by Ann Scott

Created on: September 15, 2008

Throughout our lifetimes this question has been asked of many: if God loves us so much, how could He send people to hell? I believe that if we really want to know the answer to this question that we can find it in God's word if we will honestly and earnestly search for it.

First of all God's word tells us that He loves every one of us. That is really true. He does love every one who has ever been and ever will be born. God has no rejects. Secondly, it is His will for everyone who was ever born, to go to Heaven. But, God being the merciful and gracious God that He is, did not want to force anyone to do His will. He wanted us to serve Him willingly, not because we had to, so He gave us a will of our own. Now, there is where the trouble comes in.

Since we all have our own will, many of us want to live our lives to please ourselves. We are naturally a selfish and sinful people, so we cannot live the type of life that God wants us to live without His Spirit dwelling in us. But because we want to live our own life, many will not listen and obey what He tells us in His word.

God gives us careful instructions as to how He wants us to live, not because He wants to be mean, but because He wants us to have the very best life possible. He wants us to be forgiven from our sins so that we can live with Him in Heaven. God has created a place that is sinless, knows only happiness, joy, peace, and love, and nothing unclean can go there. That is why we must be forgiven and living a pure life. Peace, happiness, joy, and love are the things that all of us desire to have within our souls, but there is only one way that they can come to us, and that is through repentance, (which means simply turning from our old ways and going in a new direction) and changing our mindset to conform to His ways.

Since we are all imperfect beings, we cannot go to Heaven unless we humble ourselves before Him, admit that we are sinners and cannot help ourselves, ask for His forgiveness, and give our minds, our hearts, and our will completely to Him. If we will obey Him, we will not have to go to Hell. He will give us the grace and strength that we need to make it when things get tough. Because we are human, we may err at times, but if we are doing the best that we can to please Him, He will forgive us and help us to get up and try again. He wants us to get to Heaven, if we are making an honest effort to go there.

God DOES love us, and He does NOT send anyone to hell. We send ourselves there when we fail

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