God loves all of us. That is true.
So it is confusing why He would send someone He says He loves to a place as horrible as Hell. I was asked this very question recently, and it is one that I have thought about so much, prayed on, and asked for guidance in understanding.
"Look at it this way" one of my youth counselor said. "You do something wrong, you get punished, right? You lie to your parents, you get punished. Do you think your parents like to punish you? Do you think your parents love you less when they punish you? No, they love you, always love you, even when you mess up. But you still have to be punished."
But punishments are temporary, our parents don't punish us FOREVER and in a way as terrible as Hell.
Is God too extreme?
A friend told me, "I don't pretend to understand everything God does, or why He does it. I just know God looks into our hearts and He knows us, He knows whose heart if full of love, whose heart is full of evil. God is Just and God is Fair. We just have to trust Him"
I have learned that God doesn't want to send anyone to Hell, He wants sooooo badly for us all to be in Heaven with Him.
But there can be NO sin in Heaven, and there can be no sinners.
That is why God let His Son, whom He loved, be tortured and hung on a cross to die.
Do you think it is easy to watch someone you love die like that??
God sacrificed Jesus to pay the price / take the punishment for our sin.
See, we mess up, we have to be punished. Jesus took our punishment for us, we don't have to go to Hell. We just have to say "Yes, I messed up. Please Forgive me" and if that is true in your heart then you are forgiven and can go to Heaven.
It is the ones who refuse to admit their mistakes, their sins and refuse to ask for God's forgiveness that go to Hell. We send ourselves to Hell.
We turn our backs on God and say things like: "I don't believe in you" or "I hate you for all the terrible things that have happened to me or to others"
What can He do to get you to come back to Him??
Good post. Nice new blog.
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