Why the Hell?

This posting is an excerpt from an email I sent to a friend of mine at church. He thought it was interesting enough to share. If you agree, great. If not, sorry for taking up your time.

Jeremy !!
Been thinking about what you said Saturday, and just wanted to share some thoughts with you in hopes of starting a discussion that we both might find illuminating or, at least, interesting. You ask, "How could a loving God send individual parts of His creation to hell? Especially if hell is as described, a place of darkness and fire that will cause those sent there to feel agonizing torment for ever and ever?" Hmmmm. Well, the obvious answer is one that you touched on already. The ever popular, "God doesn't send people to hell, people send themselves there." When I was a member at RHCC before (back in the early 90's), Rick taught a lesson in which he postulated the idea that when it comes to our eternal destination, God simply honors the choice we make in life. If we spend our life loving Him, chasing after Him, trying to learn more about Him, then in the afterlife He'll grant our wish. If, on the other hand, we spend our life disbelieving or, at the very least, not really caring one way or the other, basically spending our life outside of God's presence, there again, God will give us exactly what we sought in life: an existence outside His presence.
Something else I wonder: Is it possible that there is something that's impossible for God? Could it be that because of God's very nature, it's impossible for anything impure or unholy to be in His presence? That would pretty much include me, you, and everyone else we know. That's where the Good News comes into play. Check this out, what if . . .
1) God is Holy
2) God loves His creation and wants us to spend eternity with Him
3) Nothing unholy can exist in God's presence
4) Man is fallen, inherently sinful, unholy
5) Man can never enter God's presence
6) Jesus' blood can cleanse us and make us holy again
7) Anyone who wishes to spend eternity with God can be made holy, per #6.

See? I wonder if the people who will end up in hell will do so simply because they failed to make themselves holy? And, perhaps sending people to hell is not a decision God makes out of wrath, or to punish, or for revenge. Perhaps hell is simply the only alternative to heaven? We believe our souls to be immortal, right? What if that immortality is not an intrinsic attribute, but is contingent on God's presence? As long as we're alive, we are in God's presence, eh? God is omnipresent, so he's present in wedding chapels, church buildings, hospital rooms, funeral homes, at the top of the highest mountain, and in the deepest ocean. Then he's also on Death Row, in the crack houses, in the meth labs, and in the alleys with the pimps and the hookers. His creation is infused, saturated, with His being, His presence. As long as anyone, no matter where they are, is alive then they have an immortal soul, and God yearns for them to love Him, and get to know Him. As long as there is life, the opportunity to become holy through Jesus' blood exists.

BUT

Once it's over, it's over. Once you've reached the end of your Life, it's too late. Sin's stain becomes permanent. Matthew tells us (chptr 22, v32) that God is the God of the living, not the dead. Jesus' blood only cleanses the Living from our sins, our stains, our darkness. That gift is not offered to the Dead. So if our souls' immortality is contingent upon being in His presence, and nothing unholy can exist in God's presence, then maybe what happens is that all the souls that are outside His presence lose the ability to remain viable, to exist? Hell has been described as "everlasting" punishment. As in punishment that never ends. But perhaps instead of never ending, the word "everlasting" should be interpreted as "permanent". Perhaps hell is the final, irrevocable, and permanent destruction or dissolution of souls that are outside of God's will? From what I understand, the word "hell" in the original bible texts is often actually the word "sheol", which means "grave". So maybe when we die, those souls that are holy (through Jesus' blood) are capable of entering into God's presence, and those not covered (therefore, unholy) can't and so end up dying, and because of God's very nature, He can't, or maybe won't, do anything about it.
Whether any of this makes sense, or is scripturally accurate, I don't know. But the one thing I do know, is that I don't know everything. When these kind of subjects get too deep or complicated, I always come back to this thought: There's only one God, and He ain't me. His ways are not my ways. Besides, if it was possible for us to figure out everything, what would we need faith for?