Do finite misdeeds warrant infinite punishment?

Question

The whole concept of eternal hell does not make sense to me on a karmic level. Even according to the Old Testament it is an eye of and eye and a tooth for a tooth, not a hand for a fingernail and a chopping up of the body into bits for ever and ever, even if someone in some life did commit a grave crime such as dismemberment. I know what is going to be said that all our righteous acts are like menstrual rags to God & that in comparison to God's infinite Goodness our sin is worth infinite punishment. This does not pan out either. God cannot judge us up to his/her standard since we are not God. Only God can judge God by God's standards. Why do we treat adults differently in the legal system than juveniles? This is because we inherently know that children as less culpable since they have not reached our level yet. The best of physical world mirrors the spiritual. If we would not eternally torture our own children for some misdeed how much more would one who is infinitely kind do likewise.

suspendor, I enjoyed the part about infinity being a possible end note. This reminds me of the eternal now. Is every moment we experience going to last for eternity in the records of the universe? It's like each moment is frozen in time like a picture. The more Joyous moments we experience the more eternal Joy we accumulate and visa versa. By the way I have been seeking God for some time now and have found through many a painful trail that God is better than many fundamentalists have portrayed him/her. I should know I was one of them. I have not thrown the baby out with the bathwater as there are many things I still retain from my old perspective. The others aspects have just been modulated or replaced by more functional models that draw the compass of my heart in the right direction.

Answer 1

i read the entire thing, and I agree wholly, if I were to embrace a god it would be an all loving god, not one who loves you conditionally.

Answer 2

As usual, the question is phrased in a way designed to control the argument. Yes, it seems illogical for a Perfect God to expect perfection in his creations, especially when we have been given free will specifically to see what we’d do with it. But God is not being vindictive. The truth is, there are only two states in Eternity. There is ‘Being in His Presence’, and there is ‘Being Elsewhere’. There are consequences to each of these choices. But WE make the choices. God wants everyone to be with Him in Heaven. However, men have the ability to choose to live in ways contrary to His Will. When they do, they choose to exclude themselves from His Presence. This is not so much a punishment as it is a consequence of their decision.
If you choose to drive off a cliff, you can hardly blame God for creating the Law of Gravity. Similarly, if you choose to deny God’s Son and refuse His Gift of forgiveness, you can hardly blame Him for respecting your decision to stay away from Him. If you play the lottery every week, faithfully using the same numbers each time, and then one day choose not to play, only to learn that those very numbers came up the one time you failed to use them, how would it make you feel? Now amplify that a billion times. Once you are past this life, you will be able to see clearly that which is unclear at present. You will understand the magnitude of your decision to serve self rather than participate in life as the Creator would have you. Nevertheless, as this is the testing ground, the place where we choose our places in eternity, you will be required to live by the choices made here and now.

But it might not be so bad. Eternity is difficult to fathom, but if you are into mathematics or astrophysics, you can see at least some of what it means. Pi is a number that continues into infinity. It is infinitely smaller with every decimal place it is calculated to. Other numbers repeat into infinity, such as 1/3. 0.3333… never quite gets to .0334, even though you write threes from here to the Moon and back. Eternity may just be another word for ‘the end’. As there is nothing beyond it, there is no meaning to the idea of ‘after eternity’. It then merely becomes a question of ‘ending’ on a happy’ note, or resonating despair into your own private piece of eternity. Fortunately, the choice is completely yours. You are asking the right questions. Now be aware that God is a real Person that YOU can actually communicate with. And if you ask Him to, with an open heart, He will show Himself to you.

Answer 3

How do you know that your deeds are finite?? To you they might be, but to God they are otherwise.
You are not being judged now, you are being advised ahead of time that you will be judged later. So that you can decide if you want to repent or not. There are two places to spend eternity and you can choose here and now. Where would you send people that don't belong in heaven, hell is the only other place that they can go.. If you just let them go on another planet then in a few thousand years they would have every type of sin going on and God would again have to intervene.
You say only God can judge Himself by God's standards. If that were true then no one would go to heaven. NOBODY.. God does and will judge us by a holy standard whether we like it or not.

Answer 4

Our 'misdeeds' could actually have infinite consequences, depending on who they affect. But apart from that, the biblical idea of eternal punishment consists of eternal separation from God. This is a just punishment since those who recieve it are ones who have already rejected God. The way to escape this judgment has been made simple: accecpt Christ, since He has provided for the removal of our sin. God has allowed for our faults & failures by providing a substitute who was punished on our behalf. If we accept this then the Bible says we will always have an 'advocate' (Jesus) who will plead our case before God. And if we sin (as we are sure to do) we have only to ask forgiveness.

Answer 5

still don't get what ur question is, whether if should anyone deserve infinite punishment in life(from other people) or after life from God.
but in both of them don't think anyone deserve infinite punishment. i think punishment should always be equal to the sin or mistake committed. so in life as u say in ?he Old Testament it is an eye of and eye and a tooth for a tooth" or if a person has a money to pay for the damage he caused and fix it if he can do. however things for God is different. and it differ from one religion to another. iam not an expert in all relegions but for example in Islam " if u do believe that there is only one God and u believe in all his messengers such as moses jesus, and mohammad and the ones be4 them u will go to heaven but after u get punished in hell for the sins u committed and hurt the other ppl, and as God is the merciful he can forgive some sins but he will punish u for the sins u committed and hurt other ppl unless u ask for forgiveness and made them up for them and they forgive u.

Answer 6

No, if god exists, it's evil:

"God is perfectly just, and yet he sentences the imperfect humans he created to infinite suffering in hell for finite sins. Clearly, a limited offense does not warrant unlimited punishment. God's sentencing of the imperfect humans to an eternity in hell for a mere mortal lifetime of sin is infinitely more unjust than this punishment. The absurd injustice of this infinite punishment is even greater when we consider that the ultimate source of human imperfection is the God who created them. A perfectly just God who sentences his imperfect creation to infinite punishment for finite sins is impossible."

Answer 7

The punishment is countless definite, yet what do the Scriptures say the punishment is. For the wages sin pays is death, Romans 6:23. what's death? death is non-life, Ecclesiastes 9:5,10. what's Hell and is it indefinite? Revelation 20:13, and each and all the lifeless in it will be delivered out. what's this lake of fire? Revelation 20:14, the lake of fire is termed the 2nd death. returned what's death? Ecclesiastes 9:5,10, non-life. So, the eternal punishment for sin is non-life.

Answer 8

Definitely not. Because, above all, God is forgiving.

Answer 9

maybe not
maybe just very severe and prolonged punishment

Answer 10

no