If you have ever wondered how Christians could believe that a little old grandmother who sacrificed her whole life for her family but did not believe in Jesus would still end up in hell, it’s because you do not understand the concept of sin. You probably think sin is doing something bad. But it is not. Sin is loving anything more than God.

So, sin could be doing something good, such as sacrificing yourself for your family, but if your family has become more important to you than God, then it is sin. That is why I believe hell will be full of “good” people who loved life and family but did so more than God. You may be raising two objections to this: 1. Do those “good” people really deserve hell just because they preferred something other than God? 2. Is God such an egomaniac that He can’t tolerate anything else being preferred to Him?

I’ll attempt to answer. 1. What they prefer when they prefer anything to God is essentially rejecting God and everything that comes with Him. If I preferred another woman to my wife, Janet, I’m rejecting Janet as my wife…. And the consequence of rejecting God is that we get our wish. God will send us to a place where God is not presence – a place called hell. 2. God IS self-centered and that is a good thing! He is the greatest good there is and the most valuable treasure. For us to prefer anything to Him would be to our detriment. A doctor who found cure for cancer SHOULD make everyone know that he did. For him to keep silent would be evil.

It is in this context Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.” Luke 9:23-24

Jesus wants us to prefer Him to our own (earthly) lives because in exchange, he would give us eternal life!

PH