So the title really isn't my question--it's actually the title of the fifth chapter in Timothy Keller's book,
The Reason for God. Thus far, the book has been excellent. If you haven't read it, I really recommend buying a copy (so you can write in it) as soon as possible. The first half of the book traverses the broad spectrum of reasons why people doubt or object to Christianity. Some examples include Christianity is a straight jacket and the church has been responsible for so much injustice. The fifth chapter, as introduced by the title and first sentence of this post, wonders how a loving God could send people to Hell.
I think that it's appropriate at this point in time to mention the fact that doubts do not mean one doesn't have faith. In fact, doubts--to a degree--can be healthy. It is the at the intersection of faith and real life that doubts arise. The issue is how does one deal with them. Sweeping them under the metaphorical rug is by no means healthy as it allows them to fester and grow untouched by God's grace. If we become too focused on our doubts, instead of our Savior, they consume us and keep us from clinging to Christ. The proper way to deal with doubt (both our own and others) is to acknowledge and wrestle with it. By doing so with the proper understanding of God's sovereignty and mystery, doubts serve to strengthen our faith in the LORD and our witness to nonbelievers. In the same way muscles grow stronger when trained against the resistance of weights, our faith grows when we persevere and pursue Christ amidst doubt.
So one of my biggest doubts falls under the fifth chapter of this book. I won't divulge the entire contents of the chapter, but Keller does an adequate job of working through the reasoning behind this objection. Essentially, if you read the Bible, it is undoubtedly clear that God is indeed a loving God. He is also just and the Bible speaks numerous times to his judgment. We find this judgment so objectionable because it condemns people to hell
on God's terms, not our own. Most people have some sort of moral line that they're willing to draw. However, our society has become self-obsessed, believing that we control right and wrong in the physical and metaphysical realms.
However, God's anger just seems so incompatible with him being a loving God. Keller quotes Becky Pippert's book
Hope has Its Reasons in order to respond to that objection. "'Anger isn't the opposite of love. Hate is, and the final form of hate is indifference...God's wrath is not a cranky explosion, but his settled opposition to the cancer...which is eating out the insides of the human race he loves with his whole being.'...He is angry at evil and injustice because it is destroying [his creation's] peace and integrity."
So God is a God of love and a God of judgment. With that judgment, comes his wrath at the sin inside of us. Let's be clear, we all deserve judgment and death. We're wicked, twisted, and despicable. We have ruined all that is pure, beautiful, and holy in his creation. We deserve that condemnation. That much is clear. Keller makes the argument that hell is simple our chosen trajectory (either to God or away) going on for eternity. Whatever hell is, we deserve it for our sin. It is also clear that God is good, perfect, and just. But this is where my struggle comes in...
In the Bible, we learn that God formed and created us.
Romans 9 says as much. That chapter reveals that he made some to be vessels of mercy by which to show his glory. However, he also made some to be vessels of wrath. So while we deserve hell, and God doesn't so much send us to hell as let us go to it ourselves, it seems to me as if God winds us up like a toy car and lets us roll off the table top into hell. Yes, we go off ourselves, but if God hadn't created us like that, we wouldn't have fallen off the edge. Romans 9:19 seems to speak my question clearly.
Yet, I know that since this is God's plan, it is perfect. It is the way his glory is best displayed. No other way could be better. Yet, I find it hard to reconcile that concept with the one that he made some to go to hell. As for right now, it is something that I chalk up to God's mystery.
However, as I wrote this, I had several thoughts. God created us to be in a relationship with him. We were not created to be sinful, but that is what we are due to our choices. We have chosen our way over God's. So there we deserve hell, we deserve the wrath. In Romans 9, it says some were created to be vessels of mercy, meaning we are not given what we deserve. Because of the sin, which is our fault/responsibility, we have no potential for greatness, no chance at reaching heaven. We are then redeemed by God's mercy and grace, and allowed to come into his presence.
I think the main issue was that I was assuming everyone deserved to be saved. This is a distortion of the truth that no one is more deserving than another to be saved. If no one is more deserving, then we're all just as deserving. While that may seem true semantically, it gives humanity, myself included, more credit than we deserve. While I do not comprehend the true severity and ugliness of my sin, I do view myself as an awful sinner. If God somehow saw fit to save me, then by logic, others are just as deserving. However, God does not work that way. If he did, none of us would be saved because we all deserve death for our sin. It is purely by God's grace and favor that I have been saved. This vessel that was destined for dishonorable use, was transformed by God into one for an honorable use.
Hopefully this makes sense. It follows logically in my head, but then again it is 1AM. I plan to revisit this post in the near future to try to clear up any uncertainties. In the meantime, please leave comments or questions if you have any. Peace.
