What does the Bible teach about people going to hell and God’s love?
My dear friend, if I understand your question correctly, you are asking what the Bible says regarding the love of God given the existence of hell, and how the love of God might allow some people to ever go there. First of all, I will tell you that God wants all men to know Him and to know His ways, that we might walk with Him and love Him (Psalms 18:30; Psalms 119:1-3,11; Psalms 139:23-24). Now, one of the most important truths that Scripture tells us about God is that He is Holy (Deuteronomy 32:4; Psalms 18:30; Hosea 11:9). God is holy, righteous and pure, thus by His very nature, He cannot tolerate the presence of evil (Habakkuk 1:13; 1 John 1:5). But evil did enter the world, and this left mankind alienated from God. However, the Bible also tells us that God is love (1 John 4:8,16). Love causes God to pursue us and to draw us to Himself (Jeremiah 31:3). The best example of the love of God is that He sent His only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to redeem us (John 3:16; 1 John 4:10). Thus, we must never doubt God’s love. Because of His love, as is clearly demonstrated in that He sent us Christ Jesus the Savior, God will be able to someday take us to heavenly glory if we will but believe on Christ Jesus, His Son (John 3:16; John 14:1-3; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18).
Now, I am convinced that God, because of His love, created man in the first place to have fellowship with Himself, and thus Adam and Eve were placed in the Garden of Eden, where all their needs were met by God, and they had continual communion with God as long as they were obedient to His single commandment. Unfortunately, it was not long after the creation of man, who walked in innocence and in communion with God, that sin entered the world, and this ruined everything for man. When Adam and Eve refused to be obedient to God and chose to listen to the devil instead, they made their choice to go it on their own. We all bear Adam’s same likeness; we all have a sin nature (Romans 5:12-21 covers this whole topic). Thus, since man is by nature sinful, we were all only worthy of judgment as we read in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
At creation, man was given a free will to either love and serve God or not. Unfortunately, man has chosen to go his own way. Obedience to God is our choice, and thus, we must all decide whom we will follow…obedience which leads to life, or sin which leads to death (Romans 6:23). A holy God must judge our sins, otherwise He would not be righteous. And, for sure, His righteous judgment will one day come upon the earth (2 Peter 3:7; Acts 17:30-31; Revelation 20:1-15). Now, God in His love for mankind is not quick to judge, allowing time for the likes of you and me to repent and follow Him. The fact is that God is love, and therefore, judgment does not fall upon man immediately, because God desires that all might be saved (2 Peter 3:9).
To summarize, my dear friend, the Bible clearly tells us about God and His love, but it also tells us about hell, eternal separation from God as a final destination for the unrepentant sinners of the world. Many might ask how God, who is love, can send people to such a dreadful place as hell? I will assert that God does not “send” anyone to hell. Man, by his free will, chooses that end by rejecting God’s love as expressed in the Savior He has sent. Quite to the contrary, God has sent us the Lord Jesus Christ to redeem us to Himself, and thus He has opened the way to heaven for any who would choose to love and obey Him. God is, in fact, love, and we are free to choose to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and live with God forever in heavenly bliss, or we are free to reject His love and go our own way. Heaven or hell…the choice is ours to make. I pray that all who read this response will choose life by believing on Christ Jesus. He is the way to life. Indeed, He IS the life. (Acts 4:12; John 3:16; John 1:12 and 10:10; Romans 10:9; Ephesians 2:8,9; Titus 3:5). (SF) (674.2)