why would god send someone to hell instead of just turning their soul into nothing?

Question

Instead of fair and just, he sounds kind of petty and vengful. Sending someone to hell sounds like the action of an immature jr. high kid torturing his dog. According to the bible he is all powerful, so it seems like instead of banishing the devil to hell he could have done a million different punishments that didn't involve torture of the human race. It all seems pretty silly to me.

He created all these souls so why can't he destruct them.

Answer 1

You hit the nail on the head Stewie......THe Hebrew word for hell, SHeol, is defined as the common grave of mankind. We all go there when we die. There is no place of fire and torture. That "hell" was an invention of the Orthodox church around 400 a.d., as a way to scare people into following and submission-much like the Crusades and the Inquisition. God does not create us to destroy us, and I have no idea how an entire religious movement would worship a God they believed would torture them for eternity if they committed a sin. God is a loving creator, not an immature deity out for sadistic punishment of the human race.
THe answer is, according to the REAL bible-before it was edited by the Catholics-he doesn't. It says that those few deemed unfit for paradise will simply be destroyed and cease to exist.

Answer 2

Well I'm a Christian in the sense I believe in God and JesusChrist, but for being totally honest I've always wondered the same.
In the Bible it says he's all powerful, all love, and so on, therefore, since the beginning when Lucifer rebeled among the angels God could have stopped him from being his etearnal enemy, that seemed like a pact "I'll stay with half souls and you'll stay with the other half", I know it sounds pretty blasfemic but that's the way I think, sometimes God doesnt seem very fair and loving to me.

Besides, let's just forget about that, let's take the great and really unsolved question here: WHY WERE WE CREATED??? Did he feel lonely? Did he feel bored? Are we like some kind of experiment??? Like some kind of movie with the merely purpose to entertain???
It's like a cruel game!!!! Where he has the absolute power, where we have to stick to his rules, and if we break them we go straight to hell, if we succeed we go to heaven...

I repeat, I'm not an atheist, if I were I would deny his presence, but I dont, I know and feel He is there, what I feel is some kind of anger mixed up with fear to a supreme being, the fear of dying tomorrow and being tormented for the rest of my life, just for thinking and saying too much.

Anyway, it's silly, it's unfair, it's frightening, it's unknown, all that mixed together, it's better not to think about it too much or I'll end up mad.

Answer 3

Yeah it might not seem like it, but Christians do not believe that God sends anyone to Hell. The spiritual joy of heaven is being in the presence of God, and the spiritual pain of Hell is separation from Him. So if we die rejecting God, we send ourselves to Hell of our own free will.
And it would kinda miss the point to destroy those souls. A every decision has consequences. If there are no consequences for evil, then why be good? And if Lucifer had free will, why be merciful and destroy him, since that would make free will pointless?

Answer 4

Your observations ignore the proper, formal understanding of the concept of omnipotence.

The philosophical rationale is that a supreme being, God, cannot act in an illogical manner with respect to that being's divine and perfect attributes. Hence, God cannot make a rock so big that He could not move it, nor could God do anything that would be a logical contradiction to His divine nature.

Omnipotence means God can do everything **that is possible** within the boundaries of a supreme being. Omnipotence doesn’t mean that God can do anything. The concept of omnipotence has to do with power, not ability per se. In fact, there are many things God can’t do, for example,

- God can’t make square circles.

- God cannot lie.

- **What God has created in His image, God cannot annihilate (to erase from existence, to destroy completely).**

- God cannot create a morally free creature that couldn’t choose evil or the creature would not be morally free to choose.

None of these, though, have to do with power. Instead, they are logically contradictory, and therefore contrary to God’s rational nature.

Answer 5

Because turning a soul into nothing isn't a punishment. Some will live happily for eternity and some will live in pure misery for eternity for not following the way of Jesus Christ. Simple, your good= heaven=happiness, your bad and don't repent=hell= misery both=eternity

Answer 6

Because souls are created immortal. That is their nature. To "uncreate" a soul would mean God reversing His eternal plan of Creation. We will live forever. That's a given. And we have complete freedom to decide where. God doesn't "send" anyone anywhere. He simply allows us the freedom to choose where we want to go.
.

Answer 7

First of course you have to believe in a god that exists to create and destroy. But, if there were such a creature I do agree with you in so many way that it does seem to be an act of pettiness.
There is of course the other way of looking at things, as per the writings of Dante, that there is a pergatory where you can in fact you can work your way back to Paradise.

Answer 8

Maybe hell could be turning your soul into nothing. I've heard a lot of people say that hell fire and brimstone stuff they do not take literally. Maybe hell is your worst nighmare or fear.

Answer 9

The god of the old testament is quite a disagreeable character; read Job. But there is no reason to believe in the existence of such a thing, and I don't.

Answer 10

the point of hell is to further punish the sinner. if their soul was simply exterminated they wouldn't suffer for their sins. it's pretty messed up. which is why i don't believe in heaven OR hell, per se.