I recently read an article about how God can be a loving God, yet send people to hell. The article has changed my life dramatically as well as my former views on hell.
             Being raised Baptist as a child (no slander intended toward Baptists!), I was sort of scared into Heaven. That might be better put by saying I wanted to stay our of hell. My view of hell formed from evangelists and well meaning Sunday School teachers who spoke of flames and gnashing of teeth. As I would read the Bible, I had trouble deciding if I was reading about the same loving God when I read the parts about flames, etc.
             Being taught that much of the Bible was meant figuratively (think of how Jesus taught in parables), I began exploring my own ideas on which parts of the Bible were meant figuratively. The recent article I read had many quotes from J.P. Moreland, PHD, a well known Christian philopher and Lee Strobel, author of The Case for Faith. I don't want to chance misleading someone by stating too many of my "feelings" of my own interpretations, but these two authors did a fabulous job of changing my life views on God and his "judgment." Perhaps the most revealing fact was: How could there be utter darkness and fire in hell at the same time? (fire makes things light) J.P. Moreland was quoted in saying "hell is not a torture chamber" and verified his views throughout the article.
             Please don't misunderstand that I believe hell is a great place or anything such, but the bottom line changed my life after reading the article. It allowed me to freely choose God for the right reasons and not out of the fear of hell. The Bible often refers to Hell as separation from God, and I believe the interpretation of hell has been taken too literal instead of the impact God was trying to get across to us.
             You owe it to yourself to research this issue further if you have been turned off by a God who would send innocents to fire. I'm not promoting the authors Lee Strobe
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