Gehenna revisited

I wrote at the end of my last post

“God’s Justice is that those who refused Him will be put in a place where they can be their own God and cannot damage the Kingdom. All the angels that revolted will be put there also.”

I wrote this because of Matthew 25:41

Mat 25:41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

Some people argue that a Loving God would not send people into this fire. There are 2 different doctrines, universal reconciliation and the other is annihilationism. Annihilationism states that human souls will be destroyed. There is however one little problem, and that is the spirit of man   comes from God’s breath and God cannot destroy Himself.

The believers of Universal Reconciliation believe  that God will punish unbelievers for  a short time then let them into the Kingdom of God. The one major problem I have with that is that it nullifies the Christ’s work on the cross. No matter how it is sliced and diced, Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross will be for nothing. God the Father sacrificed Jesus for a reason. Jesus died to take the sins of the world on His shoulders. As Paul says, through one man sin came into the world then through one man reconciliation can take place.

This is what the scriptures say.

Joh 1:12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
Joh 1:13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

Joh 3:14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
Joh 3:15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
Joh 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Joh 3:17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
Joh 3:18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

In those verses is the condition, “Who believes in His name…..” Sure Jesus took all the sins of the world on His shoulders but the only beneficiaries of this are those who “believe on His name.” Those that do not believe on His name do not benefit from His work on the cross and have to pay for their own sins.

Some people think that eternal fire is too long since there is no infinite sin. This is incorrect logic since Sin is rebellion against God and this is infinite. Those that hate God will hate God forever. Why should God let anybody into His house who hates Him. They will only cause trouble just as Lucifer caused trouble by persuading 1/3 of the angels to follow him. Man being higher than angels will cause even more trouble. Gehenna or the lake of fire was created to stop rebellious humans and angels from ever causing trouble again. God will protect those who love Him against those who hate Him and that is why Gehenna.