The great multitude will be brought through Har-mageddon. Prov 2:21-22,,Matt 24:22---
No where does it teach that the great multitude go to heaven--it says they will be standing before the throne of God--at that point in time, no matter if one is on earth, the moon, or in heaven, they will be standing before the throne of God. Gods kingdom rule will be the only ruling power in existence( Daniel 2:44)
Now at Rev 14:3--we find a small group-numbered= 144,000= the little flock( Luke 12:32) only these are said to be bought from the earth--to heaven. these are the anointed=the bride of Christ--bought with Jesus' blood.
Its impossible with Gods justice scales applied that eternal hellfire is literal.
But if one actually believes Jesus he said--those who walk the broad and spacious path to destruction---not eternal suffering.
Only a sadist would throw a little no nothing mortal into eternal suffering for 70-90 years of sin--NEVER would a God of LOVE.
Your right, your God would never do that. And thats because your God isn't real. You put your emotions above God my friend. You can't feel the thought of a loving God creating a hell. But that's not what the Bible says. To create a God you feel more comfortable with, is idolatry.
1. There is indeed a hell.
Jesus actually spoke more about hell then He did heaven, and you believe heaven exists I'm sure right?
One scripture the Watchtower likes to point to is Matthew 25:46. Many translations of the Word of God say something to this effect as in the ESV, "and these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." Notice that this translation has the words "eternal punishment" instead of the New World Translations "everlasting cutting-off" the Greek words in question are aionios (eternal) and kolasis (punishment).
Regarding the second word, it is true that the stem of kolasis (kalazoo) originally meant "pruning." But well known Greek scholars agree that there is no justification for the translation "cutting-off" in Matthew 25:46. The meaning is confirmed by the authoritative "Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament", "The Vocabulary of the Greek New Testament", "Theological Dictionary of the New Testament" as well as many others.
The punishment spoken of in Matthew 25:46 cannot be defined as a non suffering extinction of conscience. Indeed, of actual suffering is lacking then so is punishment. Let us be clear on this: PUNISHMENT ENTAILS SUFFERING, and SUFFERING NECESSARILY ENTAILS CONSCIENCE. One can exist and not be punished; but no one can be punished and not exist. Annihilation avoids punishment, rather than encountering it.
So, how do we know that the punishment in Matthew 25:46 does not entail an extinction of conscience and annihilation? There are many evidences. For example, consider the Fact that there are no DEGREES of annihilation. After all, one is either annihilated or one is not. In contrast, Scripture teaches that there will be degrees of punishment on the day of judgment (Matthew 10:15, 11:21-24, 16:27; Luke 12:47-48; John 15:22; Hebrews 10:29; revelation 20:11-15, 22:12, etc...)
The very Fact that people will suffer varying degrees of punishment in hell shows that annihilation or the extinction of conscience is not taught in Matthew 25:46 or anywhere else in Scripture. These are incompatible concepts.
2. A Loving God can and did create a Hell
For one, God doesn't send anyone to Hell. You send yourself there. God has done everything He possibly can to keep you out of Hell and still leave you as a person with free will and not just a robot. That's the way He made us--after His image, after His likeness, the power to say “yes” or the power to say “no,” the power to reject our own Creator, and of course to take the consequences.
In one sense you can say He doesn't send anybody to Hell, because across the road to Hell he has placed the cross of Christ. There are also the prayers of parents, pastors and Sunday school teachers, and all the other things that God brings into our lives to stop us on our selfish way and to bring us to the Savior. We have to go wandering on past it all and put ourselves in Hell.
"We may rest assured that no one will suffer in hell who could by any means have been won to Christ in this life. God leaves no stone unturned to rescue all who would respond to the convicting and wooing of the Holy Spirit."
- Dave Hunt
Sometimes you hear people say, "God wouldn't send His children to Hell." God certainly doesn't send His children to Hell because when we're His children we're in the family of God. We're born again and part of our salvation includes deliverance from judgment. We're not all children of God except through faith in Christ Jesus.
Can a God of love send anyone to Hell? You might as well ask some other question to make just as much sense. Does God allow disease in the world? Does God allow jails and prisons for some people? Does God allow the electric chair sometimes? Does God allow sin to break homes and hearts? Does God allow war? All of these things are the consequences of sin entering into the world, and in some cases the direct result of man's rebellion, and the result of greed and pride and egotism and hunger for power that doesn't have any use for people--only the desire to get ahead.
This is the incredible fruit of sin. Sin brings suffering into the world. There's no way of getting around it. And the greatest sin in the world is to reject the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior.
"I willingly believe that the damned are, in one sense, successful, rebels to the end; that the doors of hell are locked on the inside. All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek find. To those who knock it is opened. And yourself, in a dark hour, may will [a grumbling] mood, embrace it. Ye can repent and come out of it again. But there may come a day when you can do that no longer. Then there will be no you left to criticize the mood…"
—excerpted from The Problem of Pain and The Great Divorce, by C.S. Lewis (1898-1963), included in The Quotable Lewis, 1989 Tyndale
The loving nature of God requires justice if it is to be meaningful, and the justice of God requires punishment if it is to be fair. At the same time, human freedom must result in a consequence if it is to be significant, and the consequence for evil actions must ultimately be appropriate if God is to be just. Finally, the power of God necessitates victory, and eternal victory requires an eternal mode of punishment. The paradox of God’s love and justice necessitates the existence of Hell.
God’s love does not compel Him to eliminate the necessary punishment and consequence for sin, but instead compels Him to offer us a way to avoid this consequence altogether. By offering forgiveness through the sacrifice of Christ on the cross (who took our punishment), God demonstrated His love for us. It cannot be said that a loving God would never create a place like Hell if that same God has provided us with a way to avoid it which is through Jesus Christ.