10 Logical Arguments Against Hell
Quote:1. Just punishment should fit the crime. Hell is eternal torture, the likes of which are hard for me to imagine a crime that would warrant it
Yes, the crime should fit the punishment. Hell is eternal, but not torture. The crimes of a sinner are eternal, the sin is committed against the eternal God, thus making the crime eternal. Until the sins are forgiven they remain, as I said God is eternal, and as long as God is so are those sins that have not been forgiven. So the punishment fits the crime perfectly.
Quote:2. Punishment should discourage bad behavior. Since Judgment Day comes as a surprise after our life is over, it doesn't do much to discourage bad behavior.
Surprise to who, can't be anyone here this has been discussed to much, seems to me an unfounded assumption has been made. So knowing hell exist, should be a deterrent to bad behavior. However this is not hell's main purpose, it exist to punish those who have sin that isn't forgiven.
Quote:3. Punishment should rehabilitate. Hell is eternal. There is no chance for parole. It's only function is to torture.
You can not rehabilitate those who have committed crimes and do not repent from those crimes. This is a standard of rehabilitation. Many who go into the punishment system in this country are never paroled, the punishment fits the crime or they haven't rehabilitated. Just because a person is not paroled, doesn't mean they are being tortured, torture is illegal in this country.
Quote:4. The decision on who goes to Hell isn't based on how good or evil you were in life but on whether or not you joined the right religion and held the correct set of unproven metaphysical beliefs. No matter how evil you were, Christ will forgive you if you convert. No matter how good you were, Christ will condemn you if you don't convert. Therefore, Hell is not to punish wrongdoers but rather to torture wrong thinkers. This is not justice. This is a dictator tormenting non-loyal citizens.
This analogy of hell and punishment are not what scriptures teach, not believing in Christ does not put you in hell, sin is the reason, to be specific sin not forgiven. You see it is based entirely on the bad in ones life, and has nothing to do with the good someone does. Heaven and hell are not a reward system, to the contrary, they are places people chose to live in eternity. The statement, Christ will forgive the worst of sinners is true, and even up to the last minutes of one's life, this is the love He has for all people. Thinking and doing are equal in God's eyes, that is to say a sin committed in the heart is a sin necessarily. The statement of God punishing (corrected the torture part) non-loyal citizens is false, big time false, people who go to hell were never a citizen of the Kingdom of God.
Quote:5. No moral system of justice can allow an innocent person to take the place of a guilty criminal in punishment.
Who is taking the place of the guilty, Christ will not be in hell for eternity, only the sinners will reside there. So, the above statement is of an uninformed opinion, nothing more.
Quote:6. On earth, there is no way of knowing which Hell is the true Hell. Muslims never worry about the Christian Hell and vice versa. If life on earth is a "test", Yahweh-Allah has done a lousy job of making sure to administer the test fairly, since passing the test will depend greatly on accident of birth.
What would make anyone believe that there is a test to pass about knowing if hell exist, and what does the place of birth have to do with anything, more unfounded conjecture. Hell is real and no one's opinion is required for it to exist.
Quote:7. If life is a "test" as Muslims and Christians alike often like to say, what is the test designed to do exactly? Normally, tests separate a population into groups according to their performance. It seems the criteria to pass this "test" is gullibility, accepting claims simply on the say-so of clerical figures. So what is Yahweh-Allah looking for? Gullible boot-licking sycophants it would seem.
Life is not a test, though life will test a person, we were not put here as a test for some purpose, however we are tested for a purpose. The purpose, to show that God's will is perfect, loving, morally correct and ect. It's who God is waiting for, the inheritors of the Kingdom.
Quote:8. If Hell is eternal, wouldn't we get used to the pain eventually? After being on fire for 200 years, wouldn't we get accustomed to the sensation? Wouldn't our eyes adjust to the darkness? No matter how bad Hell is, humans would get used to it. Conversely with Heaven, humans would soften until the bliss became part of life.
There is a large contradiction here, how can you have fire and yet be in darkness, only one of the two can apply to hell, since one is not compatible with the other. Let's see now, can one get accustom to pain, that seems to be a contradiction within it's own self. Why would Heaven soften a person, the most diverse place ever could not lead to a soft life, or a hard one, it is a life of astounding pleasure in serving and worshiping God.
Quote:9. What are Satan's motivations exactly? Does he win if he gets enough souls? Why would he torture souls that were not loyal to Yahweh/Allah? Even if Satan’s motivation for torturing humans is revenge against Yahweh/Allah, what possible satisfaction could be achieved by torturing people that god had already turned his back on for all eternity?
Satan's only motive is evil, he wins nothing and has lost everything. Satan gets no souls, this is not a game of rewards. Satan tortures no one, God would not allow it, why, because he would. Satan is in the same boat as all the lost, that's to say there is no revenge, God has done nothing for one to take revenge on Him. The lost have put their own selves in hell, they made a choice to be disobedient, then they did not choose to have the disobedience removed, thus they choose punishment. Satisfaction has nothing to do with the punishment (again corrected that torture thing), the punishment is justices for all, for eternity.
Quote:10. What are Yahweh-Allah's motivations exactly? If the criteria of entrance to Heaven are submission and gullibility, this suggests a highly egotistical god, if not a narcissistic one. Such a god would be expected to make regular appearances to his followers to bask in their devotion. Yet this same god hides? And this is the same god of their scriptures who regularly intervenes in overt ways? This is not a consistent, believable character.
There is no Allah, thus no motivation. God needs no motivation, that is a statement of ignorance, God is necessarily motivation for man. The criteria stated is incorrect, so that eliminates the egotistical and narcissistic labels for God. Faith in Christ, which redeems one from their sin is how one inherits the Kingdom. God does not hide, He reveals himself to those who believe (His followers), we see Him now and one day in all His glory, and since the above criteria fails, God does not have to physically reveal himself. Overt to those who do not know Him, to those of us who do, we are able to see Him at work.
God loves those who believe and those who do not and the same goes for me, you have no choice in this matter. That puts the matter of total free will to rest.
