An Easter Exchange

Prakash Gomathinayagam wrote on his blog:

1) If non-believers of Jesus Christ, goes to hell. What happens to pre-christ people?

2) If the Omni potent, Supreme God is compasionate, then why can't he put everybody in heaven right away, where there is no place for evil.

3) What is the purpose of creation?
The Bible directly states the purpose of the universe in Eph. 1: To Glorify God. God created the universe to reflect his glory. Man was created for the same, "for the praise of his glory (Eph. 1:12)." If God is truly compassionate, To glorify him, would he allow us to suffer ?

posted by Prakash Gomathinayagam at 8:13 PM on Apr 15 2006

* * *
Here's my response:

1a) Christ is the Lamb of God "slain from before the foundation of the world". Although his slaying took place at a point in history, it is also eternal in the mind of God, and its efficacy works backwards in time as well as forwards.

1b) Prior to Christ, the people of God were kept under the Law, under a system of blood-based sacrifices, that pre-figured Christ.

1c) The gospels state that, during the period between Christ's death and resurrection, he "preached to the souls in prison".

1d) There is no doubt, for example, that Abraham, Moses, Elijah, David, etc. will be counted among the saints in glory. Moses and Elijah appeared with Jesus at the Mount of Transfiguration, and discussed the death which he should accomplish.

1e) Because Christ died for the sins of the whole world, past, present, and future, God's justice has been entirely satisfied, and He may, justly, permit those who have not heard the gospel to enter into heaven; He knows the heart, and judges justly and compassionately. At the same time, He will not tolerate eternal rebellion against His will.

1f) Those who hear, and reject the gospel, go to hell. Those who have not heard will be judged according to their hearts and their actions -- see the book of Romans. We can absolutely depend on God to judge justly.

There are some scriptures that suggest that those who do not believe shall "perish".

At any rate, to lose out on God for eternity, whether it is through merely perishing, or suffering eternal torment in hell for one's conscious rejection of Christ, is terrible to contemplate.

That is why Christians must re-double their effort to preach the gospel to every person on the planet.

And that is why those who have heard the gospel should flee to Christ as one flees from a burning building.

2. Christians affirm three things about God: a) He is all-powerful; b) He is all-good; and c) He is all-wise.

God permits evil to exist, for a season. One reason is that he gave humans free will; Love cannot make robots; mankind fell into sin, and into the devil's dominion. I believe that if God were to destroy evil, he would also end up destroying mankind, which is intertwined with evil -- consider the parable of the wheat and the tares.

God has his reasons for permitting evil. One is that this world is a testing ground, to see who will turn from evil (which is obviously attract, since so many people are spell-bound by it) to God, who will believe in Him, who will trust Him, and who will love and serve Him.

But the Scripture does make clear that the day will come when evil is eliminated and Christ's reign is complete and total.

3. One reason we suffer is simply because of sin. Rebellion has consequences. Being cut off from God, through sin, has consequences, just like a flower being cut off from sunlight has consequences.

Much, but not all, evil in the world today is self-inflicted, i.e., by one human upon another. God has given us free-will, and man has chosen to rebel against God. God cannot be blamed if he, in his forbearance, tolerates some of this.

The Scripture says that God is delaying the second-coming of Christ "because He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance". Those who are in an unregenerate state at the coming of Christ will perish.

The rewards that will accrue to the faithful will be totally disproportionate to their suffering on this earth.

The apostle Paul says the glory will be so great, the sufferings of this world aren't even worth mentioning.

posted by RkBall at 8:51 PM on Apr 15 2006