I'm enjoying New Believer’s Bible, as it really brings clarity to big questions most everyone comes across. "Why would a good God send anyone to Hell?"
The question of eternal hell, separation from God has been a hard one. In this Bible, Greg Laurie answers the question with the perspective from Hebrew 2:1-4.
The question behind the question is "If God loves people, why doesn't he just save everyone?"
- God does love us, but will no force us to believe. He has given us free will to make our own choices.
- God doesn't want anyone to spend eternity in hell. In fact, he earnestly desires that everyone spend all eternity with Him in Heaven. Scripture tells us, "the Lord...does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone t repent (2 Peter 3:9)"
- God gives us a loving and patient invitation to come to him; "Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest (Matt 11:28)" and "Come. Let anyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who desires drink freely from the water of life (Rev 22:17)"
The truth is, that there are some things only God can do - such as cleanse us of our sin, forgive us and justify us. At the same time, there are some things only we can do - such as answer his call to come to him, believe in him, and repent of our sins. God does indeed love everyone (John 3:16, Romans 5;8). But he has given us a wonderful and dangerous gift - the gift of free will. God has given us the opportunity to choose between right and wrong, good and evil, God and Satan, Heaven and hell. God will not force salvation and forgiveness on us. It is our choice to say yes or no.
All those who end up in hell are there because of their willful and deliberate decision to reject God's offer of forgiveness. As the saying goes, "The gates of hell are locked from the inside."
"So we must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard, or we may drift away from it. For the message God delivered through angels has always stood firm, and every violation of the law and every act of disobedience was punished. So what makes us think we can escape if we ignore this great salvation that was first announced by the Lord Jesus himself and then delivered to us by those who heard him speak? And God confirmed the message by giving signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit whenever he chose." NLT
The amplified Bible puts it this way
"For this reason [that is, because of God’s final revelation in His Son Jesus and because of Jesus’ superiority to the angels] we must pay much closer attention than ever to the things that we have heard, so that we do not [in any way] drift away from truth. For if the message given through angels [the Law given to Moses] was authentic and unalterable, and every violation and disobedient act received an appropriate penalty, how will we escape [the penalty] if we ignore such a great salvation [the gospel, the new covenant]? For it was spoken at first by the Lord, and it was confirmed to us and proved authentic by those who personally heard [Him speak], [and besides this evidence] God also testifying with them [confirming the message of salvation], both by signs and wonders and by various miracles [carried out by Jesus and the apostles] and by [granting to believers the] gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will." AMP
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