RE: What God's justification for eternal torment?
August 18, 2020 at 9:32 am
(This post was last modified: August 18, 2020 at 9:35 am by John 6IX Breezy.)
(August 14, 2020 at 9:57 am)Mister Agenda Wrote: Infinite punishment for finite offenses is unjust on the face of it. The biblical support for it is dodgy though, you can put together verses to support the 'Lake of Fire' being reserved for Satan and his fellow rebel angels, annihilation of the souls of sinners, or verses to support eventual universal salvation. Eternal hellfire seems to just be popular in many Christian sects, presumably because fear of it is believed to help keep the flock in line. In modern times the eternal hellfire doctrine is a problem, possibly because the morality of modern culture has moved beyond considering torture a just punishment even if it's temporary.
Here's a quote from one of the early writings in my church, dating back to the 1800's. But I'm sure the idea itself echos even further back in time.
"How repugnant to every emotion of love and mercy, and even to our sense of justice, is the doctrine that the wicked dead are tormented with fire and brimstone in an eternally burning hell; that for the sins of a brief, earthly life they are to suffer torture as long as God shall live." —Great Controversy, p. 535.
