Objection #6: A Loving God Would Never Torture People in Hell Part I

Objection #6: A Loving God Would Never Torture People in Hell

Part I

“For a long time as a spiritual seeker, I found my sense of justice outraged by the Christian teaching about hell, which I considered far more unjust than a mandatory prison term… The doctrine seemed like a cosmic overkill to me, an automatic and unappealable sentence to an eternity of torture and torment… Step out of line with God – even a little bit, even inadvertently – and you’re slapped with an endless prison sentence…”

Lee Strobel

5 PRESUPPOSITIONS

1.    The God of Christianity hates hell and He hates people going there.

ð Ezekiel 33:11

ð Isaiah 13

ð Ezekiel 28

2.   We need to differentiate between liking or disliking something and judging whether it’s right to do so.

ð What we like might not be necessary be right for us to do it.

ð A good example would be the story of adultery.

3.   God is a compassionate being but He is also a just, moral and pure being.

4.   Hell is a place for utter heartbreak. It is a loss of everything and it stands for the worst possible situation that could ever happen to a person.

ð Do you agree with this statement?

ð What is your view of hell?

5.   There’s a difference between intrinsic value and instrumental value.

ð What is intrinsic value?

ð What is instrumental value?

Today’s interview is done with Dr. Moreland.

Discussion #1

Statement by Charles Templeton:

“I couldn’t hold someone’s hand to a fire for a moment. Not an instant! How could a loving God, just because you don’t obey Him and do what he wants, torture you forever – not allowing you to die, but to continue in that pain for eternity?”

Dr. Moreland’s reply to Charles Templeton’s statement:

“Hell is not a torture chamber. God is the most generous, loving, wonderful, attractive being in the cosmos (the universe). Hell is separation or banishment from the most beautiful being in the world – God Himself.”

Your views?

Discussion #2

Statement by Dr. Moreland:

“Hell is punishment but it’s not a punishing.”

Why is it a punishment?

“Hell is the final sentence that says “Hell is the final sentence that says you refused regularly to live for the purpose for which you were made, and the alternative is to sentence you away for all eternity.”

Your views?

Discussion #3

Statement by Lee Strobel:

“According to Genesis, when God created everything, He declared that it was good, so, obviously God created hell. But how could He ever think that hell is good?”

Dr. Moreland’s reply to Lee Strobel’s statement:

“Hell was not part of God’s original creation. Hell is God’s fall back position. Hell is something God was forced to make because people chose to rebel against Him and turn against what was best for them and purpose for which they are created.”

ð Just like Singapore, the government had never started by creating/building a jail. But they were forced to create them because people would not cooperate. The same is true to hell.

ð Why would hell even exist? Firstly, God has created freedom of choice. And so if His people choose go against His will for man as he is given the freedom to choose. Therefore, sin is man choice.

Your views?

Questions in Conclusion

1.    What is the one thing that you can bring with you in eternity?

2.   What is/are your action step(s)?

Now that many things are left silent in the bible, we have not gone through all these in our lives, we can never have a definite answer to all these, and therefore, there’s only 2 things that we can be doing. Firstly, to pray for His people and that God will reveal and give us the wisdom to understand His truths. Secondly, be close to the bible, read God’s truth and apply His truth, so that our lives will be without fault.

Knowing God’s truth will not transform your life but APPLIED TRUTH TRANSFORMS YOU!