God wants everyone to praise and worship Him and if they don’t, they’ll burn in hell for all eternity. What kind of a God would do this?
After all the work and sacrifice you do for your children, aren’t you glad when they say they love you? How much more so would we feel when we see God and realized all He did for us and how much He loves us?
Hell was prepared for the devil and his demons (Matthew 25:41). Jesus said we either follow Him or we follow Satan (Matthew 12:30). Those who haven’t followed Jesus by the time they die, will NEVER want to follow Him after. At death, God will grant them their wish forever. If you think there are people in hell trying to get out, you’re wrong. The one place they don’t want to be is in God’s presence. Hell is eternal separation from God. It is the total absence of anything good. There is no satisfaction in hell. You want but you never have. You will be away from God completely (2nd Thessalonians 1:9).
Whether there are flames in hell is irrelevant. It is a terrible existence and it will last forever (Revelation 14:11). The only other place to be is in heaven and they definitely don’t want to be in God’s presence. Because they joined Satan in his rebellion, they’ll have to share in his punishment (Revelation 20:12-15).
But God, in His infinite love, gave us a way out thru Jesus Christ (Romans 5:6). These are not the motives of a tyrant but are more like a loving father whose kids have gone astray. He has done everything He can to reconcile with us (2nd Corinthians 5:17-19).
God cannot let us into heaven the way we are or else heaven would be just like Earth is now. When we invite Jesus into our life, we give God permission to completely purge us when we die (Ezekiel 36:26). We then enter heaven free from sin. If we could see inside the soul of those who haven’t invited Jesus into their heart, we would see an insane dog barking obscenities to God. There will be no innocent people in hell. They are guilty, will NEVER repent and will stay in their rebellion forever (Revelation 21:14-15).
He doesn’t want anyone to be in hell (2nd Peter 3:9). Anyone in hell is there by their own choice. As C.S. Lewis has said, “The gates of hell are locked from the inside.”
As Lee Strobel said, “Hell is not a place where people are consigned to because they were pretty good people, they just didn’t believe the right things. They’re consigned there because they defied their maker and want to be the center of the universe….It’s filled with people who, for all eternity, still want to be the center of the universe and who persist in their God-defying rebellion.” What is God to do? Since He gave us free will, He will honor the choices made by these rebellious people. Since they will rebel for all eternity, He will honor their choice for all eternity.
So, God is NOT a spoiled child, who if He can’t get His way, will take His ball and go home. He is like a loving father who will sacrifice His Son to bridge the chasm between us and Him.
For His Kingdom,
Dave Maynard
https://bsssb-llc.com