Talk:Rebirth or Resurrection:No Purpose served by an Eternal Hell

By Vishal Agarwal

Modern states punish criminals either to chastise and reform them or to set an example before society (deterrence effect) and also to prevent them from repeating criminal activity. Retribution (on behalf of victims of the crime) is not regarded as an honorable reason for punishing criminals. Thus, the punishment meted out to criminals is intended to serve a positive purpose. But no positive purpose is apparent in the eternal damnation of sinners by God.

In a single lifetime, we can commit only a finite number of sins. So why should a sinner get infinite misery for a finite sin? This leads us to the conclusion that in some interpretations within Christianity and Islam, God is depicted with a stern, punitive nature rather than as embodying unconditional love. For example, early Christian theologians, including St. Augustine, have been associated with the view that one of the delights of Heaven is the observation of sinners enduring punishment in Hell. In contrast, various Śāstras present narratives in which sages and devout individuals in Heaven advocate for the liberation of sinners from the torments of Hell. These divergent representations suggest that, in certain Semitic traditions, the conceptualization of Hell may serve a role in instilling fear to ensure moral behavior.

The doctrine of an Eternal Hell must be rejected completely because it is opposed to the notion of a loving and caring God:

……there are some people in particular religions who think that if you do not become spiritually perfect in this one lifetime, or take to a particular religion to be saved, you enter eternal damnation. However, this is hardly logical. One reason why there cannot be an eternal, fiery hell is because the short life of a wicked man is but a flash compared with eternity. Such a life of a wicked person certainly produces negative effects, bad karm, that the man must later endure, but his existence and actions are a finite cause and his hell can last only so long before he is absolved of the reactions to his bad deeds. However, if there is an eternal damnation caused by his actions, this means that there is an infinite effect produced by a finite cause. This is impossible and illogical. Nonetheless, then he or she will indeed enter into dark, confusing, and even painful forms of existence through which he must endure until rectified. Thus, it is a temporary situation based on the progress or lack thereof of the individual.

Furthermore, a merciful, loving God would not create an eternal damnation. Such a terror is a product of an unholy or incomplete doctrine created by mankind. This again shows the defective nature of humans. Creating a faulty nature in humankind so they can become an everlasting fuel to feed an eternal hell fire is not God’s purpose in His creation. If such was the case, who could be saved? How many men are so spotless that they can receive a direct pass to heaven? Even the most saintly often have faults to work out. A hell for us to live in eternally does not exist, nor should we worry about it.”

Consider a villainous person who has no faith in the Abrahamic belief. He can very well outsmart God and save himself from eternal hell by mandating that his body is cremated upon death so that it cannot be resurrected, and thereby he is not sent to an eternal hell for horrific, unending tortures.

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