Most people think they'll go to hell or heaven based on their earthly good or bad behavior. Most people think it'll be close, but they ultimately believe they'll make it to heaven. Unfortunately, the opposite sentiment is true. Hebrews 9:27-28 reminds us that just like people die and face judgment, Christ was sacrificed once to bear our sins. Jesus will return to bring salvation to the people waiting for Him.
Paul tells us how we're all guilty of sin in Romans 3-7. In Romans 1-2, Paul also discusses why good women and men aren't good enough for God's heaven. Good people deserve forgiveness for their sins like everyone else. As Christians, our sins are forgiven at the cross. We'll never face our sins again because of God's mercy and grace, which isn't the same for people who died without a Savior. Revelation 20:11-14 tells us about the Great White Throne Judgement, where people who died without a Savior get their opportunity to convince God of why He should let them into heaven.
We can find one key to understanding why "good" people go to hell in the Books of Works and the Books of Life. The Book of Life has the names of everyone who has ever been born. People who die without a Savior have their names removed from the Book of Life and face behavior evaluation. Our behaviors are recorded in the Book of Works. Imagine a line of people waiting for their opportunity to speak to Jesus, organizing their spiels to show Him why they should get into heaven. God will show them why they're not good enough in the Book of Works. Afterward, He'll open the Book of Life and discover their names aren't there.
Sadly, they'll be thrown into the Lake of Fire and assigned to hell forever. This issue is that nobody is truly good enough for God's heaven. If He let us in heaven with all our sins, we would run amuck. In Romans 2, the apostle Paul shares seven judgment factors that Jesus will consider as He opens the Books of Works at the Great White Throne Judgement. He'll prove why good people aren't fit for heaven from these books. Here are some reasons why "good" people go to hell.
God will evaluate according to the truth as summarized in the Bible.
God will judge everything according to the truth because we're all accustomed to comparing ourselves to others. On Judgement Day, God will tell those who died without a Savior that they'll be judged based on what and who they truly are.
God assesses based on His kindness.
God's judgment will match the kindness He poured out to people during their lives. He extends His compassion to us, so He might lead us to repent. Christians typically wonder why those without a Savior seem to have a good life. The answer is it's God's kindness to turn them to repent. The longer they reject His kindness, the more indefensible they'll be when they stand before Jesus on the Great White Throne.
God assesses based on His accrued wrath.
Hardened arteries will take you to an early grave, but spiritually, a hardened heart will ultimately lead you to the Lake of Fire. If God's kindness and grace haven't shown us to repent, then we're storing drops of God's wrath every day, which will break at the Great White Throne. God lets us live, giving us kindness and holding back punishment, so we can turn to Him and repent. Our judgment will be directly correlated to the amount of compassion that God has shown us.
God evaluates based on deeds.
Right now, there's likely a person standing before God asking Him to judge them according to their deeds. They believe that if He puts their bad deeds besides the good ones, God will see that the good outweighs the bad. The problem with the moral man is he assumed that his good deeds would be weighed against the bad or compared against others' deeds, but that's not the case. God takes the best works of the moral woman or man and compares them to Jesus' deeds. Jesus gave sight to the blind, healed the sick and raised the lame. He took on the world's sins and was sacrificed to bring salvation to those who accept Him as their Lord and Savior. Instead of asking to be judged, a person in their right mind should ask for mercy.
God doesn't play favorites.
God offers us salvation because we all need it. From God's standpoint, no one is better than anyone else. On a human level, we see different variations in culture, education, wealth, goodness, badness, and character. However, from God's view, everyone looks the same. God doesn't like to judge, referring to it as His "strange work" in Isaiah 28:21. However, He will judge. Romans 8:32 reminds us that He who delivered up His own son won't hesitate to judge people who reject His free offer of grace through Jesus Christ.
God will assess based on the inner enigmas of our hearts.
God will open the doors and show the secrets of those standing there at the Great White Throne. Jesus discussed this in Matthew 10:26-27. At that point, skeletons will fall out of the closet and deeds buried in our memory depths will come to light. Unsolved crimes will be solved. Fortunately, as Christians, we won't have to stand before this Judgement Bar because Romans 8:1 tells us there will be no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus.
The best way to avoid sitting in the judgment seat is to settle your cases before it goes to trial. Jesus died on the cross to allow us to accept Him and resolve our issues with sin before Judgement Day comes. If we die with Jesus, our case goes to trial, and He'll have enough evidence to condemn us to hell, and He will. Mercy is available now, so it would be best to settle out of court. The days of understanding aren't without end. When we die, our choice is preserved for eternity.
