The thing that would best put the swag question to rest with me is any theist answering the following hypothetical question:
Hypothetically, God decides that heaven will be no more. Instead, in the future, all believers will go to hell... but not as a punishment but rather as an extended... eternal... form of martyrdom. In this hypothetical, God accepts/judges his followers as worthy (ie in the old system they would have gone to heaven) but it is nonetheless his Will that they should endure hell forever in service to his will. And 'forever' is written in stone... God promises that there will be no reprieve, ever, no matter how much they may ask for it. If they accept the deal then, their only comforts are that they are deemed worthy by God and are doing his will. In life I'm sure there are many examples of this sort of mindset in play... of enduring adversity for the sake of doing God's will... not least with actual martyrs... but this hypothetical takes the question to the extreme; who, if anyone, loves God so much, and respects his will so much, that they would willingly suffer permanent suffering in service to that will? Who would do so, obediently and unquestioningly, accepting that God's will is God's will and man has no right to judge it, regardless of how fair or unfair it may seem?
Hypothetically, God decides that heaven will be no more. Instead, in the future, all believers will go to hell... but not as a punishment but rather as an extended... eternal... form of martyrdom. In this hypothetical, God accepts/judges his followers as worthy (ie in the old system they would have gone to heaven) but it is nonetheless his Will that they should endure hell forever in service to his will. And 'forever' is written in stone... God promises that there will be no reprieve, ever, no matter how much they may ask for it. If they accept the deal then, their only comforts are that they are deemed worthy by God and are doing his will. In life I'm sure there are many examples of this sort of mindset in play... of enduring adversity for the sake of doing God's will... not least with actual martyrs... but this hypothetical takes the question to the extreme; who, if anyone, loves God so much, and respects his will so much, that they would willingly suffer permanent suffering in service to that will? Who would do so, obediently and unquestioningly, accepting that God's will is God's will and man has no right to judge it, regardless of how fair or unfair it may seem?
