Big Questions

BIG QUESTION! oooooh.
"Why does God send people to hell?" 

I honestly can't answer this question, but I was doing my Bible study a few days ago and they tried to take a whack at it. And I quite liked this belief so I thought I would share it :) Please ignore the cheesiness of it all, it is a teenage bible study book. 

"Hi, Pastor Steve," Lucy said in the hallway after youth group. Um... there's something on my mind I'd like to talk with you about if you have a few minutes."
"Sure!" Pastor Steve said on the way into his office. "Grab a chair."
"I've been trying to share my faith at school, but sometimes my friends throw questions at me that I just can't answer. One of them is about hell."
"Let's hear it," Pastor Steve encouraged.
"Well, we always talk about how God is so good. But how can a loving God send people to hell?"
"Lucy, that's a great question! And a lot of non-believers get tripped up on it. First of all, God really is a God of love. He loves each one of us so much that he gave his only Son to die in our place so we wouldn't have to! But we have to accept his death as a gift."
"But still... since we know he loves us so much, why would he send us to hell?"
"Well, he loves us so much, he gives us freedom of choice. Would it be genuine love if God forced us to accept his gift of eternal life?"
Lucy thought for a second. "No, I guess not," she concluded.
"Right," Pastor Steve continued. "But in giving us free choice also comes the reality that many people will choose not to serve Christ. They'll follow the world and do their own thing."
"And those are people who will spend their eternity in hell?"
"All people who have not repented of their sins and accepted Christ as their personal Saviour. And Lucy, that's not just murderers and drug pushers. That's me, too!"
"What are you talking about, Pastor Steve?"
"We're all in the same boat," he explained. "Every single one of us was born with sin. So if I had never repented and asked Christ to forgive me, I'd be headed for hell too."
"So what you're saying  is that a lot of good people- not necessarily criminals- will go to hell if they choose to ignore God."
"Exactly," Pastor Steve said.
"So it's not that God is deliberately sending people to hell," Lucy summed up. "He has clearly provided a way to escape hell by simply following him."
"Right, Lucy. God doesn't send anyone to hell. We send ourselves there."

I know that brings up even more questions, but I quite liked the whole free choice thing and genuine love of God. :) Yup.