Eternal punishment is pointless.

[Nope]

Could you provide bible verses for this, GC? I have read the bible all the way through and don't remember having read that the reason that god didn't want humans to live forever was so they wouldn't be miserable.

I wouldn't mind living forever if my loved ones lived with me but it isn't something important to me either. It doesn't frighten me that I will just end when I die.

There are no verses in that story that directly say that, however when one reads the whole Bible and pays the slightest attention to he/she is reading he/she would actually see what sin does to people. Then only those who really care to learn to live a life close to God would actually understand.

GC

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How is it possible that Jewish people read the Old Testament and do not believe in the concept of original sin? I found a site that discusses the Jewish view and it seems in line with what I have read in other places.

http://outreachjudaism.org/original-sin/

Despite the zealous position missionaries take as they defend this creed, the Christian doctrine of original sin is profoundly hostile to the central teachings of the Jewish Scriptures. The Torah loudly condemns the alien teaching that man is unable to freely choose good over evil, life over death. This is not a hidden or ambiguous message in the Jewish Scriptures. On the contrary, it is proclaimed in Moses’ famed teachings to the children of Israel.

In fact, in an extraordinary sermon delivered by Moses in the last days of his life, the prophet stands before the entire nation and condemns the notion that man’s condition is utterly hopeless. Throughout this uplifting exhortation, Moses declared that it is man alone who can and must merit his own salvation. Moreover, as he unhesitatingly speaks in the name of God, the lawgiver excoriates the notion that obedience to the Almighty is “too difficult or far off.” According, he declared to the children of Israel that righteousness has been placed within their reach. The thirtieth chapter of Deuteronomy discusses this matter extensively, and its verses read as though the Torah is bracing the Jewish people for the Christian doctrines that would confront them in the centuries to come. As the last Book of the Pentateuch draws to a close, Moses admonishes his young nation not to question their capacity to remain faithful to the mitzvoth of the Torah