"How can a good God send people to Hell?"

Picture a courtroom.

The accused is charged with the gruesome ritual murder of a five-year-old boy. The child was lured away while at school and slaughtered.

The accused does not deny the charges, and all the evidence is stacked against him.

The weeping parents and family of the victim are sitting in the dock, awaiting the judge's sentence.

The judge looks across the courtroom to the accused, and his stern face breaks into a slight side smile.

"It is clear you killed this boy. But I can tell you have a good heart. You give often to charity and do so many good things regularly. I am sure this was a momentary lapse of judgment on your part. So I am going to let you off the hook. Case dismissed!"

What would your reaction be?

Would you refer to that judge as a 'good' judge? Or as a bad one?

God's goodness ensures justice is served. His decision to send people to hell is an outworking of His good nature. Good judges ensure no evil goes unpunished.

But we are not murderers, some might argue. Our actions have not affected another life negatively. All we have done is live life in the best way we know to live. But we only say this because we have not considered the multiplier effect of living life on our terms, and not on God's terms.

How would you know that your one-time pettiness or selfishness did not end up robbing someone of their life in the long run?

How would you know that your idle comments did not lead someone astray down the line?

How can we understand the extent of poison one seemingly minor unloving act releases into the world?

Why should we get a lighter punishment than the executor, when we were the originator?

God understands these threads - how little acts snowball into grievous atrocities - and that was why He gave us His laws, rules, and statutes. The primary one being love.

Do you now see why full justice must be served?

And I am sure you are now asking: if this is the case, who then can be saved from hell? Haven't we all messed up?

Enter: Jesus Christ.

In Jesus, we see the fullness of the goodness of God. The upright Judge who has seen the helplessness of humankind in meeting the righteous requirements of the law, has sent His own Son to serve the punishment, and release the power to live right.

Our sins are grievous, but His love is greater. Great enough to not overlook them, but to get them paid for, and to cure the sin problem from the source - the heart of stone. Through Jesus, we have redemption - from the power of sin - and regeneration - the transformation of our inner core from desiring sin to desiring righteousness.

I think that is the work of a GOOD God. What say you?

Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.  - Isaiah 53:4-5