How can anyone ever deserve eternal punishment?

[HoldemDB9]

I mean, even Hitler does not deserve to be punished forever, there has to be a point where he has paid for what he did. The same is true for eternal bliss, what on earth can somebody ever do that deserves to have eternal bliss?

Just think if someone is going to go to Hell, another person could be 1,000,000 times worse but still get the exact same punishment, how is that fair?

 

[Riverwolf]

Just as I said in that other post, go read the Apocalypse of Peter, and not the one found at Nag Hammadi.

 

[doppelganger]

Some people perceive that just such a thing is necessary to keep their demons at bay.

 

[doppelganger]

Aside from that, Dostoevsky left this notion of "God's eternal justice" in shreds by the end of "Rebellion" in the Brothers Karamozov - a book that puts much of the Bible to shame.

 

[Sunstone]

I mean, even Hitler does not deserve to be punished forever, there has to be a point where he has paid for what he did. The same is true for eternal bliss, what on earth can somebody ever do that deserves to have eternal bliss?

Just think if someone is going to go to Hell, another person could be 1,000,000 times worse but still get the exact same punishment, how is that fair?

It seems to be a system created by someone suffering from psychosis.

 

[ChristineES]

Hell, in my view, is a state of mind and anyone who is "there" is put there by themselves and not by God. God rejects no one, according to my belief, but people do reject God. This is due to many reasons.

Another thought: If someone is turned away from God because of the actions of another person or persons, then I believe that God will have mercy on that person (the one turned away). I believe God is much more merciful than a lot of people I know- even those who are considered "upright.

 

[Buttercup]

No one deserves eternal punishment. We're basically too cognitively ignorant in this life to have to suffer eternally in the next for what we did not know while alive. It doesn't even make sense.

It was a made up story meant to keep people from straying too far off the author's idea of how people should live. A true power trip.

 

[methylatedghosts]

No one deserves eternal punishment. We're basically too cognitively ignorant in this life to have to suffer eternally in the next for what we did not know while alive. It doesn't even make sense.

It was a made up story meant to keep people from straying too far off the author's idea of how people should live. A true power trip.

How about eternal bliss? Is that deserved?

 

[Buttercup]

How about eternal bliss? Is that deserved?

I don't believe in that either. I have no clue what happens after we die. No one does. And, certainly not some authors from 2000 years ago.

 

[Valjean]

Isn't punishment supposed to be corrective? Life in hell doesn't seem corrective, nor would reform be meaningful in such an environment.
Eternal condemnation isn't corrective, it's not even retributive. It's just sadistic.

 

[methylatedghosts]

I don't believe in that either. I have no clue what happens after we die. No one does. And, certainly not some authors from 2000 years ago.

So this sentence:

We're basically too cognitively ignorant in this life to have to suffer eternally in the next for what we did not know while alive.

could equally be used in regards to eternal bliss then?

(I'm not necessarily disagreeing, btw )

 

[Alla Prima]

How about eternal bliss? Is that deserved?

Yes it is.

 

[Alla Prima]

I mean, even Hitler does not deserve to be punished forever, there has to be a point where he has paid for what he did. The same is true for eternal bliss, what on earth can somebody ever do that deserves to have eternal bliss?

Just think if someone is going to go to Hell, another person could be 1,000,000 times worse but still get the exact same punishment, how is that fair?

No one deserves eternal punishment because no one is without redemption and no one is without redemption because no one is inherently evil.

 

[ranjana]

Hell is really being interpreted as a metaphorical state here on earth, within oneself. If even identified christians are coming more and more to this interpretation then i cant help but think the forecast is looking pretty sunny! Call me idealistic?

 

[StripperClown]

Hell, in my view, is a state of mind and anyone who is "there" is put there by themselves and not by God. God rejects no one, according to my belief, but people do reject God. This is due to many reasons.

Another thought: If someone is turned away from God because of the actions of another person or persons, then I believe that God will have mercy on that person (the one turned away). I believe God is much more merciful than a lot of people I know- even those who are considered "upright.

What if they were turned away from God due to lack of sufficient evidence? Would somebody get there, and God would go "Yeah, I exist. You can come in."

 

[Runlikethewind]

I think it might be wrong to look at heaven and hell as things that are earned or deserved. That may very well be an outmoded theological construct used in past times, which does in some way describe the reality of the situation as it was then understood, but must be revised in light of a more accurate picture of the reality as we understand it today. Eternal punishment seem just plain unjust to us.

It may be that eternal bliss is a gift freely given by God to us out of love. If we accept it then we get it, it is not deserved or earned. If we reject it then what is God to do with us? I like the concept of hell as self-imposed based on the rejection of the gift but this is still problematic. Wouldn't it be more merciful for God to simply annihilate a person who refuses eternal bliss, so that they would cease to exist entirely rather than suffer in hell for eternity? or maybe hell is not eternal? And who the hell would reject eternal bliss anyway?

In the end I do not believe that anyone deserves either eternal bliss or eternal punishment but I still believe that heaven and hell are real. How that all works is another question.

 

[UnTheist]

"Eternal Punishment" is an oxymoron.

 

[Buttercup]

could equally be used in regards to eternal bliss then?

(I'm not necessarily disagreeing, btw )

Are you asking about our ignorance or our deserving of bliss?

 

[Sunstone]

Hell is really being interpreted as a metaphorical state here on earth, within oneself. If even identified christians are coming more and more to this interpretation then i cant help but think the forecast is looking pretty sunny!

I agree to some extent, but I believe there will always be a remnant group of people who "just don't get it" and instead they will think hell is a place somewhere. The poor will always be with us.

Call me idealistic?

You're idealistic, of course, but instead of calling you that, I would rather call you next Saturday.

 

[stacey bo bacey]

I wonder why some people say "hell" is a state of mind away from god...like you aren't with him so it's hellish. I'm not with him now, and he's not with me...and I feel uber fantastic!