Doubting God: When Hell Seems Unfair

Selected Scripture

Connect:

• Share how you have seen God in the Highs and Lows of your week.

Prayer:

Pray that God would lead your discussion time and bring fresh insight, conviction, and hope through your time together.

Review:

This series, Doubting God, looks at the many questions that we all have about God and His ways. This week we looked at the difference between Heaven (life with God forever) and Hell (Terrifying separation from Him in a lake of fire). This seems unfair, and that can cause doubts, so let’s talk about it….

The Grand Tour of the message: Thinking back on what you heard this Sunday…

o What did you learn about God?

o What did you learn about people?

o What did you learn about yourself?

o What do you want to commit to putting into practice?

Reflection:

Personal Experience:

• Share about a time when you saw someone else treated unfairly. What was the situation, and how did it make you feel, toward those involved? What do you think should have happened (What do you think would have been fair) and why?

  Group Discussion:

  1. What is Hell? (Matt 25:41, 2 Thes 1:9, Rev 20:10,

  2. Read Rev 21:1-8. and v22-27. Discuss: Heaven and Hell:

     1. There is a stark contrast between these 2 places. Why is the punishment of sin so severe and the blessing of grace so abundant?

     2. Compare our culture’s current view of sin and what is described in these verses. Why is there such a significant difference? (Mark 9:42-48)

     3. How does the understanding of heaven as "life with God" contrast with popular misconceptions of heaven as merely a place of pleasure?

  3. Matt 25:31-46 is Jesus description of the great divide between humanity.

     1. How does this passage inform a Christian perspective on ideas like “Survival of the fittest”, “winner take all” and even some of our prejudices towards people without a home/job?

  4. Read Matt 7:13-14, Luke 13:24-30.

     1. Compare the broad and narrow way;

     2. What do they refer to and what does it mean to “find” the narrow way?

     3. How would that even happen? (Matt 7:7-8, Rom 10:14-15, John 6:44, 2 Cor 5:17-21)

  5. Scott said, “The cross of Christ is planted firmly at the gates of Hell.”

     1. What does that mean and how does that help us to understand Hell in the context of God’s love and justice? (Rom 3:21-26, John 3:16-18, 2 Peter, 3:9, Rev 21:4-5).

Application: 

There are people around us this week whose lives remain uninterrupted by the Gospel of Jesus Christ; whose problem is that if we are called to be God’s ambassadors? What are we going to do about that?

Prayer:

Spend some time in prayer thanking God for His wisdom and mercy in making a way for sinful people to be reconciled to Him, and pray for those who have not yet “found” the narrow way.

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