Double Predestination

Is the future bipolar?

I have been pondering the bipolar depiction of paradise and hell found in the Abrahamic religions a great deal in recent years. The idea causes me so much anguish. How could God, who I know to be so very gracious and loving, be angry enough with some of His vessels that He chooses to inflict unending suffering on them?

If we truly had free will, the idea might make more sense. But the truth is we are not at all free. We are all puppets of the sovereign will. Why would God damn people for sin when they are not free to choose good or evil? Why would He create a being for the purpose of being cruel to them?

If God is love, as He is described in the Bible, is love truly compatible with the damnation of sentient beings?

I know so many Christians and others have wrestled with this problem. We love the Bible with all its hope and wisdom, but we can’t bear that anyone will be damned. We are afraid to pray that God will be merciful to everyone because this is seemingly not His plan.

But then our hearts break for those who it seems are predestined to eternal torment.

I cried out to God because I couldn’t bear these things, and He heard my heart.