Is God Out to Get You?

An annoying misconception about Christianity

​The things people believe drive me nuts. Here's one of them: God is a distant judge wanting to send you to Hell. Here's my personal rant—oops, Bible study—about it.

Dear reader,

This is an atypical Bible study. It’s more of a rant with a purpose. Here’s the fuel. It’s morning, you’re in the kitchen, you turn to your spouse, and you say, “I have an appointment; please pick up the kids.” After work, you return home and, lo and behold, no kids! When confronted, your spouse replies, “I didn’t realize you meant today!”

That’s how I feel like people treat the Bible and Christianity: they hear about it but fail to understand what’s really being said. And it drives me nuts!

So, here begins a series of “Annoying Misconceptions about Christianity.”
​
Enjoy!

---

Annoying Misconception: God's Out to Get You
​
Solution: Shift the Focus from Judgment to Blessing

When a nonbeliever slings accusations like “God is unjust,” “God must delight in suffering,” and “God sure loves to throw people into Hell,” don’t be alarmed. They haven’t met God yet, so it’s not surprising they don’t know His character.

This misconception of God as a distant authority figure eager to punish you has deep roots.

1. Humans don’t trust authority. Only a minority nowadays grow up in a stable home. Most learn to mistrust their parents or other adults in their lives. Therefore, they cast that same doubt on God.
2. Satan twists what God says. God clearly states He wants everyone to go to Heaven, focusing the Bible’s message on God’s righteousness and the lengths He goes to save us. Satan, however, focuses on the negative. A preacher can say, “God wants to save you from Hell,” and Satan makes you hear, “God plans to send me to Hell until I do exactly what He wants. Why should I listen to such a God?” A person can read the Bible and see God telling Joshua to slaughter the Canaanites and miss the four hundred years God gave them to repent from their child sacrifices and gross immorality.
3. Christians, or those claiming to be Christians, often are just as spiteful and judgmental as nonbelievers. This is sad but true. Instead of embodying God’s love, we perpetuate our pettiness.

So, now that we understand the issue, let’s look at solutions.

Shifting the Focus

Are we stuck on God’s judgments? Here’s a simple truth: God gets nothing out of it. That is why He has done everything in His power to prevent humanity from going to Hell.

He sent His Son to pay our death penalty, sends His Word throughout the world, and individually sends His invitation to every human being. He presents the truth so everyone has ample opportunity to accept His invitation to join Him in Heaven. People only endure God’s judgment because they’ve ignored the invitation.

God isn’t sitting in Heaven looking for people to cast into Hell. No! Quite the opposite. The Bible teaches He is diligently explaining that eternity has only two destinations and begging people to join Him in Heaven.
​
God prepared Heaven for humans. He made the entrance ticket free. He advertises the trip on almost every street corner in America. And you’re stuck on Hell? Think that over.

Scripture to Ponder

​“Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” (Matthew 25:41, KJV)

“For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. And this is the verdict: The Light has come into the world, but men loved the darkness rather than the Light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come into the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever practices the truth comes into the Light, so that it may be seen clearly that what he has done has been accomplished in God.” (John 3:17–21, KJV)

​“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9, KJV)

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!” (Matthew 23:37, KJV)

Challenge Question

I believe those who think God’s out to get them have the wrong focus: they’re stuck on God’s judgment instead of everything God has done to protect them from judgment. The Bible teaches that God is a loving, just judge who does everything He can to save us. He wants to swoop in like a mother hen and protect us from the evil in the world. So, instead of asking, “Why would God send someone to Hell?” I encourage you to ask, “Why wouldn’t I want to go to Heaven?”