Q: So are you only a Christian because you fear hell?
A: I’m not sure where this idea comes from, but the answer is no. I don’t know Christians that spend all their time talking about and fearing a place they know they’re not going to. This is the only page on this site that is even discussing hell, and this is a page about misconceptions. Even the Gospel Message page doesn’t mention hell, not that it would be wrong or inaccurate to do so. Yes, hell is a reality that we acknowledge, but there’s so much more to Christianity than that. If you think Christianity is all about hell, you’re sadly mistaken.
Q: Did Jesus come to condemn the world?
A: No.
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.
John 3:17
Q: So why does a loving God send people to hell?
A: Why do people reject the love and mercy of God? God is the one offering us grace, forgiveness, and everlasting life.
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
John 10:10
And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe with be condemned.”
Mark 16:15-16
This passage in Mark is referring to people who have been told the gospel message. God isn’t condemning the people, the people are condemning themselves by rejecting the truth after being presented with it.
For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has spurned the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?
Hebrews 10:26-29
Once again, this is referring to people who have knowledge of the truth, and then choose to reject Christ. Choosing to reject Christ is not God condemning you, it is you who is condemning yourself.
Q: Why did God even create hell in the first place?
A: Hell wasn’t even created for people. It was created for Satan and the angels that follow him.
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.’
Matthew 25:41