Hell and Why it Exists

In the Christian bible there is so much to talk about. Like how the universe was made, how god created the animals, and the sea, and the sky, and the land. not to mention that there is an almighty being who exists outside of time that loves us and wants to be with us. The bible seems to have a large amount of information based on a being that we don't even know exists. I don't know how to prove or disprove the existence of a godly figure but I do know that without religion many people would not be who they are today.

Last night I went to my churches youth group and we talked about hell. one of the biggest questions I thought was brought up was "why does god let us go to hell?" The answer that was brought to the table was that god doesn't send us to hell, we send ourselves. I thought it was out of ignorance and arrogance to do what is right in gods eyes and I was partially right I think. What my youth pastor said was that it is not what we do that gets us into heaven or hell, it is what we don't do that makes the path to where we are going apparent. I really like this answer, because for one its true, and two this answer shows that it isn't a free ride into heaven just because you do good deeds. You get into heaven because you believe in god and you believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for you so you could be washed of your sins.

Another question that came up was if god is all powerful why doesn't he just get rid of hell. The best answer to this question to this was because if everyone went to heaven then our love for god would be diminished. we would not love god and try as hard to work for him here on earth because we would know that our work would not matter. Everyone would be going to heaven no matter what, so in the end it would just be another thing for us to think about as a accessory to life, like television or a computer game.

Heaven and Hell exist because God wants us to live for him as we would live for ourselves and our friends and our families. If god were to just group us all together and take us to heaven it wouldn't really mean anything. This is why god lets hell exist. because heaven would not be a reward, and we as his people would not be as loving to him for his gift of eternal life.