Expert: Dr. Ronald E. Shultz - 5/30/2011

Question
Hi Dr. Shultz,

I was hoping you could help me with some questions I have about hell.  

Is it just (or fair) that people go to hell?  We are told that because people cannot meet God’s perfect standard of a sinless life that, yes, it is fair that people will go to hell.  But my question is then- is it fair to be held to that standard of a sinless life?  Logically, shouldn’t the standards we are held to be standards that can be met?  For instance, why do we not set the height of the pole vault at 70ft?  The answer is simple- because nobody can meet that standard.  Similarly, nobody can meet the requirement of a sinless life.  Everybody sins and no one is capable of not sinning (except for Jesus, of course).  Therefore, is holding someone to a standard that is impossible to meet, indeed, fair?  

   Let me take the question a bit further.  Is it our fault we are sinners?  Certainly we choose to sin, but is it our choice to be sinners by nature?  There have been billions of people who have lived and how many of them have not sinned?  And if every person who has ever lived has sinned, then the failure rate seems to be 100% .  This being the case, then do we really have choice in the matter?  Let me make the point by way of analogy.  A mechanical engineer designs a certain widget.  Thousands and thousands of the widgets are created and all of them break after production.  Do we then blame the widget for its failure?  Of course not.  Yet this is precisely the case according to many churches.  

   Moreover, we have an ideal in our western democracy- “let the punishment fit the crime”.  Is it fair that people will be tortured for eternity for the sins they have committed during a short time?  Does torturing a person with fire for eternity not seem a little harsh?

Answer
If God would have not provided many ways to meet His standards or conditions you might have an argument.  In the Garden, the standard was just one command, don't eat that one fruit.  One can only imagine the myriad of items available to feast on and yet that one fruit captivated Adam and Eve.  All He required was faith or trust in Him.  He had to give them free will to choose or instead of having someone capable of having a relationship with Him, He would just have robots.

They had the opportunity to trust Him, the serpent or their own visual and tactile conclusions.  They chose the latter two based upon Eve's error concerning what God said.  He never said touch.  They could have played ball with it, fed it to the animals, used it as an art media or whatever.  They just could not eat it.  

What happened when they did? Yes, sin entered the world and their seed was tainted.  Yet, rather than striking them dead and starting over God killed a lamb to give them a covering for their bodies and the blood covered their sin.  If you look throughout the Scripture you will find God saying trust me, giving a warning, giving an opportunity to repent before He lowers the boom, so to speak. We have the Ark, the blood on the doorposts, the brazen serpent and other instances including the Cross.  

Does God have to provide a way of salvation?  No, He is the one offended and He gets to set the terms of forgiveness.  He could have just sent everyone to Hell and been done with it. Because He has mercy He has shown grace and provided a means of salvation.  Trust Him and take it and Hell is a moot issue for you.  Don't trust Him and rebel like Lucifer and his group and you end up spending eternity with them.  They will be there for eternity and since we were designed for eternity then the sins that are unforgiven are in an eternal state of judgment and damnation. Thus a person spends eternity ih Hell for he/she did not accept the pardon provided.  

You are born a sinner, but still covered by God's grace until you make your choice.  Yet, God knows before you ever commit the first sin what you will choose thus He can choose Jacob and Jeremiah from the womb for blessings and service and raise up Pharoah to show His might to His people without overuling the free will of the person.    

We are to seek to be perfect or holy but we can only do that when we are saved by Christ's blood and allow the Spirit to rule us.  We may never reach 100% in this life but we are declared judicially righteous because Christ did meet God's standard and we are dead and our life is hid in Him when we are born again.  Therefore God required the standard and then fulfilled it in His Son thus we can attain the standard and in that case it is more than fair.

God's ways are not our ways nor are our thoughts His thoughts for His ways and thoughts are higher than ours. We incarcerate men for life and sometimes execute them for crimes.  Since we will all have eternal life those in Hell will suffer for eternity and that is called the second death for those people are separated from God.  When you reject the mercy, grace and love of God there is nothing left but the righteous wrath and judgment of God.  The sentence then fits the crime.

When we get there, I believe that both the saved and lost will not only understand the rationale of Hell but will also affirm the "fairness" or righteousness of the judgment just as they will acknowledge Jesus as Lord.  Until then we trust that the Judge of all the earth shall do right and even in wrath show mercy. Hell is bad, but it could be worse.  

Blessings to you as you study and seek His wisdom and discernment!