I think you are adding quite a bit to JP2’s statement.
I’ve quoted him in full. There’s no fudging. No paraphrasing. It’s there verbatim.
We could run this as a poll:
Do you think that
A. Hell definitely exists.
B. Hell remains a probability.
C. Hell remains a possibility.
D. Hell does not exist.
John Paul sucks the end of his pencil, thinks for a moment, then ticks D.
This thread is certainly a waste of time for those who ignore what others have written, e.g. “deserves torturing” implies that it isn’t self-inflicted - which is the fundamental objection to your rejection of hell.
OK, so nobody deserves to go to hell. Is that your position? Anyone else can still answer who they think deserves the punishment, but can I now ask if you know any sane person who would choose to be tortured for that ten year period?
Can you tell me if it is at all credible in any way whatsoever that anyone would make a conscious decision to self inflict ten years of pain on themselves, knowing what the punishment was going to be?
Maybe what you mean is that they choose evil, and therefore end up in hell. But that again implies a punishment. The same as a man who is imprisoned for theft. We can say he brought it upon himself by choosing to steal. But a few years in the slammer seems like a reasonable privacy to pay. What sin deserves just ten years of torment?
Again, I’m calling everyone out on this. ‘It’s eternal torment’ says everyone. ‘It exists’ says everyone (well, except those who aren’t 100%sure and still regard it as a ‘possibility’) but I get the forum equivalent of a blank stare when I ask people to actually think about what it is meant to entail.
We have a plant’s worth of evil from which to pick somebody who might deserve hell. Child rapists, mass murderers, genocidal maniacs - there’s no end of potential members of the hell-fire club. But no-one, literally no-one, can bring themselves to nominate even one single person for just a brief few years of agony. And why?
Well, the reason is blazingly and monstrously simple. None of us are sadists. None of us are psychopaths. Everyone talks the talk, but no-one dares walk the walk because, obviously, it would make you less than human to do so.
Love your enemies. I recall that being said somewhere. But we all need to feel that warm glow of righteous retribution. We all need to know that a bad deed will reap it’s own reward. We all want to believe that no-one gets away with it! And if not in this world, then dammit, in the next. Hence hell.
But it can’t just be separation from God. Those who don’t believe in Him could care less. It can’t simply be non-existence because those who don’t believe in Him expect nothing more. But the rhetoric, the fire and brimstone threats have been cranked up to such an extent that it becomes, not just unbelievable, but inhuman. Sadistic. Too horrifying to contemplate. Too horrifying for anyone to be able to nominate any single person who deserves it.
And I’m very pleased indeed that no-one has.
