How Can a Loving God Send Someone to Hell?

I asked my friend a question that had long troubled me: “How can a loving and merciful God put people in hell forever?” That thought had kept me from being interested in any church.

I was shocked by my friend’s simple, straightforward answer: “He doesn’t.”

Have you ever stopped to consider what the common idea of hell—if it were true—would mean? What would it mean about God’s sense of justice? What would it mean about His mercy? And what would it mean about His power?

The purpose of this article is not to discuss whether an ever-burning hell of torture exists. Scripture clearly teaches that for humans “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). This is called the second death—becoming ashes in a lake of fire (Malachi 4:3; Revelation 20:14-15). It’s not an eternity of agony in a fiery hell.

The biblical teaching is fully explained in our articles “What Is Hell?” “Will the Wicked Burn in Hell?” and “Eternal Torment?”

Instead of whether such a hell exists, this article addresses why the idea of an ever-burning hell filled with tormented souls is inconsistent with God’s character.

My immediate concern

In my discussion with my friend so many years ago, my immediate concern was about how unfair the idea of hell is. I was troubled by what the existence of hell meant in relation to God’s justice.

An eternity in hell as punishment for a few years of evil is simply not just. True justice is a matter of reaping what one has sown (Galatians 6:7), not an infinite harvest of agony.

Being tormented for billions and billions of years as the result of 70 or 80 years of sin isn’t justice. It’s overkill, and it’s sadistic.

The God of mercy

On top of that, tormenting sinners for billions and billions of years is inconsistent with what we know about the mercy of God. The God of the Bible is not spiteful and vengeful as humans too often can be.

That’s why God inspired the prophet Isaiah to write, “‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ says the LORD. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts’” (Isaiah 55:8-9).

The immediate context of these verses is a discussion of God’s mercy. Through Isaiah, He made an appeal to His people to repent, assuring them that if they “return to the LORD,” God “will have mercy” (verse 7).

Unlike humans, who can harbor thoughts of unbridled hate and vengeance, God seeks to extend mercy.

An ever-burning hell is simply inconsistent with God’s thoughts of mercy, which are so much higher than our thoughts of retribution.

Another problem with belief in hell

These issues really troubled me, but there was another one I did not consider until long after that conversation with my friend. What would the common belief in hell mean for God’s power?

The idea that sinners go to hell for eternity and that saints go to heaven sets up a duality in the spiritual world. Ultimately it implies that Satan is on an equal footing with God.

The English poet John Milton, in his epic Paradise Lost, portrayed Satan as the one ruling over hell. Milton put these oft-quoted words into Satan’s mouth: “Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heav’n.”

Nowhere in the Bible do we see any suggestion that Satan is a counterpart to God. He can do nothing without God’s permission (Job 1:9-12; 2:4-6).

And yet, in popular culture and in some religious circles, Satan is depicted as engaged in a contest with God over the souls of men and women.

Is Satan winning?

If you believe in the traditional concept of hell, a quick look at world demographics can lead to only one conclusion regarding God’s power to save: God is losing the battle with Satan.

The clear teaching of Scripture is that God is both just and merciful, and that He is without equal in power. He is not at the same level as Satan, and He is not losing a battle with the devil for souls. There has never been a time when Christians accounted for even half the world’s population, and generally, they’ve made up far less than half.

A 2022 survey about world religions found that Christianity accounts for less than a third (31.6 percent) of the world’s population. Other studies have shown that the percentage hasn’t changed much during the past century.

By numbers alone, it would seem that Satan is winning.

Does God care about Asia and Africa?

Although Christianity began in Galilee and Judea, which are in the Near East, for much of its 2,000-year history it has largely been restricted to Europe. Even today, Christianity is not evenly distributed throughout the world. Asia and the Middle East, for instance, have few who profess Christianity.

Many people have lived where they have never had the opportunity to learn about the God of the Bible. Have they been condemned to writhe in agony throughout eternity because they were unfortunate enough to be born in Asia or someplace where Christianity isn’t widespread?

Are generations of Europeans headed to heaven while pre-Columbian native Americans are all headed to hell? Are the people in the wealthy Western world, where Bibles are easily accessible, to be eternally more blessed by God than poor subsistence farmers in Bangladesh or Somalia?

Some people argue that such individuals might be judged by a different standard, but that is not biblical. Jesus clearly taught that He is the way (John 14:6), not a way. Peter later echoed this teaching when he declared there is no “salvation in any other” (Acts 4:12).

Some Christians do believe that billions of people are headed to hell. They argue that the peril facing so many in the world “ought to be one of the impelling motives making evangelism the urgent business of all Christians” (Zondervan, Vol. 3, p. 117).

What does this view say about God’s character and power?

Not even a third

A third of the world’s population today considers itself Christian, but that does not mean all those people really are. Many consider themselves Catholic or Baptist or Presbyterian because they grew up in families that identified with those churches, even if they rarely attend.

Growing up in a church, or calling yourself a Christian, doesn’t make you one. It doesn’t even make you aware of what biblical Christianity entails.

In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus spoke of people who think they are Christians, but aren’t: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 7:21).

Many professing Christians know very little about the Bible or what it means to be a Christian. Pollster George Gallup described America, considered the most Christian nation on earth, as “a nation of biblical illiterates.”

Our newest booklet—What Is a True Christian?—explores the critical differences between true and false Christianity.

The implications of hell

What does the fact that God has called so few—not even a third of the world at any given time in history—mean if you believe in the heaven-or-hell paradigm? If this is what you believe, then (whether you realize it or not) you believe God has limited power.

The common concept of hell comes with a price tag. To believe it means to accept limitations on God’s sense of justice, on His capacity for mercy and on the degree of His power.

Scripture, however, presents an entirely different picture of God. The God we see in the pages of the Bible is often defined as a God of justice and mercy, and He is described as possessing incomparable power. In fact, it is because He is a God of power that He identified Himself to Abram as “Almighty” God (Genesis 17:1).

God of justice and mercy

Many passages highlight God’s love of justice. We are told that “all His ways are justice” (Deuteronomy 32:4) and that “He has prepared His throne for judgment” (Psalm 9:7). He is a just God, and He tells us so: “For I, the LORD, love justice” (Isaiah 61:8).

The Bible also emphasizes God’s desire and capacity for mercy. In fact, He holds off judgment to allow time for repentance—a concept brought out by Paul as well as John and Peter.

Paul explained this to the church at Rome. Using the terms forbearance and longsuffering to capture the idea of mercy, he wrote that the “goodness of God leads you to repentance” (Romans 2:4).

John tied justice and mercy together, showing how interconnected they are. In his first epistle, he wrote that God “is faithful and just to forgive us our sins” (1 John 1:9). Notice that forgiveness, associated with mercy, is a result of God’s sense of justice.

Peter also wrote that “the Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). For a deeper look at how God plans to extend His mercy to all people, see our article “Is God Fair?”

God of power

Throughout the Bible, we see God as unlimited in power—unmatched by anyone.

Facing invading armies from Moab and Ammon, Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, publicly prayed for God’s help. In that prayer, he acknowledged God’s power:

“O LORD God of our fathers, are You not God in heaven, and do You not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations, and in Your hand is there not power and might, so that no one is able to withstand You?” (2 Chronicles 20:6).

Jehoshaphat specifically pointed out that “no one is able to withstand” God. He wasn’t the only ancient king to recognize this truth. David wrote that “power belongs to God” (Psalm 62:11).

Even in difficult times, God’s people have taken comfort in God’s absolute power. God offered that comfort to Judah as the nation faced destruction and exile to Babylon.

During this dark time, Jeremiah recorded God’s seemingly impossible promise that He would return the exiles to their homeland: “Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me?” (Jeremiah 32:27).

What all this means for us

The clear teaching of Scripture is that God is both just and merciful, and that He is without equal in power. He is not at the same level as Satan, and He is not losing a battle with the devil for souls.

All of this points out the inconsistency in the traditional concept of an ever-burning hell in which humans are punished forever. It simply isn’t true. What God has in store for those who repent and for those who don’t is just and merciful, and it is possible because God is all-powerful and not limited by anything, including death.

What does this mean for humans?

First, we can take comfort in God’s justice, mercy and power. Understanding God’s character is key to our faith.

As Paul explained to the church at Rome, “neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).

Second, because justice and mercy are key traits of God, we should do our very best to emulate them in our own lives while humbly acknowledging God’s power. That is a goal the prophet Micah urged God’s people to pursue:

“He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8).

Study more about God’s power and character in our booklet Getting to Know the God of the Bible. And learn more of what the Bible reveals about God’s plan for what happens after death in our booklet The Last Enemy: What Really Happens After Death?