'An omnibenevolent God would not send anyone to hell'. Evaluate this statement

Arguments in support:The Bible supports the view of an omnibenevolent God e.g. John 15:9: 'God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son so that those who believe in him should not perish but have everlasting life'. This raises the question of whether the existence of hell could be compatible with the existence of an all loving God. God is a fair judge and so would not send anyone to hell in order to receive eternal punishment as it is unjust and contrary to his loving nature. As raised by David Hume, the question arises of whether eternal punishment is justifiable in the face of finite sin. When you punish a child for example, you do so for just long enough to teach them a lesson. Universalist Christians such as Hick argue that everyone will respond to God's call and so no one will go to hell. Arguments in support of other views:Hell is described in the Bible as a real place in which after death, a person is separated from God for eternity:In the book of Revelations, the writer has a vision in which bad people are thrown into a ‘burning lake of fiery sulphur’ (Revelation 21:8). In the Parable of the Sheep and the goats, those who do not look after others are described to depart into eternal punishment.This all suggests that hell is a part of God's love. Furthermore, God set moral laws, and when we sin, we break those laws and turn away from God. This arguably deserves to be punished in a significant way. and is the by-product of our free will.If Hell is as described by Swinburne, "separation from God" which involves self-alienation, than it is arguably not incompatible with an omnibenevolent God and merely a state of mind.

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