People say hell doesn't sit well with a God of love. They tend to pit God's love against his wrathful judgment, as if the two were diametrically opposed. But precisely because God loves, he judges and is wrathful towards evil.
God’s judgment precedes from his love. Because he loves the world, he is grieved and angry when they rebel and are corrupted by sin. An human analogy illustrates this point: the more a father loves his son, the more he will hate in him the drunkard, the murderer. Because he loves the world, he is grieved and angry at evils done against those he loves. In the same way, a loving earthly father will have righteous angry for his daughter’s rapist. God's righteous anger at sin is an expression of his love.
Oddly enough, when you eclipse God’s judgment by his love, you render him evil. The opposite of love is not anger, but indifference (in this case, it would be the tolerance of evil). If God does not condemn sin by bypassing the punishment on perpetrators, it is not mercy but injustice and immorality. The ultimate judge would become evil. He would no longer be just or loving, but immoral and complicit in evil. Therefore, promoting God’s love by abandoning his judgment, perversely comes at the cost of his love, justice and goodness.
His wrath and righteous judgment are expressions of his deep, vast love and justice.
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