It is not logical to view the Creator of the universe as One who makes arbitrary decisions. Every action taken by God has behind it a logical and righteous explanation – although some things are left secret, and those belong to Him (cf. Deuteronomy 29:29). The Bible has been given as a revelation of all God expects and requires us to know. There are questions that, as stated before, cannot be specifically answered because it has not been given for us to know. However, the majority of questions we may ask and ponder have answers within our ability to grasp. They require diligent study, and sound logic. A recurring question posed by skeptics as unanswerable is: How can a God so good send people to a place as bad as hell for eternity?

Within the question there is an implication of inconsistency. God is good, but He sends people to hell. The approach of such a question is with a lack of recognition that God does nothing arbitrarily. Even when the apostles cast their lots to fill the office made void by Judas’ transgression God’s sound logic was involved – “You, O Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which of these two You have chosen” (Acts 1:24). Why was Matthias chosen instead of Joseph? That much is not revealed, but we know it was not based on a whim. Even so, when God condemns many to eternal hell fire it won’t be without a logical and consistent process of judgment.

It is curious that the question to end all dispute about the existence of God concerns Him sending people to hell. It is quite presumptuous to ask such a question instead of asking the opposite: How can a God so good send people to a place as pure and holy as heaven? If one knows the slightest about the righteousness of God their confusion should be about that decision of God rather than the other. Can anyone honestly claim a worthiness to enter the dwelling place of the Divine? Yet, even this decision is not based on a whim.

It is helpful to understand that the two eternal destinations for all of mankind are prepared for a type of people. The people that will inhabit those prepared places for eternity are those who have made preparations to do so. If a person lives his life to the degree that in the end he is sent to hell it is because he has prepared himself for that place during his stay on earth. It is no different with one who is welcomed into heaven. “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life” (Galatians 6:7-8). One gets what one prepares for.

Jesus said, “In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know” (John 14:2-4). The prepared place is heaven, and the prepared people are those who go the way Jesus is going. Those who enter in the prepared mansion will not get there by chance, but by preparation. The preparation necessary is consistently following Jesus, for He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6).

In another place Jesus said, “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels’” (Matthew 25:41). The everlasting place of destruction prepared for the devil and his angels is logically prepared for his followers. “Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:14-15). When someone prepares themselves for hell by living lives of sin they can expect to reach their destination. For the other possibility is prepared only for those who do the opposite.

Our destiny is not left up to chance, or an arbitrary decision of God. It is left up to our own preparations. “Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?” (Romans 6:16). Who are you obeying? What preparations are you making?