Recently, I encountered someone mocking Christianity by saying, “If your God loves you so much, then why would He torture you for all eternity?” This is a perverted rendition of the truth, intended to rewrite our perception. God is cast as a callous aggressor victimizing us, His innocent children for living as we see fit. 

 

Convincing us that we are the victim and God, or others, are to blame for our sins has always been a cherished tactic of the devil. Instead of contrition, we resort to obstinate outrage. You have probably experienced this. If you have ever caught someone in a lie, it is shocking how quickly they turn to blaming you for their lie.

 

The venom of the opening statement is easy to neutralize, yet it hinges on a genuine question: how do hell and an all-loving God coincide? It would seem, if God unconditionally loves us, then no one should go to hell. Oddly, it is precisely because God loves us and has utter respect for our free will that hell is real. God still loves the souls in hell even though they have definitively chosen to reject life with Him.

 

Our fallen nature tends towards rebellion against God. Instead of understanding freedom as freedom “for” God, we see it as freedom “from” God. We falsely believe that freedom and happiness are found when we are free from rules and obligations. 

 

However, the opposite is true. The rules and obligations of our faith are not arbitrary dictates. They are perfectly aligned to our nature, how God made us. And in His love and will, God has given them to us so that we might thrive. 

 

Analogously, by its nature, a plant is made for the light. It is freedom for the light and not from it, that makes it thrive. To grow towards darkness would assure its demise. 

 

The sacrament of marriage can illuminate this reality even better. Some would avoid marriage. Seeing it as a limitation of choices, or to do as they please. Something to be free from. In reality, when a couple lives out their marriage vows, they find true freedom. 

 

Regardless of health, wealth, or hardship, they are free to totally give themselves to another, free for family, free for life together, free for meaningful and lasting love. 

 

In her reckless pursuit of freedom from, Janis Joplin lost Bobby and sadly sang, “Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.” As tantalizing as freedom from obligations seems, it leaves us empty, alone, and brokenhearted. 

 

In our self-glorifying culture, there is an increasing trend to assert that man and God are not in relationship but a power struggle. Harkening back to the epicenter of the fall, the devil’s lie still seduces man’s heart: “You will be like gods” (Gn 3:5). He whispers: God is limiting you, and only through disobedience will you be free. 

 

The choice for sin does not make us free, nor is it just one option among many, it is the rejection of what we were made for — divine life. Sin is the rejection of communion with God, our greatest good and supreme happiness. 

 

God will not force a soul who rejects Him to spend eternity with Him. God honors the choices of those souls which have rejected Him and has created a place for them to exist apart from His presence. The soul gets exactly what it wants: to be free from God. Ironically, this is the enduring torment of Hell. 

 

Our free will is an extraordinary gift that enables us to freely assent to life with God. When the birds sing or the sun rises, they give glory to God not by choice, but simply by existence. Only we and the angels are given the glorious gift of free will — the gift to be active agents in our relationship with God. 

 

God does not desire hell for any soul. We are each His beloved children and through the grace of Jesus, no matter our sins, we can be made new again. God created us for eternal love, and it is towards that love that freedom is found.