If God is truly loving then he won't send people to Hell?
Andy Fehler
I will be honest at the start - I am not going to fully answer this objection to Christianity. The reason is this - I could give some pat, glib answers that might be helpful for some, but for those reading this who are struggling with the idea of hell, that might be less than helpful. Some reading this may have recently lost a loved one and will be wondering where they are now, others may be worried about a family member or friend they care dearly for who consistently rejects Christianity and they have a real concern for their eternal destiny. I don't want to be insensitive - this is a massive question, a good one and one that we need to spend more than just a few paragraphs on, but I only have a few paragraphs so I just intend to make 2 observations from the Bible.
Hell is a Dreadful Reality
Many people think that the Bible splits into 2 parts, the Old Testament presents an angry, vengeful God, ready to strike people down for their Sin, the second part (the New Testament) instead shows a loving and gentle, forgiving God revealed to us through Jesus. The God of the Old Testament may send people to Hell, but the New Testament God wouldn't, He's loving. Put simply, anyone who holds this view has not studied the Bible. No-one speaks more about hell and judgement in the Bible than Jesus.
Jesus makes it clear that hell is eternal separation from God, a place of conscious punishment for rebelling against God. Trying to help us get our heads around the awfulness of Hell, Jesus described it as a fiery furnace, a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth, a place of unquenchable fire and a place of darkness, loneliness & death: a place to be avoided at all costs.
Furthermore, the reality of it is that we all deserve to be sent there. We have all rebelled against God and deserve his judgement of eternal separation from him. The Bible makes it clear that God is angry with our sin, his wrath is upon us. We will have no hope unless that wrath can be turned aside. The only way of having it turned aside is through believing in Jesus:
"Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him."
John 3:36
Which brings us to the good news - clearly there is hope, there is hope because God is loving.
God is a Loving Deity
Even in the Old Testament we see there is hope because God is full of love and compassion:
Say to them, as I live, declares the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?
Ezekiel 33:11
God is a loving God who wants all to turn back to him that he might forgive them. In Jesus we see God in his love sending his Son that there might be a way for his anger and punishment not falling on us but instead on Jesus that we might be spared Hell.
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16
God doesn't want us to perish - to be punished - but he is just and he must punish rebellion. In his love he offers a way of avoiding punishment but instead being forgiven.
We must not see God's character as changing - sometimes he is loving other times he is just - he is perfectly just & loving all the time. His justice demands that rebels be punished and that means hell, but his love & justice can be met through Jesus taking our punishment for us. Through Jesus' death on the cross, this punishment was taken, God's justice has been met and his love is displayed in mercy & compassion.
Maybe another way in which God's love is shown is by making it so clear in His word that Hell is a reality but that there is an escape route. To pretend that there is not a hell and to let people wander through life unaware of the terrible eternal consequences of their actions is certainly not a loving thing to do. We need to copy our loving God and let people know about Hell & the means God has provided for us to be spared from it. And if we have not done so already we need to make sure our eternal destiny is secure.