Is It Moral To Send People To Hell?

Hell is described as a horrible place that those who reject Christ are sent.  Is it moral for God to send people to such a place?  Is it right for God to burn people for eternity?

Well, the Bible speaks of hell being a fire, but it also speaks of it being darkness.  Also, we have to wonder if those in hell have everlasting bodies how could fire hurt them?  Based on this many people feel that the verses that speak of fire and the like are metaphors for separation from God.  Now before we're accused of trying to make hell a pretty OK place, consider what this separation must be like if Jesus used the worse words He could to describe it.

The atheist may argue that separation from God is no big deal because he's already separated from Him, but that isn’t really true. Everyone has a relationship with God in this life - even if that relationship only consists of Him drawing you and you resisting. No one in this world has any idea what it's like to live in an existence where God is no where to be found. Our prayer is that no one reading this ever finds out.

Luke 12:47-48 and Matthew 11:20-24 point out that punishment in hell will depend on a number of factors including:

1)    One’s knowledge of truth

2)    One’s intent

3)    One’s decision to reject the good news of Christ

It’s wrong to think of hell as a place where sinners will receive horribly disproportionate punishment for their sins. God will judge with justice. Your run-of-the-mill atheist will not receive the same degree of punishment that Hitler will.

Hugh Ross holds the interesting view that the torment in hell will be only enough to keep someone there from hurting others. Others have suggested the torment will be self inflicted, caused by the knowledge that they have willingly rejected fellowship with God.

Most importantly, a person’s presence in hell will be the result of a long series of choices. God has said that He “takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked” and that He sent His son to save the world.  We are sinners and God has provided Jesus as a Savior.  Whoever believes in Jesus as their Savior “will not perish but have everlasting life.”  That’s the gospel and as a person passes through life he either becomes more open to it or else he willfully rejects it and his heart becomes harder and harder.  It’s not so much that a person chooses hell as much as he chooses to reject Christ.  Hell is a consequence of that decision.  C.S. Lewis said that the gates of hell are locked from the inside.  Those who go to hell do so of their own choosing.

Now we don't understand everything about hell - there are many more questions one could ask - but in the areas we don't understand we trust that God will do what is right because He is just and holy.  We base this trust on the fact that He is sovereign and understands the things we don't and that He has insights into the things we don't.

But most importantly we base this trust on the fact that He’s gone through so much on the cross so that we could avoid hell. The way He provided was so hard and so costly that it simply can't be ignored. You can't talk about hell without considering the cross, and the cross changes everything.  No one has to go to hell. He has provided a way to escape.