"A Loving God wouldn't send anybody to Hell - forever."

The Desk has heard that statement in different forms, but similar wording, from all sorts of people. Ranging from those of the agnostic / atheist vein (one that says that the existence of God is unknowable by humans as versus one who denies that any deity / deities exist), and from just regular people from various denominations, including one who 'had been' part of various branded churches over the years and now was 'religious' without attending at all, all the way to a retired minister.

[WARNING: If you are easily upset by the topic because of closely held personal beliefs that may not have a solid foundation in Scripture. Read No Further.
You have been warned.]

And, at time, the Desk would answer with something that, while scriptural, was perhaps a bit on the insensitive side, and in at least a couple of cases that we can remember, it made the person who made the statement very upset.
Very. Upset.
And reduced them to tears because they remembered a deceased family member of theirs who had initially said the 'loving God' line to them while explaining why they never went to church as an adult because they had been 'dragged to service every Sunday' as a child.

The Desk's answer was: "No. But a Righteous and Holy CREATOR GOD would. What does it say in...." (those words are highlighted for a reason, and we'll come back to them before the end.)
We've used 2 Peter 3 : 9, Matthew 25 beginning at 31, Luke 12 : 5, and a couple from Revelation. All of which state that actual humans end up in 'the bad place' for a 'really, really long time'.

Sometimes whoever was in denial would come back with "... everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." From Romans 10, which is quoting Joel 2.
To which you must then consider what those 'goats' said in the passage from Matthew 25, they did all those things in His Name, but He never knew them. They were doing what they did for the wrong reasons, or, perhaps, they were doing the wrong things.
Which comes into line with a passage from James about how the Demons believe, and tremble, see chapter 2 beginning at 14 (pay attention to 17 and 19). And we know that 'demons' do stuff.... the wrong stuff, for the wrong reasons. But they believe, and do things.

Let's look at a couple of examples of those who were God's Chosen People, and then later some that professed to be Christians, and, well, you'll see.

In Genesis chapters 29 and 30, then in 48 and 49, and then in Numbers 1, you have a list of the Tribes of the Sons of Israel. Let's look at the list from 1 Chronicles 2, which is simple and quick: "These were the sons of Israel: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Dan, Joseph, Benjamin, Naphtali, Gad and Asher."
At the end of Genesis, Israel (Jacob) had adopted Joseph's two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim as his heirs, and they were later counted as 'half' tribes, Joseph's 'double share'. And in the land division that followed, the tribe of Levi stayed with the temple and the cities of refuge, and didn't get a portion of territory. But they still counted as a 'tribe' so there were really 13 Tribes of Israel.
Until bad things happened to one of the tribes of the sons of Israel, and one of those of the sons of Joseph, later.

In Judges 18 we see that the Tribe of Dan hadn't claimed their inheritance along the coast of the Mediterranean, on the border with the Philistines (Phoenicians), and had the same idols they did. The idolatry thing came to a head in 1 Kings 12 after most of them moved far to the northwest, to the other side of the Jordan, and founded the City of Dan. They recognized the kingship of Saul, David, and Solomon, but then split with the other tribes in the north, only leaving Judah and Benjamin (and possibly some from Simeon which was essentially surrounded by Judah, although some of them had moved north when the kingdom divided) in the South, with the Levites in the Temple.
After the conquest of the Northern Kingdom of Israel by Assyria, beginning in 2 Kings 17, all mention of the Tribe of Dan as a political entity stopped, except as an example of the falling away from God, see Amos 8 : 14.
Something else of note with Dan was seen in the Genesis account, that echos in Revelation, and has bearing on their 'falling away from God' is seen in Genesis 49 : 17. Dan will be a "serpent that bites the heel of the horse so the rider falls." Some see that as a prediction that someone from the line of the Tribe of Dan will emerge as the Antichrist. Something that is not mentioned in Revelation, but is possible, and might explain why Dan isn't there.

The tribe of Ephraim could be seen as yet another poor decision by the Patriarch Jacob / Israel, whom we mentioned in the study of Genesis as having a less than exemplary track record, including a bout of "woe is me" to the King of Egypt, see Genesis 47 : 7 - 10. That lapse can be seen in the chapter before the prophecy about Dan is found, see Genesis 48 where Jacob/Israel, on his death bed, although Jacob being Jacob, takes his time dying, and meantime blesses Ephraim, the younger son of Joseph, with his right hand on him and his left on on the elder, Manasseh. Which upsets Joseph.
Later, the Tribe of Ephraim got so bad that Isaiah uses the name of that tribe to stand for the apostasy of the entire Northern Kingdom in chapter 7 : 17 and then later in 9 there is specific mention of the two 'brother tribes', and it isn't pleasant. Later, Hosea says they are bound to idols, 4 : 17, and in five he called them a harlot because of it, and that they will fall, and become desolate.

Neither the Tribes of Dan nor Ephraim are named in Revelation as having anybody from the tribe 'sealed' by GOD, and thereby saved, although Ephraim's father's Tribe of Joseph (which hasn't been mentioned as 'a thing' since that scene at Jacob's blessing) is, as is his brother's, Manasseh. Although we know people from Dan, and the other tribes, did flee the idol worship in the north, and then the various invasions, and took up residence in Judea, where they stayed faithful to God. So a remnant of the people from those tribes were faithful, as is always the case. As a case in point we will bring up the incident with the Prophet Anna of the Tribe of Asher, and the infant Christ in the courtyard of the Temple in Luke 2. Asher, as one part of the Northern Kingdom, had ceased to exist some seven hundred years before the Nativity. But the larger body known as those tribes is lost.
Remember that last statement. We'll come back to it as well.

In the New Testament, besides the words of Christ which we mentioned in relation to His sorting the sheep and the goats, you have the statement from the Apostle in 2 Peter 2 : 21 which states that once you 'know the truth' and renounce it and turn away, that you are, in effect, worse off than if you'd never known it. If it has been awhile since you have read that chapter, it is worth your time to go and check it out in a readable translation, in this case the Contemporary English Version, at the link below. Also available is everything from the 1599 Geneva Bible on, just in case you want a Bible that "reads like a Bible".

Then there was the statement from Paul in 1 Corinthians 5 where one was to be handed over to Satan for the 'destruction of the flesh' to save his spirit. And then later in 1 Timothy 1 : 20 he says something similar about two other individuals by name.

Let's go back to something else Christ said during his Ministry. He had traveled to Tyre and Sidon, see Matthew 11 : 21 and following and 15: 21, and Luke 6, and perhaps didn't do a lot of miracles there. In Luke chapter 10, we find out that most of the people did not believe. But it is Chorazin (an ancient village on a hill above the Lake), Bethsaida (there were several villages with a form of that name in Galilee), and the city of Capernaum (on the Lake's northern shore) that are cursed, with Hades in their future. After He had talked about how it will go better for Sodom than towns that reject the Gospel.

These are, or were, cities which were visited by the Messiah, and had miracles performed in them, and which, as a group, did not believe Him, although there were people from the towns that did come out to hear and follow Him. As we said before, there was then, and is now, a remnant, a small group, that believe And obey.
And the ones that don't believe, or that did believe and then turn away and reject it, and, as Peter said above, it doesn't end well.

Let's make a quick stop in the last book of the Bible, Revelation.
Ephesus is told to repent or their lampstand will be removed in chapter 2 verse 5, and then in chapter 3 Laodicea is warned that they will be "emesai" (vomited out), which is a bit more dramatic than some translations' "spit out".
These are local churches that were planted by the Apostle Paul on one of his missionary journeys. They had heard the Good News from one that had seen the risen Christ. And here they are being told by Him that they've got problems bad enough that their congregation was in in serious trouble, and may end up in that 'not nice place'.

The point for us going through all of that is that if GOD would reject two entire Tribes of his Chosen People, to the point of removing them from the numbering of the Faithful of Israel in front of the Throne of GOD....
The point for us going through all of that is that if the Savior, the Redeemer, the Messiah, would state that cities that He personally visited, and two of His First Century Churches were in danger of being rejected, as He said the man who betrayed Him was (better had he not been born).....
The point for us going through all of that is that if The Apostle Paul warned a local church that they needed to remove individuals that were harming the local body, 'deliver them to Satan' which probably isn't a good thing...

.... what does it take for a person to develop the hubris, in the classic Greek meaning of the word (excessive human arrogance resulting in an open defiance of the gods), to say what the Almighty Creator God, should not do.
We told you we'd come back to those highlighted words.

The Northern Tribes of the Chosen People have effectively ceased to exist in this world, two of those groups are NOT in the 'good place' during the Finale in the Apocalypse of John. It is in that same book that we see that two early churches are warned of the same danger by Christ. And there were individuals that had upset an Apostle to the same degree.

How can a modern person, whether in a local church or not, make the opening statement, or some version thereof, and truly believe that the One True and Eternal GOD would not do what HE said HE was going to do with part of HIS Creation?

Incidentally, in the Greek tragedies, when a character engaged in theatrical hubris, inevitably the gods would take action to remind the character that they were human, and, mortal. Said event in the plays seldom came out good for the character. We have a link below to possibly the best of several examples of that, the play "Oedipus Rex (king of Thebes)" by Sophocles.
But, there will be those that say "that's not a Biblical example", and they're right, it's not. Sophocles lived about 400 years before Christ, and about 600 years after our next example of hubris. Which also resulted in the character coming to a bad end.
We're checking in with King Saul, the ruling king of a united Israel. Where in 1 Samuel 13 he makes a decision to do something he's not supposed to do. Which he was told not to do. But, since he's king, he does it anyway. And, of course, as soon as he does, the Prophet of God arrives and calls him a fool, and that it will cost him his throne. Forever.

One last example. From the Book of Hebrews. The "Hall of Faith", chapter 11.
Beginning at verse 32 we see people like Gideon and David.
King Saul isn't listed.
Neither is the greatest king of the Nation of Israel: Solomon. Under him, Israel reached the height of its power and prestige, it traded far and wide from India to well into Africa and even Europe, the Temple reached a size and splendor it will never see again in This World, and its King became the standard against which Wisdom would be judged from then until now. You would think he would be worth a mention in that list.

When you go look at how King Solomon's life ended, see 1 Kings 11, we find out why he isn't in that roll call of the faithful.
Simply put, he's not there because he wasn't.

Solomon may have become a dotard (feeble minded) in his old age, but he was still aware of what he was doing, at least to some degree, and he made the choice to bow down to idols, repeatedly. He willingly and knowingly forsook GOD and accepted all that goes with that, including, perhaps (we don't know the specifics in each individual case, but the circumstantial evidence for him is interesting).... ending up in that 'not so good' place.

IF God, saw fit to remove from His BOOK entire groups of His Chosen nation, kings of His People, cities that Christ visited, churches founded by an Apostle, and individual people that had sat and listened to Him and His Apostles, from His Story for turning their back on Him, for hurting His Church, for leading other people astray, for getting in the way of His Work to "seek and save the lost" (Luke 19 :10).
Why wouldn't he remove you?

And, incidentally, those not found in the Book of Life end up in that .... not so good place.
Check the end of Revelation 20. It is available at the link below.

It seems that GOD, the Almighty Creator, the Righteous and Holy ONE, doesn't 'send anybody to hell', He simply ensures that you end up where you made the choice to go by rejecting Him.

Selected Resources:
All links will open in a new tab/window, all were working as of original date of posting:

Why Is The Tribe Of Dan Missing? https://israelbiblicalstudies.com/blog/category/jewish-studies/why-is-the-tribe-of-dan-missing/

2 Peter Chapter 2 in the Contemporary English Version https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20peter%202&version=CEV
All other Books of the Bible, including 1 Kings and the Gospels, are available there.

Oedipus King of Thebes, by Sophocles https://www.gutenberg.org/files/27673/27673-h/27673-h.htm

- AND -

The CPCC Bible Studies:
In The Begining: an In Depth study of Genesis https://centralparkchurchofchrist.org/genstudy/genindex.htm

The Minor Prophets: Introduction and Index https://centralparkchurchofchrist.org/minorprophets/minorindex.htm

The Apocalypse of the Apostle John - Revelation https://centralparkchurchofchrist.org/revstudy/revintro.htm

also from The Media Desk website:
"Questions you ARE NOT supposed to ask your Sunday School Teacher Answered!" Two Parts, with reader objections!

Pray for Revival in the Land

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