Here on Earth, punishment serves three basic purposes: rehabilitation (to convince criminals never to commit crimes again), deterrent (to scare other people away from misbehavior), or retribution (to pay society back for the harm caused). But what is the purpose of God torturing people in Hell?
It can't be for rehabilitation -- Hell is supposed to be eternal; so even if you eventually learn your lesson, you're still stuck there forever.
It can't be deterrent -- there's no credible evidence to suggest hell is a real place (according to surveys, even half of CHRISTIANS think that good people of different or NO faith will still go to heaven); and most Christians will assert that they'll be incapable of sinning once they reach heaven, so there's no point to threatening them with Hell.
And it can't be for retribution -- central to the concept of crime is the HARM done; and by definition God CANNOT be harmed -- certainly not by us.
So I ask you: What's the point?
2007-06-22
08:39:26
·
25 answers
·
asked by
Anonymous