Can
a loving God send people to hell?
Does God take pleasure in the death of
the wicked? No (Ezekiel 33: 11). Does God desire that all be saved? Yes
(1 Timothy 2: 4; 2 Peter 3.9). Has God done everything for man to believe in
HIM? Yes. So, can a loving God send people to hell? Yes! But the question is
not fully correct! God does NOT send people to hell. Instead, people choose hell.
C.S Lewis said, “There are only two kinds
of people in the end: those who say to God, "Thy will be done," and those to whom God says, in the end,
"Thy will be done." All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that
self-choice there could be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly
desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek find. Those who knock it is
opened.” 1 Another perspective is from the Christian analytic
philosopher William Lane Craig, “The
exercise of saving faith is not a work we perform for salvation, but merely the
allowing of the Holy Spirit to do His work in us. Far from making unreasonable
expectations, God is ready to equip anyone for salvation. We have only not to
resist.” 2 Man decides his eternal destination, and God allows
it.
Annihilationism
Rev. John Stott and a few other
Christian scholars endorse(d) the position of Annihilationism – a next of kin to
Universalism. This position asserts that God will annihilate those who do not
believe in Christ or that God will annihilate all of mankind after death. This
position lends credence to immorality. A subscriber to annihilationism can
think, “I can do anything, even evil, for I will be annihilated as the others.”
Volitional justification of immorality in any form is an assault against God
and HIS Word. Annihilationism reduces mankind’s purpose of living to a temporal
realm as against the eternal life taught by the Bible. Annihilationism opposes
the teaching of eternal life from the Bible.
A flavor of annihilationism that
subscribes to annihilation of all mankind violates Bible. For instance, the
believer of Christ longs for the Second Advent (coming) of the Lord for he
confidently hopes to live with HIS maker forever and ever (1 John 2: 17; cf.
Revelation 22: 20 et al.). Annihilationism deprives a believer of Christ of
that glorious hope in the Lord, and Christ is unnecessary if annihilationism is
factual.
Annihilationism also deprives justice to
man. If a man is convicted of theft, he may be sentenced to a few months to a
few years depending on the intensity of his crime. But if man kills another
man, then he is imprisoned for life or executed. So a pattern is established in
justice – unauthorized plunder of another’s wealth results in a lesser
sentence, whereas unauthorized plunder of another’s life justifies life
imprisonment or death of the murderer, which is a greater sentence. If a
murderer walks away scott-free, all sane minds will term this decision as injustice.
Justice is determined by the enormity of the assault, which in turn determines the
degree of punishment.
Similarly, since God is infinitely holy
and just, any sin against HIM deserves an infinite punishment. But annihilation
does not offer an infinite punishment to an evil man. Positing annihilationism eliminates
justice. An unjust god is not a good god. Since God, by definition, ought to be
good, annihilationism implies a godless universe. But the Christian Universalist
proclaims that God exists, so his doctrine of annihilationism is a contradictory
and a self-defeating doctrine. Therefore, annihilationism is also not a wholly
tenable truth claim.
Uncertainty
(Partial Agnosticism)
Some Christians resort to uncertainty
and proclaim that God can do anything (implying that HE can save all). First, if
God can do anything, then God can create another God or God can lie or even
commit adultery. If Christians hold to a contradictory view of God, they are affirming
a mystical God – a God who exists only in the subjective, fanciful and mystical
imaginations of these men, for God cannot contradict HIS nature.
Second, if God can do anything, then
heaven and hell can also be true. But this is the very claim these Christians
reject. Therefore these Christians don’t believe in their own statement that
God can do anything, so their claim is a self-defeating claim.
Third, uncertainty negates the ministry
of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is our constant counsel (John 14: 16), HE
convicts us of sin, righteousness and judgment (John 16: 7-11), and HE is our
guide into truth (John 16: 13). Uncertainty negates all the above functions of
the Holy Spirit.
Fourth, denying the concrete or reducing
the concrete to a realm of abstract is blindness or insanity. This is akin to
claiming that there is no sun, when the whole world can see and experience the
radiance and radiation of the sun. The Bible is abundantly obvious about salvation.
Only the insane or blind can negate the obvious.
Finally the statement, “I do not know,
but God can do anything” implies that “I know that I do not know and I
know that God can do anything.” This statement posits knowledge. The
statement, “I do not know” posits finite knowledge that he does not know. The
statement that “God can do anything” posits infinite knowledge that God can do
anything. This is a knowledgeable statement for it rejects all definitive truth
claims but deceitfully masked under the pretext of agnosticism by these
Christians. Uncertainty predicated on knowledge is untenable.
Christian
Universalism mutilates the loving relationship between God and man
Christian universalism destroys the
beautiful and a loving relationship between God and man. Imagine an instance
where all athletes registered to participate in a race are informed much
beforehand that each of them will win the gold medal – the highest prize. If
every athlete is guaranteed to win the highest prize, practice prior to the
race will be discarded. Therefore, the joy innate in the race would be
nonexistent. The athletes may
participate in this farce of a race, but they will never be wholly involved
with the race. A man can simply get out of his bed, participate in this farce
of a race, and yet win the highest prize. If this be true, imagine the plight
of an athlete who intensely practices for this race - his practice and
preparation mean nothing. The race is reduced to a farce. No sane mind will
even conceive this race, let alone implement it in today’s world.
Therefore, if God states that all men
will inherit heaven (the highest prize), man need not be involved with God – he
need NOT love and worship God. If man need not love and worship God, then there
is no meaningful relationship between man and the living God.
Christian
Universalism negates Evangelism
Evangelism intends to bring people into
the knowledge of truth and eternal life. Christian Universalists declare that
all will go to heaven. If so, why evangelize? How then would the Christian
Universalist decipher all the verses in the Bible mandating us to evangelize
(Daniel 12: 3; Ezekiel 3: 17-20; Matthew 10: 8b, 28: 18-20; Mark 16: 15-16;
Acts 1: 8 et al.)?
Consequences
of Christian Universalism
By virtue of his universalistic
persuasion, a Christian Universalist proclaims that:
1. Bible is corrupt – errant and
fallible.
2. God is a cruel dictator without holiness,
justice and true love. God’s commands need not be obeyed (e.g. evangelism is a
non-factor).
3. The roles of Christ and the Holy
Spirit is a non-factor
4. A believer need not be holy, need not
love and worship God, and can be immoral.
5. A believer need not repent or believe
in Christ and need not produce the fruit of the Spirit.
Since Christian Universalism opposes the
Bible, we can reasonably assert that Universalism is a heretical teaching and Christian
Universalists are a cult (false religion). Christians espousing universalism
are not Christians even though they may term themselves as a Christian.
Although I don’t stand in judgment, the
Christian Universalist, according to my understanding of salvation, lives
dangerously close to an eternal separation from God.
Why
does a Christian succumb to Universalism?
Let me suggest two reasons:
1. Unbelieving family and friends:
If we believe in Christ, and our family and friends do not, then we suffer intensely
knowing that those whom we love so dearly are hell bound. This constant pain
gives way to Universalistic persuasion. Since universalism is an untenable
proposition, a better mode of reconciliation would be to pray earnestly for
God’s light to shine in the hearts of our loved ones. Meanwhile, we should
gently and respectfully provide reasons for our hope in Christ, hoping that
they would turn to Christ.
2. Observing the apparently flawless
lives of the non-Christians: There are many Non-Christians who through
their apparently impeccable life put Christians to shame. So one could wonder
how such a life would be deemed to hell.
This situation could be reconciled through
the fact that all are sinners and imperfect in thoughts, words, and deeds. None
can be as perfect as God. So an impeccable life is only impeccable within the
confines of the act(s) that invoke impeccability (e.g. charity). Most surely, I
cannot fathom a man claiming absolute impeccability. Therefore, since the
flawless lives of non-christians are merely confined to certain acts, a
reasonable conclusion is that all men are imperfect sinners worthy of infinite
punishment.
Conclusion:
The Bible affirms that those who lead
others to sin (disbelieve in God) are in a great and mighty danger – a potential
loss of eternal life (cf. Matthew 18:6; Mark 9:42; Luke 17:1-2).
Universalism states that all will go to
heaven. If Universalists are right and the debunking of Universalism is
incorrect, then all will go to heaven (I and the Universalists). This is a
win-win situation for me. But if Universalism is nonsensical, non-Universalists
will go to heaven but the Universalists will go to hell. For the Universalists,
this is a win-lose situation (they lose, Christians win).
May we earnestly seek to follow and obey
God in the light of HIS truth. Amen.
Endnotes:
1
C.S Lewis, The Great
Divorce.
2 http://www.reasonablefaith.org/politically-incorrect-salvation#ixzz2ihiiIG00
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