{"id":25036,"date":"2010-08-21T20:45:44","date_gmt":"2010-08-22T01:45:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=25036"},"modified":"2020-08-21T20:49:49","modified_gmt":"2020-08-22T01:49:49","slug":"does-god-send-people-to-hell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-god-send-people-to-hell\/","title":{"rendered":"Does God Send People to Hell?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\tby Jesse M Kelly
\nvia Preceptor, p.12 – Vol.57, No.6, June 2008.\n

While discussing the subject of “Hell” with a lady acquaintance one day, she said to me, “I just cannot conceive of a merciful God sending one to Hell to suffer eternally.” We readily agreed with her. God doesn’t send people to Hell. He didn’t prepare Hell for man, and man has no business going there. However, we reminded the lady acquaintance that this by no means dictates that a person won’t go to Hell. People will go to Torments of their own free will – God does not send them.<\/p>\n

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Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash<\/p><\/div>\n

The fact is, God has done everything possible to keep people from going to Hell. He even gave His own Son to suffer in the flesh and die on a cross in an effort to keep people out of Hell. Through His Son, Jesus Christ, He prepared the way to Heaven and now exhorts the sinner to turn from his evil way and walk in the light. Now, it is up to the sinner to avail himself of the means that God has given to escape the power of Satan and the confines of Hell. The next move is the sinner’s and if he does not make that move he alone is to blame. The apostle Peter said, “God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance<\/em>” (II Peter 3:9).<\/p>\n

In the first chapter of Acts, we have a good example of a person destroying himself in spite of all anyone could do. Peter, in speaking of Judas, said: “Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place<\/em>” (Acts 1:25). Notice, Peter said Judas “went to his own place.” The place Judas went to was not God’s place, for God had nothing to do with his going there. It was Judas’ own place because Judas had prepared that place himself by his conduct in this life. God didn’t send him, he went of his own free will. If a man is eventually lost he cannot accuse God, for God’s will is, that he not go to torment. Man goes to Hell himself while all Heaven is pleading with him not to go.<\/p>\n

Yes, we choose our own destiny. God has placed before man two ways – one leads to Hell, the other to Heaven. We are left to make the choice ourselves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Jesse M Kelly via Preceptor, p.12 – Vol.57, No.6, June 2008. While discussing the subject of “Hell” with a lady acquaintance one day, she said to me, “I just cannot conceive of a merciful God sending one to Hell to suffer eternally.” We readily agreed with her. God doesn’t send people to Hell. He…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[373,354,179],"class_list":["post-25036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-hell","tag-responsibility","tag-sin"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":12626,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-could-a-loving-god-send-me-to-hell\/","url_meta":{"origin":25036,"position":0},"title":"How Could a Loving God Send Me to Hell?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 9, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"by Tanner Campbell The very thought of Hell is terrifying. Such a thought is an intense provoker for many to repent of their sins and revere the word of the Lord. However, others think little of Hell. For example, you may have heard someone say something like \"how could a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":25034,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/of-course-god-sends-people-to-hell-but-hell-doesnt-exist\/","url_meta":{"origin":25036,"position":1},"title":"Of course God sends people to hell, but hell doesn’t exist!","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 22, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Your article that God does not send people to hell falls way short of giving any real and meaningful answer.\u00a0 True, people have a choice to some extent and God will not force Himself on anyone, but it most\u00a0certainly\u00a0says in the Scriptures that no one can come to the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21696,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-a-person-says-if-im-lying-may-i-go-to-hell-and-then-lies-will-god-forgive-them-if-they-repent\/","url_meta":{"origin":25036,"position":2},"title":"If a person says “If I’m lying, may I go to hell” and then lies, will God forgive them if they repent?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 11, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I can't really remember if I have ever done this, but I am kind of sure I have. I hope I\u00a0never said this, but if someone says to a person: \"If I am lying, may I go to hell,\" and then they lie, will they go to hell even\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":35789,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-the-death-penalty-for-homosexuals-only-referring-to-hell\/","url_meta":{"origin":25036,"position":3},"title":"Was the death penalty for homosexuals only referring to hell?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 11, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Does Deuteronomy 20 really say that we should kill gay people? I was always under the idea that it was saying God was going to kill them by sending them to hell when they died because they knew better and refused to change. Am I right? It came up\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":38624,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-i-want-something-so-badly-that-i-think-i-would-be-willing-to-go-to-hell-to-get-it-and-then-i-do-get-it-will-i-end-up-in-hell\/","url_meta":{"origin":25036,"position":4},"title":"If I want something so badly that I think I would be willing to go to hell to get it, and then I do get it, will I end up in hell?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 24, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, I've been very scared of not going to heaven and going to hell. When I really want something, I sometimes think I would burn in hell just to have it happen. It sometimes actually does happen, and it really scares me because I thought I'd burn in hell\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":40422,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-problem-of-hell\/","url_meta":{"origin":25036,"position":5},"title":"The Problem of Hell","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 25, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer via\u00a0Mind Your Faith The problem of hell is, in some ways, another facet of the problem of evil. Hell is eternal separation from God and all that is good and blessed. How can we believe in a loving, powerful God who would also cast people into an\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/fire2-300x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25036\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}