> Y'know, sometimes I wonder why there's a Hell. If God is so caring, so loving, why doesn't he just give us all a free ticket to Heaven?

I can't think of what being saved ever cost me, but that pat answer probably doesn't help you. :-)

God granting us free will was, in a way, not so much a gift to us but a self-placed restriction upon himself. God decided that he would not force us to do things. I'm grateful for that, because I don't want to be a robot, but this free will did have the side effect of allowing people to sin. Sin cannot abide with God. Because God is 100% just, sin demands a penalty; unpunished sin is not justice. God could have said, fine, mankind has sinned, no one hasn't, throw the whole bunch to hell -- and been just in doing so. Certainly it would have been less work, at least to my human mind. But, thankfully, God is also a compassionate and loving God, and ever since sin first entered the world, has been trying every conceivable thing to allow people to come back to Him and redeem them from their sins, so that, rather than requiring the punishment of sin to be upon their shoulders, the punishment can be taken by another, instead. That other, of course, is Jesus Christ. "My God, My God, why has thou forsaken me?" he said on the cross -- and indeed, God had. More so than the pain that comes with crucifixion, Jesus was experiencing his Father turning his back on him, for Jesus was being punished for all the sins of the world, past, present, and future. As Jesus was sinless and did not deserve the punishment anyway, it means he could take that justly due us.

Although no salvation of anyone at any time could be possible without Jesus, God has offered every conceivable way to accept that gift of salvation throughout the ages. Back during the time Cain killed Abel, God appealed to mankind's conscience to direct them the proper way. He put a mark on Cain, saying that no earthly punishment should be exacted upon him for the murder of his brother, that punishment would come later, because that's what his conscience told him to do. Mankind's conscience did not save them. More things were tried, as recorded in the book of Genesis, and finally, by Exodus, God tried the Law, detailing everything, specifically, that should be done. It was all there in black and white. There should be no excuses for not understanding what God wanted of anyone, because it was all there in the Law. We know how that ended: ultimately, the people crucified Christ. Now God is offering another way: just accept Christ on faith. As we know from the book of Revelations, and as certainly seems to be the case just looking at the world around us, this age is ending in sin and rejection of God, too, and Christ will have to come back, set things right, and rule on earth, in the so-called millenial reign of Christ. That will work, won't it? With Jesus Christ RIGHT THERE, physically present in the world, how can he be rejected THIS time? Heh.

At any rate, hell is, simply, eternal separation from God. We are damned from the start. We're born with a sinful nature, and justice demands punishment. For those of us who reject every given opportunity to accept the debt Christ paid, God is left with no other choice.

I'm pretty much convinced no one goes to hell without practically begging for it. I don't think anyone will go there without stomping and sulking the whole way. That's what they chose. They chose separation from God, and they'll get it. It's a sorrow and a tragedy, but were I in God's place, would I be strong and/or loving enough to do as much as God has?

> Some say Heaven would be like Hell for certain people, but my idea of Hell is much worse than being forced to admit I was wrong. I also have those "If I were God, I'd..." thoughts. Then I realize, hey, I'm *not* God. How can I know what's best? I have the gall to think I'm more compassionate than God, that I know better than He. How do we know there's anything wrong with His plan? Or even if it is his plan?

You're right. The more I examine what I *do* know about God, the more I am amazed at how I would have screwed things up. It's hard not to take what Christians know by heart for granted, but it's important not just to *know* what God is, did, and will do, but to *understand* it. At least the best we can. The learning never stops.