HOW I CAN BELIEVE IN A GOD WHO SENDS PEOPLE TO HELL Michael Horton for Core Christianity
The other day, a skeptic asked me, “How can you believe in a God who would command the slaughter of innocent people in the Old Testament?” He is of course referring to the Conquest of Canaan. Reading through the book of Joshua can be a little tough going at first, as God calls his people to cleanse the land. But we should bear in mind that the people who were cleansed off of that land were not innocent people.
In fact, if innocence were the criterion, God’s judgment would have been a lot wider. You probably wouldn’t have had many of your relatives, and neither would I, if God’s righteous judgment had been complete. In this episode of the drama, God was declaring war on the idolatrous and violent nations occupying the land that he swore to give Abraham and his descendants. But if we have trouble with the God of judgment in the Old Testament, we’ll have even greater reservations about Jesus.
They’re one and the same God. When Jesus returns to raise the dead and the whole earth appears before his throne, he will separate the sheep from the goats. The sheep will be welcomed into eternal life, Jesus says, while the goats will be sent to everlasting punishment. It’s from Jesus that we hear the most vivid descriptions of hell.
Now is your chance to support Gospel News Network.
We love helping others and believe that’s one of the reasons we are chosen as Ambassadors of the Kingdom, to serve God’s children. We look to the Greatest Commandment as our Powering force.
In the Book of Revelation, Jesus announces, “Do not be afraid. I am the first and the last. I am the living One. I was dead and now look, I am alive forever and ever. And I hold the keys of death and hell.” In fact, throughout the book, Jesus is depicted as the lamb upon his throne. He is the rider on the white horse, who comes in vengeance to destroy his enemies. He is the judge, who will cast Satan and all the ungodly into the lake of fire forever and ever. If we have trouble with these previews of coming attractions, then surely, we’re going to have even greater trouble with Jesus.
In this culture, there is so little left of a sense of God’s holiness and righteousness that we sit in judgment upon what God did in these holy wars and say, “Well, if that’s the kind of God you believe in, I don’t want anything to do with him. But I like this Jesus over here.”
