Doctrine Q. 1

In our home group we are studying doctrine and answering some of the tough questions that we get out there so that we will be well equipped to answer with God's Word. So I thought I would share this also here so that I can 1. understand it better and 2. help others be able to answer these questions too.

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2:15

We are asking one question per week and I will share what we found here. Our question this week was:

How can a loving God send people to hell?
(a huge question with lots of different questions within that question)

well the first question to ask is, is God a loving God? We know He is but where does it say that in the Word? As I looked this one up there were at least 50 different references to God's love. Yes God loves us but the two most simple and obvious answers to that are in John 3:16 and 1 John 4:8

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16

He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 1 John 4:8

Yes, God is a loving God, He gave His son to be a ransom for us so that He could spend eternity with us.

Does God send people to hell?

No, God does not send people to hell, we send ourselves with our own actions.

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God. John 3:16-21

There is a plethora of verses and so much meat in Romans and especially Romans 1:18-2:8. I could write the entire thing here but I will leave that to you. The good news in all this is that we do have a Savior, Jesus. Yes, we are all sinners, including myself, and the only thing that saves us from that sin is Jesus' blood that was shed on the cross for us. God is gracious and kind to accept our brokenness.

There are so many other questions that could be asked from that one question but I will leave that to you to delve into. I hope that maybe some of this will help anyone else out there. When I first heard about our home group doing this I was really nervous only because of my lack of knowledge but I am so excited about this now that I will be well equipped in the end. I hope you don't mind me using MY blog as a posting ground to spread the GOOD NEWS! I will try to remember to post the other questions we ask with our answers.

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Our next question: Why is Jesus the ONLY way?