Hell, How can a loving God allow Hell to exist?

I hear all the time, how can a loving God allow Hell to exist?  Easy, it has to exist.  So the shortest blog ever.

Not really, but that is the correct answer or there is no purpose to life.  We have to let kids make mistakes to learn.  I can remember a friend with a new baby letting her pull a place-mat off the table and all the stuff on it fell all over her daughter.  I asked, why didn’t you stop her.  She responded that she has almost pulled place-mats off the table many times with knives and glass on them, so she tried to set up a safe way for her to learn the consequences.  It worked, but we are not always that lucky.  We should learn by our mistakes.  And then there is free will!

Free will is the crux of this whole thing.  We have the Adam and Eve story explaining this to the generations.  God gave us free will and with that there has to be a hell.  What does life mean if we all end up in heaven?  If no matter what we do, without remorse, we still end up in heaven, why bother?

Another simple truth is the Cross.  What does the Cross mean without Hell?  Simple answer NOTHING!  So the fact the Jesus died for our sins is also proof that there has to be hell.  Why would an all knowing God go to such great lengths to show us the promise of salvation, if Hell were not a real option?  What would happen to the redemptive power of suffering or our own crosses if there is no Hell?

In Short;

If there is no Hell, we really don’t have free will and the Cross loses its meaning.  If we have free will and all end up in heaven, why bother, the end is the same.  The Cross is the ultimate sign of God’s redemptive Grace and why would God do that if the promise of Hell were not real?  For heaven to mean anything, Hell has to exist!  God doesn’t send us, we send ourselves.