(November 29, 2011 at 12:25 pm)Greatest I am Wrote: What is the purpose of an everlasting punishment in hell?
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If God’s everlasting hell is not serving a purpose, God would not create it since scripture says that God created all things for his pleasure and for himself.
Hell was invented so that people would fall in line and do what the religion's leaders wanted. Think about how superstitious people were back then... if you told them they would burn FOREVER if they didn't do exactly what you tell them they should do, that's a pretty powerful motivation. It certainly must be, because superstitious people still believe it today.
As for God's pleasure, you're probably not far off. I have no doubt that a lot of Christians get pleasure from the idea of non-Christians burning in a lake of fire for eternity. Since God is an extension of Christians' minds, he gets pleasure from seeing people burn because they themselves do. I think it also helps them cope with the idea that bad people can go through life doing bad things without being punished. It makes them feel better to say, "Just wait until he dies, then he's going to burn." If there's no justice in this life, they feel comforted by the idea of justice in an afterlife.
Christian apologetics is the art of rolling a dog turd in sugar and selling it as a donut.
