*The Doctrine of Hell may bring you to go closer to God but may bring you to question if God would bring people to hell
*People not knowing Go dis doing fine. It would be better for them to know God earlier but what we are concern is letting people accept Jesus Christ before they die
*It is ok to question but pray, discuss and be humble
*Did we ever think the decisions God make are something we do not even think of because He knows a higher level than us
3 arguments
1) We want justice
*We see injustice in the world, how people treat us and we become angry
*The reality is that we want justice
*
Romans 12:19: 19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.
*God will eventually come through and revenge
*We might not want justice because some of our family/relatives/friends are not Christians
2)Did Jesus have to die?
*If there's any other way (to go to heaven/hell)
*God of universe have to pour his wrath for our punishment-> spend eternity in hell
*Good news-> along comes Jesus to take our place and cut God's wrath
*If we get rid of God's wrath, Jesus had no reason to die
Time Keller
"In our effort to make God more loving (no justice), we have made God less loving (Jesus should not have died)"
3)People remove themselves from His presence
*God is good, people are evil
*Jesus says "Come to me all who are weary and I will give you rest"
*God does not just send people to hell but gives us a choice to decide what you really want
CS Lewis
"There are only two kinds of people in the end, those who say to God, 'Thy will be done' or those God say 'Thy will be done'
*God does not actively send people to hell but He keeps wanting to bring them over to heaven
*However, there is a point where He would say that our chance it up
Romans 1:21-26: 21 For although they
knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but
their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.
22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools
23
and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look
like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.
24
Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to
sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.
25
They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served
created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones.
Matthew 22:13: 13 “Then
the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him
outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of
teeth.’
Revelation 20:14-15: 14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death.
15 Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.
(God is actively, deliberately want to punish us)
Romans 9:17-22:
17 For Scripture says
to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display
my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”
18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.
19 One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will?”
20
But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is
formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’”
21
Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay
some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?
22
What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power
known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for
destruction?
*This may not be what you grew up hearing as Christians
*We might find it unfair because God only brings people who believe in Jesus and not someone who just does good
*As a result, some of us might walk away
*But at the end of the day, we can't wait for others
*Once we surrender all our worries, future, everything to him, we feel the peace of God
*Still other non-believers are not going to join us
*Thus we should just try our best to bring people to know and accept Christ and that is what the church is for
*If we are unsure about throwing ourselves to Jesus, just be sure and recommit to Him again
*If we have believed in Jesus, then be contented and appreciate what God has done to us
**Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path**
