Is Hell Fair?

One chief objection atheists give for their unbelief in God is that hell is unfair. How, they ask, can a good God send people to hell who never heard of him? I'm sure this question bothers many sincere seekers as well.

Though many people never heard of God, Romans 1:20 (BBE) shows that they still know of him through creation. "For from the first making of the world, those things of God which the eye is unable to see, that is, his eternal power and existence, are fully made clear, he having given the knowledge of them through the things which he has made, so that men have no reason for wrongdoing:"

And if that isn't enough, the next verse shows that the various people groups throughout history rejected the Lord. Romans 1:21 (BBE) declares, "Because, having the knowledge of God, they did not give glory to God as God, and did not give praise, but their minds were full of foolish things, and their hearts, being without sense, were made dark."

There's also the thorny matter of God's sovereignty over whom he's chosen. The human mind rebels against this, yet it's true. Ponder what God said through the Apostle Paul in Romans 9:19 and 20 (BBE). "But you will say to me, 'Why does he still make us responsible? who is able to go against his purpose?' But, O man, who are you, to make answer against God? May the thing which is made say to him who made it, 'Why did you make me so?'"

The truth is that God is sovereign and everything was made by him. As Paul continues in Romans 9:22-24, (BBE), "What if God, desiring to let his wrath and his power be seen, for a long time put up with the vessels of wrath which were ready for destruction: And to make clear the wealth of his glory to vessels of mercy, which he had before made ready for glory, Even us, who were marked out by him, not only from the Jews, but from the Gentiles?"

But this view isn't Paul's alone. Isaiah 64:8 (BBE) expressly states, "But now, O Lord, you are our father; we are the earth, and you are our maker; and we are all the work of your hand."

God also told Jeremiah to go to the potter's house and watch him work. The man made a pot but something went wrong with it. So he reshaped the clay into another pot which pleased him. We read in Jeremiah 18:6 (BBE) that God said, "'O Israel, am I not able to do with you as this potter does?' says the Lord. 'See, like earth in the potter's hand are you in my hands, O Israel.'"

So those folks who criticize God are in the wrong and need to repent of their gross sin. This is one thing I must point out in my next book called You Think You're Going to Heaven? Puny humanity feels entitled to murmur against the Lord but all they'll receive in the end is a one-way trip to hell.

On Thursday, I plan on posting about how hell is a sort of jail where sinners await their final sentence.

Who Do Some Christians Think They Are?

 I've shown in the previous two posts that both predestination and choice are true in the Bible. God chooses to save some and we also have the ability granted by him  to surrender to him. It's a conundrum which our puny minds can't comprehend.

This paradox reminds me of a fly buzzing against a window pane. It can't figure out what's blocking its way, yet it sees the outside world through the glass. We're like that fly when we strive to grasp the unfathomable and infinite mind of God Almighty.

Isaiah 64:8 (KJV) aptly shows our relationship to the Lord. "But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand." Therefore, who do people think they are to question his omniscient will?

Jeremiah 18:6 (KJV) is another example of God likening himself to a master potter and we as being mere clay. "O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel."

Lest anybody think this is just an Old Testament mandate, look at what Paul wrote in Romans 9:21 (KJV). "Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?" This, by the way,  is the reason that he favoured Jacob over Esau.

Job sure learned his lesson regarding questioning God's intelligence and wisdom. The final three chapters of the book of Job show how the Lord showed through questions that we mere humans are as nothing compared to the Almighty. Like Paul wrote in Romans 9:20 (KJV), "Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?"

I likewise learned my lesson regarding judging God's motives, though not in such a dramatic way as Job did. In How I Was Razed, I showed how misinformed I was about the Lord and how he graciously led me to know him as he truly is. Please check out my wondrous testimony memoir at Amazon.