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How Can a Good God Send People to Hell?
How Can a Good God Send People to Hell?
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(Understand, this is only of the answers to the question.)
One must always be careful in how he approaches the wisdom of God, when asking questions such as “How could God send a soul to hell?” For in so questioning the mind of God, a finite mind is challenging the omniscience of an Almighty being. Paul, in relation to the message of the cross, wrote “For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.” Our brightest minds pale in comparison to the weakest thought of God. Yet in that infinite power, one ought to take comfort in knowing the big questions like these can be answered when sought in humility.
As Luke records his account of the gospel for Theophilus, he included the parable of the wedding feast (Luke 14:16-24). One of the key phrases found in this parable is “He invited many.” The inspired writer places this parable on the heels of Jesus’ teaching of the narrow door (13:22-30), a lament over Jerusalem (13:31-35), the unstoppable love of the Christ (14:1-6), and a message of humility (14:7-11). The message of the wedding feast is devastating. In short, the host of the feast invited many, and many refused due to their various excuses; “I bought a field, I must go see it,” “I bought five yoke of oxen, I must examine them,” and “I just got married.”
The only people who chose to attend the feast were those who weren’t so caught up in their worries or cares. It was the poor, crippled, blind, and lame who accepted the invitation. In a different and previous discussion, Jesus proposed the parable of the soils (8:4-8). One of the soils that became unreceptive to the message of God was that of the thorns. Jesus explained that these people are those who “hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature” (8:14).
While many are invited to the host’s feast, many will decline the invitation for advancement of their excuse; often being born of their cares, worries, riches, and pleasures. The question of “how can God send so many to hell” is one that should never be left abandoned. Rather, it ought to be supplemented with “how can so many deny the hosts’ invitation?” God looks at the world in its totality and invites each soul to spend eternity in celestial bliss. Yet many, for fear of deserting their passions of this world, will reject such a heavenly invitation. While the words “He invited many” resonate and even devastate us, we rejoice in the many who seek a path to be back to Him (Luke 15).
