Hell - eternal torture by a loving God?

What is Hell?

The word HELL in the Bible is translated from GEHENNA- (Ge.hen'na) [Gr. form of the Heb. Geh Hin.nom', "Valley of Hinnom"]. This name appears 12 times in the Christian Greek Scriptures.

Gehenna was a the deep, narrow Valley of Hinnom, later known by this Greek name, and lay to the south/southwest of ancient Jerusalem and is the modern-day Wadi er-Rababi (Ge Ben Hinnom). (Jos 15:8; 18:16; Jer 19:2, 6) Judean Kings Ahaz and Manasseh engaged in idolatrous worship there, which included the making of human sacrifices by fire to Baal. (2Ch 28:1, 3; 33:1, 6; Jer 7:31, 32; 32:35) God said this was "a thing that I had not commanded and that had not come up into my heart" (Jer 7:31; 32:35). God looked at this as a terrible thing. Why would he use this as a picture of what he himself wanted to do? Where God planning to do the same, or was this the place they choose, away from God?

God's Love

Joh 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Is faith the science of unseen realities or is it believing what doesn‟t make understandable meaning? Would a loving Creator leave me in this confusion after giving me a mind created in the likeness of his own creative mind? Would He expect me to suffer on through the years ignorant of His nature, His reality, or wouldn‟t He rather at least try to give me a knowledge of Himself and His Son whom to know is life eternal? (John 17)

1Jn 4:9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only Son into the world, that we might live through him.

1Jn 2:22 Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.

God [the father, the only true God] manifests his love to us by giving his only  son.

Unpopular Truth

Why is the devil so fiercely opposed to the truth that Jesus is the true Son of God? It is not difficult to find the answer to this question. The Bible declares that God's love is revealed in the fact that God gave His Son to die for mankind (John 3:16; 1 John 4:9,10). How can we understand and appreciate the wonder of that love if we fail to discern the identity of the One who was sent? If we fail to grasp the value of the gift that was given and what it cost God to give it? It is only as we understand Christ's identity that we shall love God as we should (1 John 4:19). Therefore our love for God and our victory over sin are linked to the truth that Jesus is the Son of God. "Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God (1 John 5:5)?" No wonder the devil hates this truth!

What is difficult to understand is why Christians should so determinedly oppose the plainest statements of the word of God. Why should persons who claim to love God and to desire His glory so stubbornly oppose the one truth which reveals the love of God more fully than anything else in the universe? This truly is a mystery almost as great as the so-called Trinity!

Hundreds of years ago during the fourth century AD the spirit of compromise, the desire for worldly popularity combined with the influence of paganism, brought the doctrine of the trinity into the Christian faith. Since that time it has become so deeply ingrained into the traditions of Christendom that it has become the foundation doctrine of most Christian denominations and it is considered blasphemy to speak against it. But why do Christian men and women cling so tenaciously to the error? Why, in the light of the plain statements of Scripture, do they continue to embrace a Trinitarian God? The answer is popularity. No church will be accepted today (this has been true for the past 1500 years) unless it professes belief in the trinity. A denial of the trinity will result in a church instantly receiving the label of CULT. Therefore, this doctrine which is entirely founded upon the traditions of men rather than the word of God has risen to such universal prominence that when one simply expresses the biblical truth that Jesus is the Son of God, he is accused of heresy.