't created bound for hell, and Jer. 18.1-12 lets us know that they always have a legitimate choice to do as they wish with their lives. God will make adjustments according to their free-will choices. The path to hell is never a certainty unless the person in question makes it such.

Sooooo, that's going to create more conversation. Let's talk. It's obvious I think that your analogy isn't one that fits, I think there are many places people DO get to decide what they believe, and that people themselves are the ones who make the decision to align with God or to separate from Him. And if people choose to separate from life, then the absence of life is what they are choosing; and if they choose to separate from joy and peace, then the absence of joy and peace is what they are choosing. God won't (and can't) interfere with your free will (or it isn't free).

So talk to me, because there's more conversation to be had here.