If God is love, then hell as an eternal contract cannot exist — because no valid contract can be signed in ignorance.
We are told that hell is the consequence of rejecting God. But for a rejection to be binding, it would have to meet the same conditions we demand of any serious agreement: full knowledge of the terms, freedom to choose, and informed consent. Without those, a contract is null and void.
Here’s the truth: no human being signs their life with that kind of clarity. We live under the veil. We catch glimpses of the divine, but always through distortion — trauma, ignorance, fear, pride, culture. To say that a soul could damn itself forever in such blindness is like claiming a child can sign away their inheritance because they scribbled on a napkin.
The gospel does not picture God as a lawyer with fine print. It pictures Him as a Father at a feast. Jesus’ parable of the banquet makes this clear: the doors stay open until the hall is filled. No guest is permanently excluded because of a missed RSVP.
If hell exists, it is not eternal contract law — it is self-inflicted exile. It is the suffering of one who hides in shame, who closes their heart to communion. It is real, but it is not final. Because once the veil is lifted, once reality is seen as it is, who would not want to come home?
And even those who resist — even the Hitlers of history — are not beyond the reach of love. For God’s forgiveness is unconditional. Eternal shutout would mean eternal unforgiveness, and that is impossible for a God whose very nature is love.
The cross itself proves this: humanity committed the worst imaginable crime — killing God incarnate — and even that was forgiven. If that crime does not seal us out, nothing does.
So let us be clear: hell may be real, but it is not contractual, not eternal, not God’s vengeance. It is our own fear, our own shame, our own hiding. And the invitation to the banquet remains open until every prodigal comes home.
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