Is Hell real, and would a loving God allow someone to suffer there?
I often wonder if people, (and yes, this means believers too) I wonder if people really believe there is a place called Hell. And, if there is a Hell, how could a God who says He is Love allow His creation to experience eternal torment in this place? As I began to look at and think about this week’s topic, I even wondered if we truly believe there is a Heaven. I think we like the idea of Heaven, but we don’t really understand it so we treat it like a fairy tell and then just hope (not the biblical hope, but the hope that we take a chance and we are right), but we hope that it all works out like the pictures we have been made accustomed to since we started Sunday School. You know what I mean, the pictures with all the Caucasian, white (very white), looking characters standing on clouds and everything looks so pure. The picture that is painted of Heaven in Scripture is so much better if we would only take the time to visualize it the way God intended it.
I think we all have some type of belief, or hope that looks like belief, that there is a Heaven. But what about Hell. My stance is this; if there is a Heaven then there must be a hell. And, if there is a Hell then there most certainly will be those who will suffer there. In Matthew 25:46, Jesus tells of the two separate places; “46 And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.””[1] There are many different Scriptures that we could look at that compare and contrast the two different places, but this verse let’s us know that there are indeed two different places. So, this fact is established. Hell, indeed, is real. But, would a loving God allow someone to suffer there? The shortest answer is, yes.
See, we don’t serve (hopefully you do serve Him), but we don’t serve a God that makes threats just to get us to do something. We serve a just God, who must do what He says. But we have become like the child who never receives the punishment, so we think it will never come. Scripture tells us in Matthew 6:23; “23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”[2] Because we continue to sin daily, we become numb to the promise (not threat) that sin brings death. The reality is, we will realize that God will make good on His promise, but then it will be too late.
God is a true and just God. He has never lied to us in His Word, so we can safely know that He will never lie to us. Knowing this, we must deduce that He will have to allow those who reject Him to suffer loss. This loss will be in the form of separation from Him forever in the lake of fire reserved for Satan and his followers. This place we call Hell. Matthew 25:41 tells us of this very thing; 41“Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: [3]
So yes, Hell is real, and yes, God must allow the unrepentant to suffer there because they have used the free will given by Him to reject Him and His promise of everlasting life.
This does not have to be the case though. Turn to Christ and turn away from willful sin and you too will share in the fullness of life that begins now and continues through eternity in Heaven with Him.
Thank you for taking the time to read and I look forward to your questions and comments.
In Christ,
James
[1] The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Mt 25:46.
[2] The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Ro 6:23.
[3] The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Mt 25:41.