Questions on Heaven and Hell

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Note: This article is written with the Armenian view of Theology in mind, and it is clear how it differs from the Reformed view of Theology. Please treat each viewpoint with respect and understanding, as God in His Grace and Wisdom uses both forms of Theology for the Salvation of Souls and the extension of His Kingdom. We request that you do not tender salacious, malicious or other negative comments on these viewpoints. Jeffrey M Pearce.

These are excellent questions — honest, raw, and vital.

Let’s dig in.

Question: If God forgives, why does hell exist?

Answer: Because many people choose to reject God’s forgiveness.

Hell was not designed for humanity. It was created for Satan and the demons, to lock them away from the rest of creation because they committed themselves to rebelling against God and everyone He created.

God is not willing for a single human being to perish in hell. Jesus went to the Cross specifically to open the way to life eternal, so that anyone who desired to be with God can be.

But — it is your choice.

Listen to God as He pours out His heart:

'As surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked should turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?'

—Ezekiel 33:11, BSB

You bear the responsibility to choose. God welcomes you with open arms the second you decide to turn to Him and live. That’s what He wants.

Here, you may object and say, “But I’m not living an evil life! I’m a good person.”

You probably are a good person. God made you; He filled you with goodness, because He made everything good in its original state.

Yet: you also pursue evil.

God designed you for ultimate good. God designed you for ultimate pleasure and joy. These things are only found in Him. He knows exactly what it takes to fulfill you, satisfy you, delight you, and sustain you. He calls you to follow Him, that you might know the reason for your existence. God wants you to fulfill your destiny.

But if you turn away from your destiny — that’s evil.

If you turn away from the source of all love, satisfaction, and happiness — that’s evil.

If you trade the God of ultimate joy for anything lesser — that’s evil.

God is eager to forgive all of our evil. Jesus died on the Cross to suffer the penalty for that evil, so that we can be completely clean. When we ask for God’s forgiveness, He gives it instantly, and invites us back onto the path to destiny.

But: it is your choice.

If you choose to reject God and pursue evil instead, then your choices will take you to where evil thrives.

Question: If I am God’s creation, am I not created how He wanted me to be?

Answer: You are exactly how God wanted you to be. He designed you, from the shape of your toes to the colour of your hair. He even chose the exact time and place of your birth with clear purpose:

From one man He made every nation of men, to inhabit the whole earth; and He determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their lands. God intended that they would seek Him perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us

—Acts 17:26–27 BSB

God created your destiny.

Yet you choose whether you pursue it:

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion…”

—Genesis 1:26 ESV

God made you just as He wants you: with the ability to control your life. You possess a mind, able to analyse your choices, pick what seems to be the best one, and set your life’s course.

No one can take that right from you.

No matter what the world outside does to you, you still possess control of your own will. You can determine what actions you will take. You set the course of your own life — whether you pursue your destiny or turn away from it.

God made you with that ability, because God made you as His child. He made you in His image, just as every baby is made in the image of its parents, with their appearances, traits, and abilities. God made you with the will to choose, because He possesses a will.

It’s up to you to determine how to use it.

Question: If all souls are built in the same "specification", why do some repent and some don’t?

Answer: Because some choose to pursue their destiny, and some choose to reject it.

The “specification” God built you to does not control your choices. Rather, it guards your ability to make your own independent choices.

Some choose to turn to God and find life. Others choose to turn away from God. They find the opposite of life.

Question: If freewill exists, why is there judgement?

Answer: Judgement exists precisely because there is free will.

If free will did not exist, neither would judgment. God does not judge animals or plants for their choices, because they cannot make sentient choices as humans can. We don’t judge a robot for carrying out its programming.

We only judge those who use their free will to choose to do evil.

Let me add one more question to the end:

Question: Who creates the torment in hell?

Answer: You do.

Here you might push back. Didn’t God create hell as punishment for the angels? How can you say that I create the torment in hell?

I can say it because Scripture describes it:

It was in the year King Uzziah died that I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the Temple. Attending him were mighty seraphim, each having six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. They were calling out to each other,

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies!

The whole earth is filled with his glory!”

Their voices shook the Temple to its foundations, and the entire building was filled with smoke.

Then I said, “It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.” Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. He touched my lips with it and said, “See, this coal has touched your lips. Now your guilt is removed, and your sins are forgiven.”

—Isaiah 6:1–7 NLT

Isaiah saw God — and Isaiah felt hell.

When Isaiah first saw God, it was torture. He saw God in all God’s glory and purity, and Isaiah felt hellfire and anguish inside of him because he was still full of sin.

That’s Hell.

God didn’t torture Isaiah. Demons didn’t whip him or poke him with sticks.

Isaiah’s torment came entirely because of his own personal sin. He saw God while he himself was filled with evil — and it tore him up.

Relief only came when Isaiah was forgiven. Once forgiven, he could see God and delight in His glory. Once forgiven, Isaiah had no greater thrill than to look on God and carry out His will.

That’s Heaven.

God wants to spare you from your agony. He wants to forgive you, to cleanse you so that when you see God, it will be rapturous.

You will see God either way. When this life ends—tomorrow or five decades from now or when your next breath fails to come—you will meet this God. When you do, you will either experience Hell because you’re full of evil or Heaven because God has cleansed you.

Jesus stands ready to forgive. The moment you decide to repent and turn to Him and pursue life, He eagerly cleanses you and welcomes you into His arms. He loves you. He wants you with Him forever in joy.

It’s your choice.