God does not send people to hell for not believing in Him or for any other reason. God doesn’t send people to hell at all. Rather, people choose go one of two ways - heaven or hell. Hell is simply the place that is absent of God, void of God and all His goodness. I don’t believe that God desires anyone to be there or punishes anyone for not believing in Him. I believe that we are given free will to choose our path and the path that leads to hell is the life that we’ve chosen to walk away from Him, to be void of Him in our lives.
Hell is the place that is absent of God.
Heaven is God in all His glory.
I’ve got a friend who has always found it difficult to believe in God because she doesn’t see how a loving, caring god could send people to hell. I think this excerpt is one of the more well-put viewpoints on the matter.
I believe that if you are a follower of God, if you know Him and serve Him, if you attempt to align your walk with the path He has set out before you, and if you give yourself, sins and all, to Him to be forgiven and washed clean, you will spend eternity in Heaven.
God doesn’t banish anyone to hell. One does that all on his own by choosing to live his own life, separate from God.
The choice is yours. No one else can make it for you.
great post, I totally agree. God does not wish for anyone to be absent from Him. It’s through our relationship with Him and His Son Jesus that we enter heaven, our names are written in His book. WIthout a relationship with Him, at the time of our judgement, He will look for our names in His book and when it is not there He will tell us, He did not know us therefore we cannot be with Him.
miss red,
Regarding Self-banishment…
Well said! The God so many reject is actively calling to each of us because He loves us… And people forget that our eternity has already begun… I am not yet at my final destination, but I do, at times, get a glimpse of Heaven when I humble myself in the presence of God. Thank you for sharing this.
-Janet Sikes Anderson, Do The Write Thing Publishing, Do The Write Thing Publishing’s Weblog