Is Everlasting Hell Cruel And Unfair?
There are different views that Christians hold on the difficult and sobering issue of an eternal hell. Universalists believe that everyone will ultimately be saved, regardless of how they have lived. However, this view ignores clear biblical passages concerning judgment on the unrepentant sinners (Acts 16:30 and Romans 1:32). Since God is holy, He could not allow sinful rebellion to go unpunished. In keeping with His fairness, there will be degrees of punishment (Luke 12:47-48) dealt out in accordance with the knowledge available (Romans 1-2) and even accounting for how they might have acted under different situations (Matthew 11:20-24).
However, we are still faced with the problem of God’s fairness if hell would be eternal conscious punishment for a finite lifetime of sin. Some Christians claim that at the final judgment only believers will be granted conditional immortality while the unrepentant sinners will naturally cease to exist without access to God the Life-giver. Another position called “annihilationism” holds that unrepentant sinners will be actively consumed by fire unto extinction. Their proponents hope that the fate of non-existence would be less offensive than an eternal hell. But again, these views appear incompatible with biblical passages that speak of endless punishment for wicked where “the smoke of their torment will rise forever and ever”. (Matthew 25:41 -46; Revelations 14:9-11, 20:10). While languages about lake of fire may be metaphorical, these texts do refer to a reality of conscious, everlasting punishment. Those who argue for annihilationism or conditional immortality also commit the fallacy of equating the seriousness of a crime or sin in proportion with the time taken to commit it. A murder executed in 5 minutes may be more heinous a crime compared to a theft that required ten hours. In doing so, these proponents may have critically underestimated the gravity of sin.
Torturing a dog is a crime, but torturing one’s own parent is exceedingly more sinful, deserving a heavier penalty. Although the action and the perpetrator are the same, "the different worth and dignity of the objects upon whom his action terminates makes the difference in the gravity of the two offenses." Since he owes honor to his parent much more than the dog, the crime of harming someone so worthy of his respect is even more heinous. Extrapolate that to the Lord who has loved us, gave us life and infinitely deserving of our utmost worship and honor. Therefore, the act of sinning against Someone of limitless worth and value would also be blameworthy in a boundless way. Rebellion against the Creator of infinite worth and dignity is infinitely heinous so it deserves a proportionately eternal punishment. According to Stott, “eternal conscious torment” would be incompatible with divine justice “unless perhaps (as has been argued) the impenitence of the lost also continues throughout eternity”. In response, Carson pointed out that Revelation 16:21 may provide a portrait of those who are being punished and curse God. Does that hint at the reality that even in hell, those finally reject God will persist in their refusal to repent even in the midst of suffering, despair or regret? If so, then eternal punishment in hell would be fair and proportionate with the seriousness of their crime.
Conclusion
In summary, the Christian outlook concerning the afterlife could make sense to an atheist as an existentially more fulfilling alternative than the materialist view. It provides a basis for the universal human experience of morality and substantiated by historical records of Jesus’ resurrection. Marxist/Freudian objections against an afterlife could be overcome by correcting popular caricatures of a phantasmal existence with the biblical idea of a resurrected body in a renewed earth, which provides incentive for social transformation. The Christian eschatology of a holy and personal Judge who will judge the wicked is hardly a comforting psychological projection. Finally, a consideration of biblical teachings on eschatological heaven and hell dispel popular misunderstandings of a boring heaven or a cruel hell. Instead, there could be inexhaustible wonder and ever-deepening delight in God’s presence and eternal judgment is a proportionate demonstration of His holy justice against the real character of human rebellion.
Bibliography
1. Essentials: A Liberal-Evangelical Dialogue, David Edwards and John Stott, London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1998
2. Four Views On Hell, William Crockett, general editor, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996
3. God’s Passion For His Glory: Living The Vision Of Jonathan Edwards, John Piper, Leicester: Inter-Varsity Press, 1998
4. Heaven: Better by Far, J. O. Sanders, Discovery: Grand Rapids, 1993
5. Reason To Believe: A Response to Common Objections to Christianity, R. C. Sproul, Zondervan: Grand Rapids, 1978
6. Reasonable Faith: Christian Truth and Apologetics, William Lane Craig, Wheaton: Crossways, 1994
7. The Doctrine of Endless Punishment, W. G. T. Shedd, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1886
8. The Fire That Consumes: A Biblical and Historical Study of the Doctrine of Final Punishment, Edward Fudge, Carlisle: Paternoster, 1994
9. The Gagging of God: Christianity Confronts Pluralism, Carson, D.A., Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996
10. The Psychology of Atheism, R. C. Sproul, Bethany: Minneapolis, 1974
11. The Resurrection of the Son of God, N. T. Wright, Fortress Press: Minneapolis, 2003
There are different views that Christians hold on the difficult and sobering issue of an eternal hell. Universalists believe that everyone will ultimately be saved, regardless of how they have lived. However, this view ignores clear biblical passages concerning judgment on the unrepentant sinners (Acts 16:30 and Romans 1:32). Since God is holy, He could not allow sinful rebellion to go unpunished. In keeping with His fairness, there will be degrees of punishment (Luke 12:47-48) dealt out in accordance with the knowledge available (Romans 1-2) and even accounting for how they might have acted under different situations (Matthew 11:20-24).
However, we are still faced with the problem of God’s fairness if hell would be eternal conscious punishment for a finite lifetime of sin. Some Christians claim that at the final judgment only believers will be granted conditional immortality while the unrepentant sinners will naturally cease to exist without access to God the Life-giver. Another position called “annihilationism” holds that unrepentant sinners will be actively consumed by fire unto extinction. Their proponents hope that the fate of non-existence would be less offensive than an eternal hell. But again, these views appear incompatible with biblical passages that speak of endless punishment for wicked where “the smoke of their torment will rise forever and ever”. (Matthew 25:41 -46; Revelations 14:9-11, 20:10). While languages about lake of fire may be metaphorical, these texts do refer to a reality of conscious, everlasting punishment. Those who argue for annihilationism or conditional immortality also commit the fallacy of equating the seriousness of a crime or sin in proportion with the time taken to commit it. A murder executed in 5 minutes may be more heinous a crime compared to a theft that required ten hours. In doing so, these proponents may have critically underestimated the gravity of sin. Torturing a dog is a crime, but torturing one’s own parent is exceedingly more sinful, deserving a heavier penalty. Although the action and the perpetrator are the same, "the different worth and dignity of the objects upon whom his action terminates makes the difference in the gravity of the two offenses." Since he owes honor to his parent much more than the dog, the crime of harming someone so worthy of his respect is even more heinous. Extrapolate that to the Lord who has loved us, gave us life and infinitely deserving of our utmost worship and honor. Therefore, the act of sinning against Someone of limitless worth and value would also be blameworthy in a boundless way. Rebellion against the Creator of infinite worth and dignity is infinitely heinous so it deserves a proportionately eternal punishment. According to Stott, “eternal conscious torment” would be incompatible with divine justice “unless perhaps (as has been argued) the impenitence of the lost also continues throughout eternity”. In response, Carson pointed out that Revelation 16:21 may provide a portrait of those who are being punished and curse God. Does that hint at the reality that even in hell, those finally reject God will persist in their refusal to repent even in the midst of suffering, despair or regret? If so, then eternal punishment in hell would be fair and proportionate with the seriousness of their crime.
Conclusion
In summary, the Christian outlook concerning the afterlife could make sense to an atheist as an existentially more fulfilling alternative than the materialist view. It provides a basis for the universal human experience of morality and substantiated by historical records of Jesus’ resurrection. Marxist/Freudian objections against an afterlife could be overcome by correcting popular caricatures of a phantasmal existence with the biblical idea of a resurrected body in a renewed earth, which provides incentive for social transformation. The Christian eschatology of a holy and personal Judge who will judge the wicked is hardly a comforting psychological projection. Finally, a consideration of biblical teachings on eschatological heaven and hell dispel popular misunderstandings of a boring heaven or a cruel hell. Instead, there could be inexhaustible wonder and ever-deepening delight in God’s presence and eternal judgment is a proportionate demonstration of His holy justice against the real character of human rebellion. Bibliography
1. Essentials: A Liberal-Evangelical Dialogue, David Edwards and John Stott, London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1998
2. Four Views On Hell, William Crockett, general editor, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996
3. God’s Passion For His Glory: Living The Vision Of Jonathan Edwards, John Piper, Leicester: Inter-Varsity Press, 1998
4. Heaven: Better by Far, J. O. Sanders, Discovery: Grand Rapids, 1993
5. Reason To Believe: A Response to Common Objections to Christianity, R. C. Sproul, Zondervan: Grand Rapids, 1978
6. Reasonable Faith: Christian Truth and Apologetics, William Lane Craig, Wheaton: Crossways, 1994
7. The Doctrine of Endless Punishment, W. G. T. Shedd, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1886
8. The Fire That Consumes: A Biblical and Historical Study of the Doctrine of Final Punishment, Edward Fudge, Carlisle: Paternoster, 1994
9. The Gagging of God: Christianity Confronts Pluralism, Carson, D.A., Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996
10. The Psychology of Atheism, R. C. Sproul, Bethany: Minneapolis, 1974
11. The Resurrection of the Son of God, N. T. Wright, Fortress Press: Minneapolis, 2003
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