Hell’s Purpose?

Doug Henderson, author of Why Inclusion, asked what he calls a “nagging” question. “Sending people to hell for eternity would serve what purpose for God? Revenge? Entertainment? How would that benefit the people sent there?” Have you ever asked yourself what purpose it would serve? This is one of the most pertinent and weighty questions anyone could raise. Why? Because an unsatisfactory answer maligns God’s character before the whole world.

Consider the words of Jeremiah 32:35, “And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire unto Moloch; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.”

If it had never entered the mind of God that such a detestable and abominable thing which in this case was but for a short duration, is it conceivable that He would condemn billions of people to an existence of unending agony in the flames of hell for all eternity? How does anyone harmonize this with the Scriptures that tell us “God is love” (1 John 4:8 & 16)? He is also described as a merciful God in the Bible – how does this align with the teaching of the doctrine of “eternal torment?” I choose to worship and serve the God of love and mercy as did Joshua of old, “And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom you will serve…..but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD” (Joshua 24:15).

Selected

The Love of God

Could we with ink the ocean fill,

And were the skies of parchment made,

Were every stalk on earth a quill,

And every man a scribe by trade,

To write the Love of God Above

Would drain the ocean dry,

Nor could the scroll contain the whole,

Though stretched from sky to sky.

O Love of God, how rich and pure! How measureless and strong!

It shall forevermore endure, the saints and angel’s song.