Human history only knows of the duopoly of good and evil. Pagan religions primarily tell stories of brave gods warring against nefarious ones. The Eastern concept of Yin and Yang suggests that light cannot exist without the dark. Even our modern entertainment heavily features supernatural heroes overcoming incredible odds to vanquish powerful villains. Without villains, what use are heroes? Our world finds purpose in the eternal struggle between good and evil.

But viewing good and evil as both eternal creates problems if viewed at the extremes of time. Taking a brief philosophical trip, one universe can only have one creator, for if two competing deities possess the power of creation, why would they create within the same system? How can the universe be governed by one set of laws for physics, matter, and light but have two owners? Whichever god made these laws would have the home-field advantage for creation’s ultimate destiny. If evil could cement its power through its unique creation, why wouldn’t the evil god create its separate universe instead of confronting the good god within its work? Perhaps the universe was formed by an evil spirit, and the source of good came to salvage it out of pity for those ignorantly spawned into doomed existence. However, just as a son cannot change his DNA to disassociate himself from his father, an evil creation will always be bound to its original deity’s identity; there would be no way to remove the evil embedded within the system or creatures. In this hypothetical drama, the salvific good god is on a fool’s errand. Therefore, we can reason that good must exist first, and then evil comes second to corrupt it.

Deep, huh?

Let’s speak in more natural terms. In the subject of Chemistry, there is a theory called “entropy.” In short, entropy is lost energy. We see inefficient losses in electricity, chemical reactions, thermodynamics, and force through wasteful heat caused by impeding responses, such as friction. To account for this loss, chemical reaction equations include a remaining variable for entropy. Over the long arc of time, all energy will be lost to entropy, and nothing of substance will be left. Indeed, creation began as light and is headed towards darkness; it began with heat and will end as an abysmal cold.

Dire, huh?

Whichever perspective we take—natural or philosophical—the universe can only trend toward demise. Darkness, death…. evil… is “winning.” Death is more than a stain that cannot be removed; it grows.

Yet, Christians must believe that good has, can, and will again exist without evil. Creation began as perfect with established nature, laws, and life (as chemistry suggests). Evil, bound by this creation, introduced sin (as philosophy suggests). Where reality differs from our philosophical surmising above, evil is subservient to good—evil cannot create; it only corrupts (like entropy). Because evil cannot create, it must play as a visitor in good’s homecourt, working within nature and making it worse. Nature seems to suggest this is true.

It is Christian understanding from Ezekial 28 and Isaiah 14 that Satan began as God’s most beautiful angel, Lucifer. It was Lucifer’s pride that resisted God’s reign. Never mind that things were perfect; evil chose to exist, even in the perfect presence of good.

We have not quoted much of the Bible here but have set the stage to understand it better. As we have done with the philosophical and chemical theories before, when we take the holiness of God to an eternal extreme, the existence—and destruction—of hell is the only logical solution. Without hell, everyone who denies God’s authority would be readily welcomed into eternal grace. The spirit of prideful resistance would remain forever. Evil will again choose to exist, even in the presence of God, and creation’s painful yearnings continue ad infinum. Without hell, God is left with either enduring evil forever, turning creation into machines without free will, or scrapping everything and pressing a heavenly CTRL+ALT+DELETE on reality entirely. A good God would be left to decide whether to doom everything to suffer, turn creation into puppets, or allow nothing to exist. 

The Bible confirms that none of these will happen. Instead, our God of justice wants to free His beloved creation from the influence of sin, death, and evil. The only way to do that is to expel the pride that created them during this first go around. Expelling the source of evil requires separating metaphorically stubborn goats from humble sheep. In the book of Matthew, Jesus says, “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.” (Matthew 25:31-32, NIV) He must separate those souls of creation that can choose to exist in perfection through humility and faith apart from those obstinately refusing for their own pride and power.

Fortunately, the choice is ours. Psalm 117, the shortest chapter in the Bible, says, “Praise the Lord all nations! Extol him, all peoples! For great is his steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord.” (ESV) All nations and all peoples have the choice to praise Him and escape death. Evolution, nature, and philosophy do not give us any comparative options.

Furthermore, the concept of grace cannot exist without the existence of judgment—punishment must exist for us to receive grace from it. For example, after Moses receives a new set of Ten Commandments, The Lord’s presence exclaims, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion, and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.” (Exodus 34:9, NIV) God forgives rebellion and punishes lineages at the same time. The unspoken differentiation is the disposition of the sinner; are we repentant or prideful?

Therefore, Hell must exist if God is ever going to have His perfect creation. We can feel alarmed that a loving God would banish some of His creation to eternal separation and despair, but should we not also be alarmed that so many would blatantly refuse the offer of grace? Perhaps this is man’s (sinful) fault; where Jesus came in humility, we have stood in authority over others. Where Jesus came for the least of us, we have expelled them through religion and judgment. In this case, whose side would you rather be on between the eternal words of Jesus or the whims of man’s latest thoughts?

You may find God’s judgment repugnant, but nature’s offer is worse. Entropy ensures there is a 100% chance of nothingness and despair. The only way to achieve an eventual perfect creation is to purge evil and those who would, unfortunately, choose it. The compassionate and gracious God of Abraham wants to invite you into an existence we cannot create on our own—one where every tear is wiped away for the rest of time.

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