The Young Man Who Asked: "Did God Create People to Be Tormented in Hell?"
He was an intelligent young man raised in a strict Calvinist church. In one theology class he asked his teacher with genuinely wide-open eyes: "Does double predestination mean that God created certain people knowing and intending that they would perish in hell?" The answer came: "Yes, and God is glorified even in the justice by which He punishes the wicked." The young man was silent for a long time, then said quietly: "But John 3:16 says God loved the world. How can I believe He loved people while willing their destruction before they ever existed?" He found no satisfying answer. And years later he left the church entirely — because the god of double predestination no longer resembled in any way the God of love. His story reflects a real crisis: the doctrine of double predestination destroys the portrait of the God of Scripture and substitutes a god the gospel does not recognise.
"Double predestination" means that God decreed in eternity — by a positive, active will — not only who would be saved (the first decree) but also who would be rejected and destroyed (the second decree). God did not merely "pass over" the reprobate — He created them specifically to be punished in hell forever. This is not a fringe belief — Calvin himself acknowledged it, called it a "dreadful decree," and many strict Calvinists have defended it in writing. We bring it here to the texts of Scripture and see what the Word of God says about it.
"Have I Any Pleasure at All That the Wicked Should Die?" — Ezekiel 18 Answers
God asks a rhetorical question whose answer is built in: "Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord GOD: and not that he should return from his ways, and live?" (Ezekiel 18:23). And He closes the chapter with an even plainer declaration: "For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord GOD: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye." (Ezekiel 18:32). "No pleasure" — an absolute negation of divine delight in death. If God decreed in eternity by His own positive will that millions of people would perish — how can He say at the same time "I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth"? And Ezekiel 33:11 adds the divine oath: "As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live." An oath sworn by His own eternal life. What is being affirmed under oath is that He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. The two declarations — the oath of divine oath and the doctrine of double predestination — cannot coexist in one God without direct contradiction.
"Who Will Have All Men to Be Saved" — the Revealed Will of God Refutes Double Predestination
The apostle Paul declared with unambiguous clarity: "Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth." (1 Timothy 2:4). "Will have all men to be saved" — not "will have the elect to be saved." All men. And the apostle Peter confirms: "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise... but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9). "Not willing that any should perish" — a plain divine will against the perishing of any person. How then could God's revealed will be the salvation of all, while His secret will eternally decrees the destruction of most? The Calvinists answer by distinguishing between a "secret will" and a "revealed will" — but this distinction makes God declare one thing while intending the exact opposite. Scripture declares one will — and that will is for the salvation of all.
"God Cannot Be Tempted with Evil, Neither Tempteth He Any Man" — James 1:13 Closes the Door
The apostle James lays down a fundamental principle about the nature of God: "God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man." (James 1:13). God does not tempt anyone with evil — He does not place a person in a position where falling into sin is an inevitability written upon them. If double predestination were true — if God created people destined for eternal destruction because of their sins — it would mean He created them while "tempting" them with those very sins, placing them in a condition that makes their destruction inevitable. And this is precisely what James denies in clear terms.
The deeper problem: if God decreed in eternity the destruction of a person because of his sins, and the person had no genuine ability to avoid those sins or that decree — then God becomes the author and source of the sins that condemn him. And this is something every page of Scripture refuses. "Ye have set at naught all my counsel" (Proverbs 1:25) — the sin is theirs. "Ye judged yourselves unworthy of everlasting life" (Acts 13:46) — the rejection is theirs. The cause of destruction is always in the person, never a divine decree that engineered the person's sin from before birth.
John 3:16 Directly Contradicts Double Predestination
The Lord Jesus Christ declared the most celebrated evangelistic text in history: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16). "God so loved the world" — not "God so loved His elect from the world." And the phrase "that he gave" proves the love reached the point of maximum sacrifice. If God decreed in eternity the destruction of much of "the world" He loved — how do we understand that His love "gave"? Does the true lover sacrifice the most costly thing he possesses for those whose destruction he willed before they existed? Scripture declares a genuine love for the world that produced a genuine giving — and this contradicts an eternal positive decree for the destruction of any among the world that was loved.
The Difference Between Divine Permission and Positive Decree
Scripture clearly distinguishes between two things in God's relationship to evil in the universe: that He permits evil to occur within His sovereignty, and that He wills and actively decrees it. The story of Joseph is the classic example: his brothers sold him into slavery out of evil — and God used that for a great purpose — but that does not mean God "ordered" his brothers to do evil. Joseph himself said: "ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good" (Genesis 50:20). The evil intent was theirs; the good outcome was His. God reigns above evil without being its source. Double predestination goes beyond this biblical distinction — making God not merely permissive of the destruction of the wicked but the active creator of people for destruction before they existed. And this exceeds what Scripture teaches and contradicts the character of God as revealed in it.
Those Who Perished Judged Themselves — Acts Testifies
The apostle Paul gave direct testimony about why those who rejected the gospel in Antioch perished: "seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles" (Acts 13:46). "Ye judge yourselves" — the judgment issued from them, not from an eternal divine decree preceding their birth. The reason they rejected eternal life was their own refusing choice, not a prior decree that created them for destruction. And this plain apostolic teaching does not fit double predestination, which places the cause in God rather than in the person.
Divine Longsuffering Presupposes That Change Is Genuinely Possible
Scripture tells us that God delays the day of judgment because He is longsuffering, "not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9). God genuinely postpones final judgment to allow more people to repent. This means He waits sincerely with genuine hope for more repentance. If double predestination were true and the destiny were fixed before birth, there would be no real meaning to this longsuffering — because no delay would change those "decreed to destruction." Divine longsuffering presupposes that something genuine is being awaited — the repentance of those who have not yet repented — and that this is genuinely possible for all of them.
How Can God Be Love If He Created Most of Humanity for Hell?
The apostle John declares a foundational truth: "God is love" (1 John 4:8). "Is love" — not merely "loves" or "is capable of love," but love in His very essence and being. If love is the core of the nature of God, how do we attribute to Him an eternal decree to create most of human creation for the single purpose of tormenting them forever? This does not resemble the act of One whose nature is love — it resembles the act of a tyrant condemning an innocent person for a crime not yet committed. And for this reason Scripture refuses this path and declares that God desires the salvation of all and takes no pleasure in the death of any.
"Whom He Did Foreknow" — Foreknowledge Is Not Predecree for Destruction
Calvinists sometimes use "whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate" (Romans 8:29) to support double predestination. But the verse speaks about those whom God "did foreknow" — appointing them to glory. It does not speak about those He "did not foreknow" appointed to destruction. God's eternal foreknowledge of who would believe is the basis for predestining the believers to glory — but it is not a prior decree that creates people for hell. And there is a vast difference between God knowing in advance who would refuse, and God willing their refusal and decreeing their destruction before they existed. The first is eternal omniscience; the second is arbitrary tyranny — and Scripture teaches the first without the second.
The Spiritual Devastation Double Predestination Causes
One of the real harms of double predestination is that it plants in the hearts of many believers the thought: "Perhaps I am among those decreed to destruction, and my faith is an illusion." This torment — for which there is no cure within consistent Calvinism — has shattered many spiritual lives and caused genuine faith crises. Whereas biblical eternal security grounded in God's explicit promise "that ye may know that ye have eternal life" (1 John 5:13) gives genuine certainty, not permanent doubt. And the preacher who believes the gospel is genuinely for everyone before him will preach with a completely different urgency and sincerity than one who wonders in the back of his mind whether some of his audience were "created for hell."
The Logical Impossibility — Double Predestination Makes God the Author of Sin
If God decreed from eternity that a person would perish because of his sins, and if the person had no genuine ability to resist that decree — then God is the one who "willed" those sins and engineered them to execute His decree. This makes God the author and source of sin — a description every page of Scripture refuses. James says "neither tempteth he any man" — He does not place anyone in a situation where sinning is an inevitability. And the Calvinist falls into an inescapable dilemma: either God willed the sin and is its author — which is blasphemy — or God did not will the sin but decreed destruction on those He gave no genuine ability to avoid it — which is injustice. There is no exit from this dilemma within the system of double predestination, and this alone is evidence that it is not the teaching of Scripture.
Evangelism Becomes Dishonest If Double Predestination Is True
Sincere Christian evangelism rests on one foundation: that God genuinely desires the salvation of the person being preached to. When the preacher stands and says "God loves you and desires your salvation" — this is a sincere declaration describing God's real will toward that person. But if double predestination is true and this person is among those decreed to destruction — then the preacher is lying in saying "God desires your salvation," because God actually decreed his destruction. The apostle Paul did not hesitate with this kind of reservation: "we beseech you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God" (2 Corinthians 5:20). That earnest beseeching is genuine because God genuinely desires the salvation of those being preached to — every one of them.
Romans 9 Is About Historical Nations, Not Eternal Decrees for Hell
Calvinists frequently appeal to Romans 9 — particularly "vessels of wrath fitted to destruction" (9:22) — to prove double predestination. But the entire context of Romans nine is Paul's defence of God's faithfulness to His covenantal promises to Israel in history — not a treatise on an eternal system for sending individuals to hell before birth. And the phrase "fitted to destruction" in the Greek construction indicates these vessels fitted themselves, not that God fitted them. Moreover, God "endured with much longsuffering" those very vessels (9:22) — a patience that does not fit a God coldly engineering vessels for destruction. And Pharaoh hardened his own heart first (Exodus 7:13; 8:15; 8:32) before God confirmed that hardening — he was not an innocent person created from scratch for destruction.
Our Position — God's Sovereignty, Human Responsibility, and a Genuine Call to All
We affirm the complete sovereignty of God in salvation — "for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do" (Philippians 2:13). We affirm eternal security for all who believe — "they shall never perish" (John 10:28). We affirm the eternal foreknowledge of God who knows all things from eternity. But we firmly reject double predestination — because Scripture declares without ambiguity that God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezekiel 18:32), desires the salvation of all (1 Timothy 2:4), and loved the entire world enough to give His Son (John 3:16). Whoever perished perished by his own will, and whoever was saved was saved by the grace of God. And this balance preserves the justice, love, and sovereignty of God all at once — without inventing a decree that makes God the creator of most of humanity for eternal torment.
"God Is No Respecter of Persons" — Impartial Justice Rejects Arbitrary Decrees
Peter declared with wonder: "Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons" (Acts 10:34). God shows no partiality — He does not discriminate between people without cause. But double predestination involves absolute arbitrary discrimination: God chose these for heaven and those for hell before they existed, without any cause in them. This is by definition "respect of persons" — discrimination without reason. The justice of God requires that a person's destruction be the result of his own free and responsible choice to reject the light — not the result of a prior decree in which the person had no part whatsoever. Every condemnation in Scripture is for something the person chose — never for a fate imposed before birth.
The Summary — the God of Scripture vs the God of Double Predestination
The God of double predestination: "I created certain people before birth with the specific purpose that they should be condemned to hell forever, to display My justice." The God of Scripture: "Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?... turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die?" (Ezekiel 33:11). "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son" (John 3:16). "Who will have all men to be saved" (1 Timothy 2:4). "Not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9). These are two entirely different beings. And every sincere reader of Scripture will find that only one of them matches what the Bible says on every page — and that is the God who genuinely loves all, genuinely desires the salvation of all, and genuinely offers every person the opportunity to come and live.
The God of the Bible Did Not Create You for Hell — He Created You to Live
The message the Bible declares to every person without exception is a message of life, not destruction: "For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord GOD: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye." (Ezekiel 18:32). And the God who desires the salvation of all is addressing you right now through John 3:16: He loved you and gave His only begotten Son for you — so that you should not perish but have everlasting life. You are not "created for hell" — you were created in God's image like everyone else, you fell like everyone else, and God calls you like everyone else to turn and live. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." (Acts 16:31).
We encourage you to begin reading the Gospel of John for yourself, and to continue in the Word of God in the King James Version — the truest and purest Word of God in the world — and in the Van Dyck in Arabic, both found on this website (alinjil.com). May God bless you as you come to Him in free faith, from a God who genuinely wants you.
An Invitation to Receive Divine Salvation — Accept The Lord Jesus Christ as Your Personal Saviour
Dear reader — if these words have touched your heart and you have recognised that you are a sinner in need of a Saviour, know that God is calling you to Himself in this very moment. You do not need a priest, or a human mediator, or a holy place, or rituals or works. The Lord Jesus Christ paid the full price on the cross, and the promise of God is certain and clear:
What saves you is not the words of this prayer — but the faith in your heart that the Lord Jesus Christ died for you and rose from the dead. But if you want to express your faith in sincere words, read this prayer with a humble heart as though you are speaking to the living God:
The Prayer of Salvation
"O Great, Holy, and Loving True God,
I come to You now with complete humility, confessing that I am a sinner. I have broken Your commandments many times in my thoughts, in my words, and in my deeds. I know that my sin deserves eternal death and eternal separation from You. I have no good work I can offer that is able to redeem my soul, and no righteousness of my own to cover my nakedness before Your holiness.
But I believe with all my heart in the testimony of Your Word that Your only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, died on the cross for my sins — bearing in my place the punishment I deserved. I believe that He was buried, and that He rose from the dead on the third day, alive and victorious over death and the grave, and that He is alive now unto the ages of ages.
In this blessed moment, I receive the Lord Jesus Christ as my personal Saviour. I trust in Him alone — not in my works, not in my religion, not in rituals or any person or angel or saint. On the Lord Jesus Christ alone, and on His precious blood shed on the cross, I build the hope of my eternal salvation.
I thank You, my Father, that You have now received me in the Lord Jesus Christ, and have forgiven all my sins, and have given me eternal life as a free gift by Your grace. I thank You that You have sent Your Holy Ghost to dwell in my heart, bearing witness to me that I have become Your child. Give me grace to know You more day by day, and to live the rest of my life for Your glory alone.
I pray all this in the name of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Ghost. Amen."
After You Have Prayed — What Now?
If you prayed this prayer from a truly believing heart, the greatest miracle in all your history has happened in this moment: you have passed from death to life, from darkness to light, from the kingdom of sin into the kingdom of the beloved Son of God. You have become a child of the living God, and God's own promise guarantees this to you in His trustworthy Word:
Notice the power of this promise: "gave he power" — a settled right, guaranteed, not a wish or a possibility. And notice "them that believe on his name" — not "those who performed great deeds," not "those who completed rituals," but simply "them that believe." You are now one of them — with absolute certainty.
Here are five simple steps to establish you in your new life with the Lord Jesus Christ:
First — Read the King James Bible every day. Begin with the Gospel of John, then continue through the rest of the New Testament, then the Psalms and Proverbs. God speaks to you through His Word as a father speaks with his son. Do not read quickly — read with meditation and prayer. "The holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation" (2 Timothy 3:15).
Second — Pray every day. Speak to God as a loving Father — not with memorised words, but with words from your heart. Share with Him your joys and sorrows and questions and fears. Prayer is the breathing of the Christian life. "Pray without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:17).
Third — Join a Bible-believing church. Do not walk this road alone. Faith grows in the fellowship of believers, where the Word is preached faithfully and baptism and the Lord's Supper are practised according to the King James Bible. "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together" (Hebrews 10:25).
Fourth — Be baptised according to the King James Bible. Baptism is not a condition for salvation, but it is the first step of obedience after faith. It is a public declaration that you died with the Lord Jesus Christ and were buried with Him and rose with Him to a new life. "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved" (Mark 16:16) — faith first, then baptism as its natural fruit.
Fifth — Witness to others about the Lord Jesus Christ. What you have experienced of salvation and love cannot remain hidden. Begin with your family and friends. Tell them simply and honestly how the Lord Jesus Christ changed your life. "That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you" (1 John 1:3).
And finally, remember always that your salvation is not built on your feelings or on any work you perform — but on the unchanging promise of God:
"These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life."
— 1 John 5:13
Notice: "that ye may know" — not "that ye may hope," not "that ye may wish," not "that ye may wait in anxious fear." But that ye may know with complete, unshakeable certainty that you have eternal life. This is the difference between all the world's religions and the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ: religions say "work and perhaps you will be saved" — and the Word of God alone says: "believe and know that you are saved."
✉ Share Your Testimony of Salvation
"Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth." — Luke 15:10