- Is it really about keeping score? Isn’t eternal death enough of a punishment for anyone or kills one or millions? Do you equate eternal torture in fire as more humane than death. Even we humans know enough to put down a rabid animal and not torture it in anger.
I’ve done a lot of reading from the lives of many Saints, especially those that included their interpretations or visions of Hell, because I had a personal experience that prompted my interest in the subject. The general consensus is that Hell is not a pretty picture.
How do you define eternal death? IMHO, eternal death is the exact opposite of eternal life. So, we have to look at the characteristics of eternal life, first. Then, we should apply the opposite characteristics to eternal death. Human beings are made up of both physical and spiritual substance (body and soul). That’s what makes us completely different from animals. God created us with souls so we could be with Him, forever. Since our souls are spirits, they are immortal, just like angels. Souls cannot die or cease to exist, because God will never completely destroy what He loves.
When Lucifer and some of the other angels became jealous of God’s love for man (who they knew were far inferior to them), they chose to defy Him. But, even in His anger, God couldn’t bring Himself to utterly destroy them, because He still loved them. He also knew they could no longer stay with Him in Heaven, because of their defiance, and they didn’t want to stay with Him, any more than He wanted them to stay in Heaven. That’s why He created Hell as a place for them to still exist, but be totally separated from Him. The angels who chose to go there, did so by their own free will (the same way we do). They knew exactly what it would be like to be without God’s love and mercy. They knew that anything that existed apart from God’s love, would become twisted and take on the exact opposite characteristics than He originally created in them.
So, Hell is the complete opposite of Heaven, and everything that goes there is the reverse of what it would be in Heaven. Whatever God created to be extremely beautiful in Heaven, becomes hideously ugly in Hell. Eternal light becomes endless darkness. Whatever He created in the fullness of His love, becomes filled with its own, selfish, animosity and hate. Whatever He created to be blissfully happy, is immediately filled with despair, and becomes miserably unhappy. Whatever He created to be free from all pain and suffering, now suffers from its own continuous pain and torment, that comes from the guilt of knowing that they brought it all on themselves, by turning away from God.
The existence of fire in Hell is something you seem to want to completely dismiss as being impossible. However, it is also one of the things that is the product of Heavenly things being reversed. The throne of God is often referred to in terms of fire. God appeared to Moses in a burning bush that was not consumed by the flames, and in the fire on the holy mountain. Elias was “taken up in a whirlwind of fire, in a chariot of fiery horses”. The love of God is a holy fire, that kindles our hearts with the love of God and our neighbor. But, the fire of Hell is the unholy fire of seething hatred, that consumes all evil creatures in Hell, forever.
All of this negativity of existence in Hell, is the direct result of it being totally separated from the fullness of God’s love, which is the sole cause of all happiness and joy. Without God, everything becomes painful, hollow and completely devoid of any and all comfort.
- Again, eternal torture (or torment is the same thing when fire is taken literally), would lessen the dignity of both the tortured and the torturer.
The tortures of Hell are not perpetrated by God. The ones that torture others in Hell, are more than likely the ones that did the same kinds of things in their previous existence. Satan, the demons, and all the human souls that go there, torture each other. They constantly accuse and taunt others about the evil sins that they’ve committed, even though they did many of the same things. It’s like a sadistic convention for bullies, where everyone is a bully, as well as being the victim of all the other bullies. They all blame each other for their own misery, even though they know they brought it all on, themselves. They also take great pleasure in making everyone else miserable, which always comes right back on them from someone else. It’s a vicious circle of mutual hate.
My whole issue with how we define hell is centered on using symbolic language literally that blasts the whole meaning out of proportion.
It’s impossible to over emphasize the miseries of Hell. There’s a very good reason for Hell to be mentioned so many times in the Bible. It’s not a place that any good person would ever want to go, so it’s a good thing to be reminded about what it might be like. It’s not a picnic or a walk in the park. It’s Hell!
We are prone to ask… ‘what would Jesus say/do?’ which has a tendency to be what we think Jesus would say/do. Maybe more of…‘what did Jesus say/do?’