by Chris Mcals
Who, How, Where, Why...
How can we reconcile the existence of a good, loving, Omnipotent, Omniscient God with the existence of evil, hell or eternal damnation?
The Scripturally backed concept of hell can be traced by observing the following reasoning thread:
God is good. In Him there is no evil. (Matthew 19:17) and (Romans 2:11) and (1 Peter 1:14-15).
God is Light; in Him there is no darkness at all. (1 John 1:5).
God created only good things. (Genesis 1:31).
God created all good things for love and out of love. (Jeremiah 31:3).
Love requires free will. (4 Genesis 7:8).
Free will implies choices. (1 Corinthians 10:13).
A very powerful part of God’s angelic creation, which was created good, chose to rebel against God. (Isaiah 14:14) and (2 Thessalonians 2:4).
By rebelling against God these angels entered into a conflict with God. (Luke 10:18) and (Revelation 12:7-10).
Beings who enter into a conflict with God become evil. (Lucifer became Satan and his angels became demons). (Ezekiel 28:12-19).
Evil is the absence of good. (Psalm 5:4).
Evil Beings are separated from God. (Satan and his demons were hurled out of Heaven). (Luke 10:18) and (Isaiah 45:9).
Separation from God implies that an adequate place exists to house the beings that chose to become separated from God. (Jude 6).
This place is not good. (Isaiah 59:2).
This place is dark. (Matthew 8:12).
This place is devoid of love. (Revelation 21:8) and (Matthew 10:28).
This place is painful because of the absence of good (God) in it. (Matthew 13:50).
The worse thing we can think of associated with pain is fire. (Revelation 20:14-15).
We call this fiery place “hell.” (Revelation 20:15).
Where is hell? (Job 1:6-8) and (Isaiah 14:9).
Hell’s power is inferior to God’s power. (Revelation 20:6).
Darkness could not overpower Light. (John 1:5).
God actively seeks the salvation of His creation, and hell, by opposition, actively seeks its destruction. (Ephesians 6:10-17).
These two opposite powers manifest themselves to all creatures through the existence of good and evil. (Daniel 12:1).
We are creatures endowed with free will and as such we are free to choose between good and evil. (Isaiah 5:20-21).
After we die we will go to the place of our choice. (Revelation 2:11).
God doesn’t choose for us. (John 3:16:21).
God doesn’t send anybody to hell. (Romans 1:18, 21, 25).
Jesus Speaks About Hell
The Bible is full of verses that talk about hell. In all there are about 162 verses in the New Testament alone that speak of this final eternal place of pain and despair for those who die without repenting of their sins.
Jesus Himself spoke about hell more often than anyone else in the Bible. Here are some references to hell that were uttered from the mouth of the Eternal Word Himself:
“And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the skies? No, you will go down to hell for if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day" Luke 10:15.
"And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail over it" Matthew 16:18.
"In hell, where he was in torment, the rich man looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire'" Luke 16:23-24.
"Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” Matthew 10:28 and Luke 12:5.
"So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and separate the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth" Matthew13:49-50.
"Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels" Matthew 25:41.
Where Is the Devil?
The Bible tells us that when Lucifer and his angels were cast out of Heaven they were hurled down to earth, “The great dragon was hurled down--that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him” Revelation 12:9. It’s ironic that Lucifer, an angel whose name means “Bearer of Light” ended up becoming the very epitome of darkness and of all that darkness stands for, such as evil and lies.
This event must have happened prior to God’s creation of light and certainly prior to His creation of Adam and Eve, because by the time Adam and Eve were living in the Garden of Eden, the devil had already taken residence on the earth. It was he in fact who, having taken the form of a serpent, tempted Eve to disobey God’s command, thus causing the downfall of her progeny, which also includes us.
In addition, we also see that he still has access to Heaven as shown in Job 1:6-7, and we also see, from Satan's temptation of Jesus in the desert, that he most definitely has access to the earth.
To Summarize:
a) We learn in Revelation that Satan loses a war in heaven and is imprisoned in an abyss. However, it would seem that Satan is also "free" to roam where he wishes, whether in hell, heaven or on earth.
b) He will be cast into the lake of fire, his eternal punishment, at the end of the world, when Jesus returns in glory to judge the living and the dead. At that time Hell (or Hades) will also be thrown into the lake of fire.
c) At the present time Hell is not yet in the lake of fire, and neither is Satan.
d) In a desperate attempt to hurt God, Satan has made it his mission to do everything in his power to destroy us, because he knows that we are God’s offspring, "For in Him we live and move and have our being," Acts 17:28.
In Conclusion:
We know for sure that the Word of God declared that hell was prepared for Satan and his angels, Matthew 25:41, however we don’t know exactly who prepared it, because the Bible is not explicit about it.
That having been said, what we know for sure is that God didn't create anything evil, because in John 1:1-5 we read, "through Him all things came to be, not one thing had its being but through Him. All that came to be had life in Him, and that life was the light of men, a light that shines in the dark, a light that darkness could not overpower."
Who created hell remains a baffling mystery, but if the above verse is to be understood in the sense that darkness is in itself an entity separated and opposite to God, (since it couldn't overpower light that is God), perhaps it wouldn't be a far fetched guess to conclude that hell is a frightening byproduct of darkness itself, which symbolizes the world of appearances, the world of opposites, contrast, opposition, contradiction, change, pain and death.
We know for sure that the Word of God declared that hell was prepared for Satan and his angels, Matthew 25:41, however we don’t know exactly who prepared it, because the Bible is not explicit about it.
That having been said, what we know for sure is that God didn't create anything evil, because in John 1:1-5 we read, "through Him all things came to be, not one thing had its being but through Him. All that came to be had life in Him, and that life was the light of men, a light that shines in the dark, a light that darkness could not overpower."
Who created hell remains a baffling mystery, but if the above verse is to be understood in the sense that darkness is in itself an entity separated and opposite to God, (since it couldn't overpower light that is God), perhaps it wouldn't be a far fetched guess to conclude that hell is a frightening byproduct of darkness itself, which symbolizes the world of appearances, the world of opposites, contrast, opposition, contradiction, change, pain and death.
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