Ok, first off, Hi!
Secondly, I wasn’t sure whether to put this in IMHO or GD…so a move wouldn’t surprise me.
Ok, so. The way I understand the Christian judgement system is this:
- You’re good. Into Heaven you go, my friend.
- You’re bad. To Hell with you, foul being.
And then, added rules depending on your particular beliefs, such as, I believe, the Catholic belief in Purgatory, where you go for a while as a sort of “smaller” punishment for the less evil crimes against God and fellow beings.
However, (and I may easily be wrong with this) I haven’t seen any form of Christianity that doesn’t disagree with those main two rules. They disagree on what constitutes good or bad behaviour, but in all cases i’ve seen it’s those two options. I’m pretty sure it’s the same deal in Judaism, and I believe also in Islam, but I don’t know enough about either to say it with great confidence.
Anyway, my point is this; you commit a crime against God, you go to Hell. Which…well, it seems kinda…harsh. I look at it like this:
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You’re in constant agony. Doesn’t sound too nice, but ok, that makes sense for some sins/crimes, if they’re large enough.
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There’s no chance of salvation. Which is where I start to have trouble. Once you’re there, that’s it. All is said and done. You’re not getting out, ever again, even if you repent (and I imagine you might be thinking about it
). -
You’re there for eternity. Now, honestly…eternity? Terrible pain and suffering…forever?
I can’t think of a crime that’s worthy of that level of punishment. I’m not a Christian myself, so I’ll admit that my judgement on these things is going to be different; blaspheming, for example, in my book would be worth a considerably lesser punishment than a Christian would believe in. However, I think i’d have roughly the same perception of murder, or rape, or theft as a Christian would. I’d definetly say that theft, no matter what you steal, is not worth eternal agony with no respite. Rape and murder? Yes, those would be worth a VERY high punishment in my opinion. Months, years, decades of constant pain? Acceptable. But eternity? This really does seem exceptionally harsh for a God who’s primary attribute, according to his believers is benovolence.
So basically, I just want to ask…what are people’s views on this? Are there Christians who would agree that that’s an acceptable and relevant amount of punishment?
