Atheist Sam Harris and Christian William Lane Craig recently had a debate on, "Is good from God?". Dealing with whether or not God was necessary for there to be real, objective, morality. I do believe that God is necessary for objective morality. During the debate Sam Harris brought up the idea of hell and tried to use that against Dr. Craig's position by saying that if God is truly good then He can't throw people in hell and remain good.
However Mr. Harris misses the point. People are not thrown in hell for no reason. People are thrown in hell because they are in rebellion against a just God. Because God is just, he punishes ALL sin. This justice is not bad, it is right, good, and proper. For example, say a man killed his wife, but the judge let him go without any penalty. You and I would not like that, it would not be right, you and I believe that evil should be punished. Now think how good God would be if he did not demand payment to be made for our sins. He would no longer be good, he would be evil.
Now how then can any of us be forgiven for our sins if God must carry out justice on our sins, if those sins need to be paid for? The answer is Jesus Christ, he came from the Father full of grace and truth, he died on a cross to pay for the sins of sinners, on the third day he rose again, leading captives to sin out of darkness and into His marvelous light. Christ became sin for His people so that His people would not taste the death(punishment) due to all who sin. He became our substitute, that is how we can be forgiven(justified) before a holy and righteous God.
However Mr. Harris misses the point. People are not thrown in hell for no reason. People are thrown in hell because they are in rebellion against a just God. Because God is just, he punishes ALL sin. This justice is not bad, it is right, good, and proper. For example, say a man killed his wife, but the judge let him go without any penalty. You and I would not like that, it would not be right, you and I believe that evil should be punished. Now think how good God would be if he did not demand payment to be made for our sins. He would no longer be good, he would be evil.
Now how then can any of us be forgiven for our sins if God must carry out justice on our sins, if those sins need to be paid for? The answer is Jesus Christ, he came from the Father full of grace and truth, he died on a cross to pay for the sins of sinners, on the third day he rose again, leading captives to sin out of darkness and into His marvelous light. Christ became sin for His people so that His people would not taste the death(punishment) due to all who sin. He became our substitute, that is how we can be forgiven(justified) before a holy and righteous God.
