What About Hell?

A friend of mine, who is agnostic, challenged my faith by throwing the hell question at me. "Joel, you believe that a loving God would send someone to hell to suffer for eternity with no possible way out?" He continued, "What possible finite sin could deserve infinite punishment"? and then he went on to give examples of all sorts of sins and infamous evil persons such as Hitler, which of course was easier to emotionally understand eternal punishment for, but for the many others average "sinners" the math didn't add up.

I must admit that this was a toughy for me because in my own heart I couldn't see doing this to someone and yet the Greatest Lover was able to. Ouch! Theologians across the spectrum mostly agree that God's goodness is the root of all theology. I did think about this a whole lot because if God is not good then my whole faith crumbles.

Furthermore, how I see the goodness of God then informs my attitude towards people. My own experience is that when I encounter the love and goodness of God on a deeper level, I feel more compassion and affection for those around me. So, for me this question has meaning?

Can God be good and send people to hell? Do you have a different way you'd like to frame the conversation? Other thoughts....