Question from a reader: I work with an agnostic. I've shared my faith with her in a very nonconfrontational way for two years now. She's very quick to shoosh me, so I witness more in the gift of mercy and hospitality and less in prophet! Do you have a recommendation for a book that I could give her? She loves history and has a very inquisitive mind. She asks me questions quite often about the Christian "religion." She always has an audio book going in her car and at her desk, so audio would be ideal.

Randy answers the question, "How could a loving God send anyone to Hell?"

Universalism originated in the Garden of Eden when Satan said ‘you will not surely die’ (Gen. 3:4). The appeal by Universalists to God’s desire to save all is unconvincing because the same God who reveals that He desires for everyone to be saved also reveals that not everyone is saved. Additionally, we must distinguish between God’s sovereign will (which God infallibly brings to pass in the world), and His permissive will (what He does not want in and of itself, but wills to occur in light of all of history considered together).