God created us perfect. We were made immortal beings, without pain or misery or death. We were pure and perfect in every way.
Then God set us in the Garden of Eden, to work the garden and to cultivate it. And He gave us free rein over every tree and plant in the garden except one: The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
Genesis 2:16–17 (ESV)
16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
That is, the LORD God gave us free will: we could choose to eat from the tree or not eat from it. We must ask "Why?" Because love must be freely given. Love cannot be coerced, it cannot be demanded, it cannot be forced, even by God, because love that is forced is not love. And love is the greatest possible good.
But we rebelled: we chose to go our own way, rather than to exist in the perfect world that God created for us. And in our rebellion, we separated ourselves from Him. Through our first rebellion, the original sin, sin and death and misery entered the world. These things are NOT the natural order. This is NOT what God intended for us.
And so God immediately sets about making it right. I'm skipping over thousands of details here, some of which are quite profound, but we don't have time to look at all of them. The important thing is this: Jesus Christ, God incarnate, was born of a virgin, died on a cross, and rose from the grave to make a way for us to be reconciled with the God against whom we continue in rebellion, even to this day.
We all have a choice, you see. Each one of us must decide for ourselves to follow God or to follow something else. And God loves us so very much that He respects our decisions. If we want Him, we get Him. If we don't want Him, we get not Him.
That is, God loves us so very much that He will not force us into His presence against our will. Because love cannot be coerced. It must be given freely, or it is not love.
So those of us who choose to follow Him must do as He says. That sounds oppressive, but it's not; it's liberating. I can explain that if you like, but it's a similarly long explanation, and I'm trying to keep this simple.
But for those who choose not to follow Him, He will not force them into His presence. The thing is, God is the one who gives all things consistency: He is the one who holds all things together, right down to the very atomic structure of the universe: Everything we've ever seen, touched, tasted, heard, or smelt is maintained, every instant, by His power. Those who fail to see it are like fish denying the existence of the very water they swim in.
So what is hell? Hell is being outside the presence of God. Hell is wherever God does not hold things together... it is a place of absolute chaos.
The devil and his angels rejected God a long time ago, and they can never be forgiven for that sin, because they rejected what they knew to be true: they saw Him, they understood Him, and with full knowledge of Him, they rejected Him.
We can be forgiven because we do not have such knowledge. But He has given us scripture, and revelation, and prophets, and teachers, and witnesses to teach us about Him. And what is far, far more, He has given us the Holy Spirit, His Own Divine Presence, which ministers to us and calls to us, inviting us every minute of every day, to turn to Him. The Spirit sends us flowers and cards and rainbows and sunshine and music and children and light and love and life, each of these things calling us to see something greater than we are. And if we go our whole lives rejecting that call, He will not force us to spend eternity with Him.
Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Him.
Peace of Christ to you.
