It is fair because no one is compelled to punish themselves.
We have that opportunity in Purgatory. There is no reason to believe a person who values total independence more than anything else will ever want to relinquish it in spite of its drawbacks. As Sartre pointed out, sooner or later we have to commit ourselves. It is implausible to suggest we could sit on the fence for all eternity.
Those who are in hell don’t punish themselves deliberately. It is their vices that make them frustrated and miserable. How much they are tortured by their pride and selfishness depends on how proud and selfish they are. Nothing happens by chance in the spiritual world. They know full well what they are doing and are prepared to pay the price. God doesn’t even come into the picture because they alone are entirely responsible for their decision to reject His love…
Oh but tonyrey, I don’t know what I’m doing. According to the RCC, I’m on my way to hell since my unbelief is grave matter. You have disputed this, but it seems like a clear reading of apostasy. I’m an apostate my friend! I can’t help it, but right now hell opens its maw wide for me…except I can’t even believe that anyway. I don’t want to pay that price (if it exists)! If it turns out I’m wrong, I will gladly repent, but as-is, I just can’t believe.
Sincere unbelief is not even a sin, PC, let alone a grave matter. We’re not expected to be infallible but do what we believe is right to the best of our ability. The real test is whether we love others in the way we live, not what we claim to believe or disbelieve. Sometimes we’re not even sure of what we do believe!
It amounts to destruction because God created us for love and happiness of which we can deprive ourselves.
OK, but how much more destructive then is eternal hell? To keep us alive forever and ever just so we can never achieve our purpose. That seems worse than being blotted out.
We do achieve our purpose in hell! We are created to shape our own destiny and that is exactly what occurs in heaven and hell as it does on earth.
Might is not right! Power does not justify any form of destruction, let alone annihilation. To create us entails responsibility towards us especially when the motive is love. The Creator incurs an obligation to respect our existence and our decisions even though they are against His Will and separate us from life with Him in heaven. To destroy us would amount to rejecting Himself because we are made in His image and likeness. It is a facile solution that doesn’t correspond to the purpose of giving us free will.
Actually, the RCC does insist that might=right with respect to God’s nature. They just express it differently. They say God is “perfectly simple” and that his supposed attributes are co-identical. This would mean that is divine power = his divine justice. He allegedly is power, justice, truth, love, etc.
The Church follows the teaching of Jesus that God is Love. Any belief which is incompatible with that doctrine is false and would be condemned outright.
I think it is interesting that you intuit God’s responsibility to his creation. I have a similar intuition. The question is to what extent and which duties God is bound.
Totally - as far as that is possible when His creatures reject His love. For example, He cannot forgive us if we don’t forgive others because that would be contrary to His justice.
So you’re saying that to annihilate us or let us slip out of existence would be “rejecting himself” but to allow us to torture ourselves forever isn’t? Why not?
If we choose hell we don’t torture ourselves deliberately or gratuitously. Our misery is the inevitable consequence of pride which makes us rebellious and the other vices which stem from pride such as scorn, impatience, callousness and overweening ambition. If we make ourselves detestable we are bound to become isolated and suffer accordingly. It certainly happens in this world. Why not the next?
To be precise, hell is not a place but a conscious state of mind which is a just punishment for one’s vices. Schadenfreude is a good example. It is only right that those who enjoy the suffering of others should suffer as the result of their own vicious enjoyment. Those who cheat others cheat themselves because they lose their integrity and become corrupt like poisonous, rotten fruit. Not only do those who detest others become detestable they also detest themselves because they know they are detestable. Yet they allow their lust for power and pleasure to overcome the misery it causes them. They become divided from others and also internally divided.
What do you think is the just punishment for unbelief? Isn’t faith supposed to be a “gift?” What is the fitting punishment for a person from whom you have withheld a gift?
God doesn’t withhold the gift of faith in love and that is all that matters. If we accept the teaching of Jesus that we should love others and put it into practice we cannot possibly be damned. Some are given more opportunities than others but they also have a greater obligation to follow His teaching. Ignorance per se is not a sin but it is culpable if we don’t ask ourselves whether what we intend to do is right because we are too lazy to do so. Most of the suffering in the world is caused by negligence rather than malice.
