“I Just Can't Believe in a God who Sends People to Hell”

We’ve all heard it before. It’s the biggest beef nonbelievers have with God. The wording varies, but it usually goes something like this: “I just can’t believe in a God who would send people to hell. I mean, if God is so good, why not just save everyone?”

It’s a valid question. Eternal judgment is real and everyone will face it. God is all powerful and exceedingly good, patient, kind, and merciful. But the Bible’s clear that he’s also jealous, wrathful, and absolutely intolerant of sin. Thus, it’s tough to reconcile God’s justice with his great love. For those who don’t know him personally, the mental image of an angry judge in the sky hurling nonbelievers down into a fiery abyss isn’t particularly appealing. 

I don’t blame them. However, such a perspective is largely inaccurate. God isn’t so much an angry judge but a Father pleading for his children to come home. The issue of why “good” people are sent to hell can be complex, but it usually boils down to two basic concepts: (1) God has done everything to save us, and (2) he won’t force feed us.

WHAT DO YOU WANT?

The answer to those who turn up their nose at a God who allows hell to exist (and for people to go there) is this: “What exactly do you want God to do for you?” Erase all of your past sins at all cost? Give you a fresh start, no questions asked? Smooth out your path in life? Offer miraculous help when you need it? God has done all this through Jesus’ death and resurrection. Forgiveness is available to all — it just needs to be received. 

However, salvation goes rejected time and again. The irony is that God doesn’t send unbelievers to hell so much as they march there on their own.

The gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. (Mt 7:13)

The Bible even comments on how people blame God for their own foolishness:

When a man’s folly brings his way to ruin, his heart rages against the Lord.  (Pr 19:3)

The issue isn’t the God who condemns unbelievers to hell but that unbelievers refuse to admit that hell is exactly what we all deserve. 

THE NATURE OF GIFTS

We all love getting gifts. Children love Christmas for this very reason. Packages and parcels all colourfully wrapped, stockings overstuffed with toys and treats, presents spilling out from under the tree — best day ever! Same goes for birthdays, weddings, and baby showers — we love being blessed by the generosity of others. It’s wonderful to receive gifts!

Except, of course, when the gift suggests something we don’t like. You see, anytime we receive a gift, we acknowledge a need. Or, if not a need, then at least a desire for something we don’t have. Or, if not a desire, then at least an admission that we’d benefit from the gift. For kids at Christmas, no problem. They’re all convinced that they need absolutely every toy ever made. Newlyweds, who are just starting their life together, need various items to furnish their home. Expectant mothers need baby clothes, drool-resistant books, a stroller, crib, car seat, backpack carrier, soothers/pacifiers, and every other necessity to care for their little ones. No issues with any of that. Children, newlyweds, and expectant mothers all need, want, and benefit from appropriate gifts. 

But what about a gif that addresses a need you weren’t aware of? Or is embarrassing? Or touches on a fault you were trying to forget?

UNWANTED GIFTS

Two Christmases ago, we were all gathered in the living room to open presents. The kids tore into their stockings and found the usual candy, socks, and toys. However, at the bottom of my own stocking was a gift with an unusual shape. It was an electronic device in a plastic case. Orange and black, with various attachments. What on earth is this thing? Then I read the package. I had just become the owner of a new, stylish, multi-function, just-for-men, state-of-the-art nose hair trimmer. And not only that, it came with attachments for clipping those unwanted (and often unnoticed?) ear hairs. Oh come on, I can’t be that bad. Looking up, I noticed my dearest wife had been watching me from the corner of her eye. I held up the contraption. “Gosh, thanks Mrs. Claus. How very thoughtful.” She responded with one of those if-the-shoe-fits kinda shrugs. Wonderful. Just what I’ve always wanted. Not at all pleased to be given such a gift, I dutifully took it back to the bathroom and promptly employed the device to remedy my embarrassing problem.

The gift showed me a part of myself I didn’t like, and accepting it was a public admission I had an unresolved problem.

A woman in our church recently bought her preteen granddaughter deodorant. Such a gift, although well-meaning, was highly offensive. The poor girl spent a week crying over being the “stinky girl” in class. 

Sometimes an offensive gift gets tossed straight into the garbage because it’s too painful or embarrassing to face a problem we’d rather avoid.

THE TICKET TO HEAVEN? ADMIT YOU DON’T DESERVE IT

God’s gift of salvation is the greatest gift any of us could ever receive. Eternal life! Sins forgiven forever! Direct access to the Ruler of the Universe! Prayers answered! Divine comfort, assistance, and provision! Instant access to a worldwide support system! A character improvement program guaranteed to make us who we’ve always wanted to be! Hope! Peace! Angelic warriors to protect us! The only requirement: admit you need it. 

To accept salvation, we must confess our spiritual poverty, immorality, and innate sinfulness. We must humbly admit that we’re on our way to hell, of our own free will, because that’s exactly what we deserve. We must repent, apologize, fall on our face before God, and beg for mercy. He’ll happily give us every richness and blessing in this world and beyond it, but to receive it, we must say we need it. No exceptions. 

This is what many nonbelievers get hung up on — that every person on earth deserves nothing but a firstclass ticket to hell. Without Christ, we’re all hopelessly foolish and wicked. Rotten to the core. Absolutely helpless to save ourselves.

Humility is a requirement for repentance, which is unfortunately something that many people refuse to foster. “I’m perfectly fine on my own, thankyouverymuch. Sure, I’m not perfect, but who is? But I’m a good person, you see. And nobody can tell me I’m not.” And so they can’t believe in a supposedly-good God who sends “good people” to hell, not realizing that God doesn’t want anyone to go there. 

The Lord is… patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. (2 Pet 3:9)

“As I live,” declares the Lord God, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?” (Ez 33:11)

Jesus did absolutely everything to ensure that salvation, grace, mercy, love, forgiveness, and heaven are available to all. But receiving such an enormous gift means admitting we have an enormous problem. Tragically, selfish pride keeps countless souls from entering the gates of heaven, because God will always respect the other gift he has given to all humanity: free will. 

SUMMARY

So, that question again: “What exactly do you want God to do for you?” It’s simply unanswerable to those who won’t admit their need for him. Jesus has done it all. We just need to turn from our selfish ways and open our hearts to him. 

The Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him. (Is 30:18)

Although God wants everyone to be saved, “the Lord is a God of justice”. The wages of sin is death. If we continually reject his pardon — if we chose hell — he’ll respect our decision. As foolish as it is, he’ll send unbelievers there, because that’s exactly where they’ve decided to turn their feet. 

© D. B. Ryen Incorporated, October 2025.

Acknowledgment: This article was inspired by two quotes from CS Lewis, whose brilliant literature has blessed the world for nearly a century.

1. 1. “In the long run the answer to all those who object to the doctrine of hell, is itself a question: 'What are you asking God to do?' to wipe out their past sins and, at all costs, to give them a fresh start, smoothing every difficulty and offering every miraculous help? But He has done so, on Calvary. To forgive them? They will not be forgiven. To leave them alone? Alas, I am afraid that is what He does. (CS Lewis, The Problem of Pain, 1940)

   2. There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, “Thy will be done,” and those to whom God says, in the end, “Thy will be done.” All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell. (CS Lewis, The Great Divorce, 1945)

All Scripture quotations are from The English Standard Bible (ESV), Crossway, 2001.