The Case For Christ

matter of all these divine image bearers shaking their puny
fists at his face and singing with Frank Sinatra, 'I did it my
way.' That's the real nature of sin.
Having said that, hell is not a place where people are consigned
because they were pretty good blokes but just didn't believe the
right stuff. They're consigned there, first and foremost, because
they defy their Maker and want to be at the center of the
universe. Hell is not filled with people who have already
repented, only God isn't gentle enough or good enough to let them
out. It's filled with people who, for all eternity, still want to
be at the center of the universe and who persist in their Goddefying
rebellion.
What is God to do? If he says it doesn't matter to him, God is no
longer a God to be admired. He's either amoral or positively
creepy. For him to act in any other way in the face of such
blatant defiance would be to reduce God himself."
I interjected, "Yes, but what seems to bother people the most is
the idea that God will torment people for eternity. That seems
vicious, doesn't it?"
Replied Carson, "In the first place, the Bible says that there
are different degrees of punishment, so I'm not sure that it's
the same level of intensity for all people.
In the second place, if God took his hands off this fallen world
so that there were no restraint on human wickedness, we would
make hell. Thus if you allow a whole lot of sinners to live
somewhere in a confined place where they're not doing damage to
anyone but themselves, what do you get but hell? There's a sense
in which they're doing it to themselves, and it's what they want
because they still don't repent."
I thought Carson was finished with his answer, because he
hesitated for a moment. However, he had one more crucial point.
"One of the things that the Bible does insist is that in the end
not only will justice be done, but justice will be seen to be
done, so that every mouth will be stopped."
I grabbed ahold of that last statement. "In other words," I said,
4'at the time of judgment there is nobody in the world who will
walk away from that experience saying that they have been treated
unfairly by God. Everyone will recognize the fundamental justice
in the way God judges them and the world."
"That's right," Carson said firmly. "Justice is not always done
in this world; we see that every day. But on the Last Day it will