"You Go To Hell! No, Wait..."

The other day I posted a question on Facebook about how if people were immortal and that hell was an actual real place on earth, would Christians still think eternal torture was a fair trade for any kind of sin. I didn’t get a lot of replies though, which was partly weird because I figured the concept of hell is a very basic doctrine of consequence that even little Christian kids know that if you do good things on Earth, you go to heaven. Do the opposite and you go to hell.

But I think partly the thing that makes people casually accept this teaching is that we as mortals are so removed from the concept of eternity that we don’t automatically grasp how long forever really is. I mean, while sulfur soap can remedy simple skin ailments, I’m pretty sure zero out of ten dermatologists would recommend soaking in a lake of burning sulfur for eternity is actually a good thing.

Also, eternal torture for all manners of sin just seems too brutal for me. The human justice system has corresponding levels of penalties for crimes, hell however has a blanket approach for all types of transgression. Which means no matter what kind of sin you’ve committed (whether its ogling at your hot officemate or committing mass murder), the wages of it will always be a fiery furnace where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Why would a loving and caring God create such a place? More importantly why would a he allow any of his children to needlessly suffer for eternity for sins committed in a lifetime? Infinite punishment for a finite crime.

So if a person murdered babies every single day for 10 straight years, I don’t think inflicting torturous pain on him for the equivalent amount of time is still justified, let alone a lifetime. That’s just barbaric!

Christians would probably argue that God created hell as a deterrent and that we have free will to choose what path we would thread on in this lifetime.

But isn’t God omniscient? If he is all knowing, then he knows that people would eventually screw up and end up in hell right? Why can’t he just pardon people rather than have this paradoxical prerequisite of accepting Jesus Christ as savior? Why even create hell? It’s not like his hands are tied to the justice system he himself created. Why can’t he use his omnipotence to just change people’s ways and make life on earth easier for everybody?

I have an 11 year old daughter and I have only spanked her for misbehaving once in her life. She was about three or four years old at the time and wouldn’t comply with whatever it was that I was asking her to do, so to put her in line I whacked her butt with my hands.

It wasn’t hard of course but it was enough to jolt her into realizing I wasn’t goofing around anymore. Her reaction though afterwards was priceless, she yelled out “Hey! Look at what you did, that hurts!”

Having never experienced pain as a consequence, her retort probably actually questioned whether whooping her ass was proportionate to her misbehaving. Because after all, she knows she didn’t physically hurt anybody, why does she need to be spanked?

Even though I had the crap beaten out of me when I was a kid by my parents, especially by my dad, I honestly never saw the need to do the same thing to my daughter. I’ve always reasoned with her why what she did was wrong and the consequences of her doings in a manner that her young mind could comprehend.

I would want my daughter to not fear the ass whooping she may get when she misbehaves, but rather understand how her false actions may affect her and the people around her, which in my opinion is a way better deterrent for negative behavior.

As a loving parent (and mind you, I am not omnibenevolent or omnipotent) I will intervene in any way I can to correct the ways of my child. I honestly can’t think of anything that she can do within the realms of reason and reality that would make me agree to anything that would even remotely approximate torture as a consequence for her actions. Heck I can’t even imagine I would agree to it as a consequence to any other human being.

If you are a Christian and you agree with me, don't worry, it doesn't make you an atheist. But it does however show that you will not condone hell as a system of punishment simply because your very morality and compassion for human life will prevent you from agreeing to eternal torture.

Ok, now think about how God thinks otherwise...