Before I get into the question asked above, I wanted to preview some questions that I will post in the days to come:
I would like to believe but I just can't see the difference between Christianity and any other fairy tale...
How can it be just for God to judge us on the actions of one person, Adam?
Can I be a Christian without have a preacher yell at me - what is the purpose of preaching?
Can science play a part in proving a religion wrong?
Great questions - thanks for sending them in....... just a reminder that if you are reading this and you have a question please email me dsmorlan@gmail.com and we will post it and discuss....
Ok, back to the title question above: serious thinkers have grabbled with this issue for thousands of years; indeed, this question lays at the heart of what it means to live life in light of the reality of the Divine. That is, if there is a God who is sovereign (e.g. ultimately in control of everything that happens) how does that relate to/impact human responsibility (e.g. that we can be rightly held accountable for our actions)? So the question 'Why would God create people just to send them to hell?' leans heavily on the divine sovereignty aspect without really accounting for the human responsibility aspect of this equation.
A great example of the divine sovereignty/human responsibility dynamic is in Acts 2:23 'this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men'. On the one hand, Jesus' crucifixion was no accident at all as it happened according to God's plan. On the other hand, the individuals who perpetrated this crime where held accountable by Peter's accusation 'you crucified and killed....'
There is more to get into with this question (e.g. the notion of judgement/hell and Paul's discussion of election in Romans 9) but I will stop here and see what you all have to say...
This is a bit long (apologies all around), but here goes: In addition to presenting a problem for God's sovereignty over human responsibility, Hell has often been used throughout history as a scare tactic. We're all familiar (if you went to public high school) with the fire and brimstone, "sinners in the hands of an angry God" sermon tradition in the US. During the medieval and early modern period, there were numerous plays staged in town squares which depicted the dangers of Hell. These were used variously to instill servitude to the politically powerful Church, to encourage the purchase of indulgences so the Church-power could profit, and to teach the gospel through fear. I think it is important to recognize these preconceived notions of Hell for what they are - that they have been handed down to us through history and, perhaps, through personal experience with someone preaching a "fire and brimstone" message. Jesus uses Hell as a didactic device for certain lessons for his disciples (always encouraging us to fear God as we would a great king) and never as an evangelical tool to scare people into believing the gospel. The only time Jesus uses it in an accusatory way are toward those who believe they have a right to be in God’s kingdom rather than by the mercy of God, a contrary belief to the gospel (it appears in Matthew 5:22-30; 10:28; 18:9; 23:15, 33; Mark 9:43-47; and Luke 12:5).
ReplyDeleteThis is a good question. Dave may correct me, but if my memory serves me right, Jesus was the first in the Jewish tradition to really introduce an afterlife in Hell. Of course, his Hell wasn't exactly that which we may see depicted in horror movies or Dante's "Inferno." He borrowed the trash dump outside Jerusalem as a metaphor for this place: "the Gehenna of fire," or Valley of Hinnom, the place where refuse was thrown out of the city to maintain the city’s purity. As Jesus preached the coming Kingdom of God, it would be logically consistent that a good king would wish to throw out of his kingdom all those who set themselves up in opposition. If given the opportunity to be a part of this good kingdom, one has a choice of either becoming a citizen or risk the consequences of being thrown out once that kingdom is established. This gets into deeper questions of free will, etc., which I'm sure Dave will cover, but it does seem consistent with Jesus' message that a good king would do such a thing. (Consider: As manager at an office, would I want to keep a worker there who refused to do any actual work? When I fire that person, even if I had hired them in the first place, am I the one to be held responsible if they face monetary disaster on the way out the door?).
ReplyDeleteThe second group which this question addresses are those who are never given the opportunity to make the choice (i.e. they live somewhere that the message of Jesus and his teaching of God are never heard). This is a much more difficult issue. I always called it "the missionary question," since it often concerns their passion. Paul seems to say that those who never heard the gospel are held accountable by the very nature surrounding them ("His invisible attributes... have been clearly seen" Rom. 1:20). Some claim they are bound for Hell unless they hear the gospel. Others seem to think there may be a second chance during judgment after the person dies to either accept the gospel or reject it (C.S. Lewis, literary theorist and Christian writer esteemed by many evangelicals, seemed to lean toward this latter opinion. See for example the end of his novella "The Silver Chair").
ReplyDeleteI personally tend to think that God is as logical as he is good (meaning he is fully consistent with his own nature, will, and actions). It seems to me reasonable that he would understand the situation of a person's life such that if they were never given an opportunity to hear the gospel in life, they might be given the chance at the time of judgment. But it is difficult to know this for certain. Perhaps this ambivalence is what Jesus intended - by not hashing out exactly what he meant by Hell in the gospels he hoped to encourage believers to be more fervent in talking about the gospel with unbelievers.
ReplyDeleteI asked this question of the Pastor of my previous church in Okinawa, Japan. The following is his response:
ReplyDeleteI recently received an email from a friend asking for some insight into an often pondered question: “Why does God create people He knows will go to Hell?”
Theologians have wrestled with and argued about this question for millennia... and I’m quite certain my feeble attempt will add little to the discussion. Nonetheless, it may be helpful for one or two of you out there, so I decided to copy my emailed answer here:
Before getting a satisfactory answer to this question, one must first understand at least two other doctrines (probably more):
1) The Doctrine of God - Specifically the holiness of God, and why God does anything he does - like creation (Answer: He does everything for His glory). In terms of the holiness of God, it isn't an attribute of God it is The attribute of God. Our minds can't begin to fathom his utter and complete holiness (read Isaiah 6). He is so holy that nothing unholy can be in his presence.
2) The doctrine of Sin - Now contrasted with God's holiness is the utter sinfulness and depravity of humanity. Think about how bad it is in the world... in yourself. now multiply that by X... Turns out we are in really bad shape... Though God created all things good... Humanity turned and went astray on their own accord (See Romans 1:18-32)
So here's the deal... (and people have a hard time with this because when it comes down to it, they don't really believe in height of God's holiness or the depth of man's depravity) God would be perfectly just and right to send everyone who has ever lived (except Jesus of course) to Hell... There He is perfect in His justice... no one deserves to go to heaven... no one is 'good' as Jesus said... or as Isaiah said, "we all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way... (Isa. 53:6)."
Now when you begin to look at it from that perspective, the question changes to "Why in the world does God let anyone go into heaven???" and the answer of course is God's sovereign grace alone (see Ephesians 1). The fact that anyone goes to heaven is amazing!
Now more to the specific question: "Why does God create people He knows are going to Hell?"
I don't pretend to know all of the mind of God (of course!), but there are hints... and difficult answers. For example, every year there is a 'Super Bowl' for the NFL... before the game everyone knows that only one team will win and the other will lose... yet they still play the game... it's still worth it. Granted, this analogy falls short, but perhaps it makes a bit of sense here.
Even with the reality of Hell, God has decided that life for all people is still worth it... in fact, Romans 9 makes it clear (albeit difficult) that part of God's purpose for creating people destined for hell is that those who are redeemed will see the grace and majesty that much more clear as they see the alternative for the unredeemed - and they will give God praise and glory.
It's interesting, even in the difficult Romans 9 passage, Paul cites Pharaoh as an example. In that story, it's hard to tell exactly what's happening... on the one hand the text says "the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart... (c.f. Ex. 9:12)". However, in the story, on several occasions we are told the Pharaoh hardened his own heart (c.f. Ex. 8:15; 32). So who hardened who's heart? Regardless, God in His sovereignty accomplished his purposes for His glory (He did the same thing with the brutal murder of Jesus... and ultimately, we'll see that he is indeed working all things out for His glory and our good - Rom. 8:28).
Here's what I know... Pharaoh and every other person who goes to Hell will be without excuse (see the Romans 1 passage cited earlier). no one will be able to say to God, "That's unfair!" - In the moment of truth and judgment all will be clear.
Just as a help, Romans 9:14-26
ReplyDeleteWhat then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! For he says to Moses,
"I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion."
It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy. For the 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."
Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy,and he hardens whom he wants to harden.
One of you will say to me: "Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?" But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, "Why did you make me like this?" Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?
What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory— even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?
As he says in Hosea:
"I will call them 'my people' who are not my people; and I will call her 'my loved one' who is not my loved one,"
and,
"It will happen that in the very place where it was said to them,'You are not my people,'they will be called 'sons of the living God.'"