The idea of an everlasting hell is troubling, to say the least. How can an all-loving God, who “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4), allow some to be lost forever? Isn’t eternal punishment incompatible with God’s infinite mercy?
The two may at first seem incompatible, but when we look at the problem in the light of human freedom, we see they are not. God truly desires that all come to know and love him, but he has made us free to choose — and that includes the freedom to reject him. A creature unable to choose freely could not love. Although God invites us and enables us to love him, he never compels us, for coerced love is not love.
Read Full Article »