Why does God not Abolish Hell?

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From Formspring I was asked by an anonymous questioner the following question; “Why doesn't your supposed god just abolish hell rather than wanting a blood sacrifice?”

 

This anonymous questioner posed two very valid questions framed in one;

 

  1. Why doesn’t God just abolish hell?

And

  1. What’s the significance of the blood sacrifice and death of Christ Jesus?

 

I’ll answer the second question first.

 

What’s the significance of the blood sacrifice and death of Christ Jesus?

Christ Jesus’ death on the cross is the means in which your and my wrong doings (sins) are fully paid. Through Christ Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross, He fully paid the debt of death you and I owe to God for all of the sins we have done. “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23

 

Christ Jesus lived His life here on earth as fully a human man yet He did so without sinning against God the Father, i.e., Jesus always did what was correct and never knowingly did something wrong nor did He knowingly not do something He was supposed to do thus, He never sinned. Jesus took it upon Himself to receive all the sins of everyone (including your and my sins) even though He committed no sins of His own. Jesus did this because He loves each of us even though not all of us choose to love Him. Jesus loves us so much that not only did He take our sins as His own; He died in our place to pay the debt of death that we owe for our sins. Jesus is able to pay the debt for our sins because from the beginning God knew you and I were not capable of following His request to always do what is correct and in knowing this, God put into place the means for us to be forgiven of our sins by means of our placing faith into Jesus’ life on earth without sin, His being punished for living a life without sin, His taking upon Himself your and my sins, His death on the cross, and His resurrection from death. This is first told to us in the Bible’s Old Testament first book, Genesis 3; through Psalm 2; 16; 22; 110; to Mal 3. It was set up by God that Jesus could pay our debt for us because He was without sin of His own (Old Testament Isa 53; New Testament Acts 8:32).

 

The Bible teaches us that after Jesus’ physical death that He physically arose from death to live again. Jesus’ resurrection from being dead was first told to us in the Bible’s Old Testament Ps 68:20; Isa 38:5; Jer 15:20; 1 Kings 17:22; 2 Kings 4:34; 13:21; Deut 32:39; 1 Sam 2:6; Gen 5:24; 2 Kings 2:11; Isa 25:8; 26:19; Ezek 37:11, 12; Dan 12:2; Hos 6:2; 13:14; Job 19:25-27; Pss 16:9-11; 17:15; 73:23-26 and in the New Testament which reveals Christ “who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” ( 2 Tim 1:10 ).

 

The Bible teaches that those people who choose to confess their sins and accept Jesus (the Messiah or Savior) as full payment for their debt of sin, are forgiven by God and will be with God in Heaven after their physical death on earth, Old Testament Genesis 3; Isaiah 55:8, 9; Pss 78:38.; 103:12-14; Amos 7:2; Jer 5:1, 7; Isa 40:2; Daniel 9:19; New Testament Luke 24:46, 47; 1 John 1:7; 1 Peter 2:24-25; Acts 2:38; 13:38.; 26:18; Rom 5:8-11; 1 Pet 1:18; 3:18; 1 John 2:1, 12; 3:5; Gal 2:20.

 

The Bible also teaches that those people who choose to not confess their sins and accept Jesus as full payment for their debt of sin, are not forgiven by God and thus must pay their debt of sin on their own – which means not only physical death, but also forever separation from God.

 

And now the answer to the second question:

 

Why doesn’t God just abolish Hell?

The Bible teaches that God created the universe and mankind and that mankind chooses to go against God’s request for us to always do what is correct. In other words, we knowingly do what we know is wrong and knowingly not do what we know is correct, thus, we sin instead of following God’s request for us to always do what is correct. God said that the wages of sin (the price a sinner like you and me has to pay for our knowingly doing what we know is wrong and knowingly not doing what we know is correct) is death and eternal separation from God (Old Testament Ezek 18:4, 20; New Testament Rom 6:23). God however knowing in far in advance that we would sin against Him and not be able on our own to follow His request to always do what is correct, sent to us His only begotten Son, Jesus to live out His life in total compliance to God’s request of always doing what is correct and as we just covered, freely went through suffering and death for the sins of you and me so that you and I if we choose to place our trust in Christ Jesus’ act of love for us, that we can be with Him in Heaven forever.

 

So why doesn’t God just abolish Hell? Well, the short answer is that God cannot abolish Hell because there are people who choose to not be eternally with God. There are two and only two places someone can spend their eternal life; Heaven, with God – OR – Hell, without God. It’s as simple as that.

 

You see, the everlasting fire (or Hell as it is also called) was prepared for the devil and his angels (Matthew 25:41) because they chose to not stay in Heaven with God. God also created you and me with a free will to choose where we want to spend our eternal life. God loves each of us (you and me) so much that He will never force His will upon us meaning that if you or I make the choice to not be with Him throughout our eternal life, He will allow us to not be with Him.

 

Think about this for a moment; would it be loving of God to force someone who doesn’t want to be with Him forever to be with Him forever? No, it wouldn’t be loving of God at all to force someone who didn’t want to be with Him to be with Him forever. Thus God allows anyone who doesn’t want to be with Him forever in Heaven to not be with Him.

 

So basically, God cannot abolish Hell because there are people who choose to not be eternally with Him. Heaven is where people go who choose to be with God by honestly repenting of their sins and freely accepting His Son Christ Jesus as full payment for their sins AND Hell is where people who do not want to be with God go because they reject His Son Christ Jesus as full payment for their sins.

 

God’s Will is for You and Me to be with Him

There are two kinds of people; those people who say to God thy will be done and those people to whom God will say your will be done. God’s will is that everyone repent of their sins and accept His Son Christ Jesus as full payment for their sins (John 3:16). Yet not everyone chooses to repent of their sins and accept God’s Son Christ Jesus as full payment for their sins. “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8 TNIV

 

God has provided a way of salvation, a right relationship with Him, and a means of forgiveness; have you received Christ Jesus as your Savior?

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