The Necessity of Hell

Last week I watched some programs that were recorded about 10 years ago that dealt with the subject of if God is loving why does He allow so much pain and suffering? In other words, why is there so much evil in our world? Why won’t He stop it – like now?! 

One of the programs within the 8-part series dealt with the reality of hell. The host John Ankerberg asked his studio guest Norman Geisler why hell is necessary. Norman  who has authored numerous books on defending the Christian Faith provided three answers.  

1. 1. Hell is a prison sentence for those who breaks God’s laws.  God must execute His justice against evildoers. Just like criminals who breaks the laws here on earth are sent to prison once convicted, God eternally punishes those who reject Jesus Christ’s substitutionary atonement for their sins in hell. Hell is where unrepentant departed souls dwell before they are resurrected to face the Great White Judgment in Revelation 201.  

2. 2. God is loving and He will not force anyone into Heaven.  God will not violate man’s choice to be with Him or not. That is the second  reason why hell is necessary – because of God’s love. 

3. 3. Heaven is worse than hell for the unrepentant sinner. Norman explained that having the unsaved in heaven for eternity would not be a blessing but a curse. Why? An example he gave was you have people who hate to worship in church for an hour. What if they were forced to worship God for an eternity in heaven when they hate it because they hate God? Heaven for the unconverted is an impossibility. 

The first two reasons I was aware of. The third reason was/is new insight for me. So, for those of who read this article and you need reasons for the existence of hell, these are three valid reasons why God created it.  

 

God has made it clear in His word that He does not take pleasure when the wicked die. God would prefer the wicked repent (Ezekiel 33:11). God also declared that He is not willing that any should perish but that all come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9) - that is the heart of God for all men. However, because He has given man free will, we must choose life or death. Righteousness or unrighteousness. God sending a person to hell when they rebel is more loving than forcing one into heaven when they do not desire to be there. Why? God must allow for man to make the wrong choice if He wants to. No matter how tragic that wrong choice is. Not everything God desires for man will come to pass because of man choosing to rebel against Him. This breaks the heart of God. But because God is perfectly loving, He must execute His wrath against the wicked and punish them in hell for their willful rejection of Him. 

 

For God to reward the unrepentant with heaven would violate His own standard of justice and holiness. It would also nullify the need for hell in the first place. Also, it would have been useless to create man with choice since he is headed for heaven no matter what he does. Hell is necessary no matter how most dislike hearing about it. It is fair and as strange as it may sound loving of God (with painful regret but necessary) to send the unrighteous there to suffer because the Lord will honor the most dishonorable choice man can make - rejecting Jesus Christ – mankind's only savior. 

i Those who are resurrected to face Jesus Christ at the Great White Judgement are the wicked dead. These are the ones whose name are not written the Lamb’s book of life. Their ultimate destination will be the lake of fire which is the second death.