Hell
How can a loving God send people to hell?
It's the hardest thing Jesus taught. Here is what He said, and why He said it.
Jesus talked about it most
The word usually translated hell is Gehenna, named after a valley outside Jerusalem. It appears 12 times in the New Testament, and Jesus says it 11 of them.
- Ignoring the hungryMatthew 25:31 to 46
- Walking past the poorLuke 16:19 to 31
- Religious hypocrisyMatthew 23:33
Who He warned
His warnings went to people who felt safe: the comfortable, the religious, and the ones who looked away.
“Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked? … and not rather that he should return from his way, and live?
God takes no pleasure in it
The New Testament says the same: God is "not wishing that any should perish" (2 Peter 3:9).
“The doors of hell are locked on the inside.
A choice
Lewis suggested that hell is what a person gets who wants nothing to do with God, in the end: to be left without Him.
- God wants everyone to be saved.
- He sent Jesus to rescue, not to condemn (John 3:17).
- Whoever trusts Him has eternal life.
Why Jesus warned
You warn people about a cliff because you don't want them to fall. Jesus' warnings came with a way out.
Jesus warned about hell because He doesn't want anyone to go there. He came to rescue, and the door is open.
For God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him.