Expert: Eric Christy - 1/4/2007

Question
in the days of Noah...

were those people God got fed up with worse than us?

did God not love them as he does us?  they had no savior who went to the cross.

If God got fed up with people because most of them are evil back then and wiped them out-- how am I supposed to get along with the same people God killed during the days of Noah?

Answer
Hi Jeff,

You ask an insightful question. My answer is that God hates sinful behavior, no matter who is doing it. Whether it was the people of Noah's time, or the people of our time, God hates sin. You could say that God hates the sin, but loves the sinner. God does not want anyone to go to hell, but since He values free will above all other traits He created in us, he lets us choose where we want to go. Most choose hell. Dumb choice, but hey, that's what turns them on I suppose.

And too, we see in the book of 2nd Peter chapter 2, that God punished the angels when they chose to rebel, sending them to hell. But when Jesus came, He preached to the souls in hell of Noah's time, and anyone with the sense to accept Jesus' message, went back to heaven with Him when He got done preaching to these lost souls of Noah's time.

So Jeff, we see that God is a just God. He really does not want to send anyone to hell, but because He must also maintain justice, He is required to send all who refuse the one ticket that gets them out of hell, namely accepting Jesus Christ as one's savior. Trust me, Jeff, no one goes to hell on accident. All who end up there will know exactly why they're there. They will know that they were fools, refusing to accept Jesus Christ as their savior.

Eric