7. Is being punished forever for sins committed in a short lifetime really “justice”? Or can we never understand his form of justice?
Of course it is right to expect God to be just.
And we can see in the United States Constitution and in the Law of Moses, how it is right to fit the punishment to the crime; so it is reasonable for us to expect that God's meted out punishments will be right and proportionate to people's sins.
And eternity burning in hell certainly does not seem like what would be fair for someone who has committed thousands of lies and actions of selfish pleasure, but the person has not directly killed or injured anyone, for example.
But I have learned that hell is not only for punishment. Fire is not only for tormenting people.
Hell is for containing the spirit of evil >
"the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience" > in Ephesians 2:2.
We have already seen what Satan's evil spirit is capable of. And Satan is capable of much worse. Look at how his people treated Jesus who is God's own Son. You are not going to have such people staying with Jesus in Heaven, I offer. And in the gospels and our present lives we have plenty of proof of why. You can not reason with such people; they might do only some minor sins, but there is their capability that God knows about.
Those were religious socially accepted mothers and fathers who were cursing their own children with the shed blood of Jesus >
"His blood be on us and on our children," they said > this quote is in Matthew 27:25.
These were people bringing up children, in Jewish culture; yet, they had their true character making them ready to do that against Jesus who is God's own Son. Satan's spirit might keep humans busy with a few foolish pleasures and with possessions, but if you somehow threaten a person's treasure pleasure, then you might find out how that person can behave differently . . . even like a raging lunatic if that pleasure or possession really is a treasure for the person, instead of God being their number-one treasure.
Satanic people felt threatened by Jesus; so they acted accordingly. They are that stupid and that stubborn. Only fire can manage such stupidly stubborn beings . . . especially if they no longer have physical pleasures to keep them busy.
But Hebrews 12:29 says,
"For our God is a consuming fire."
But because of how God changes our character, the
"fire" who is God does not burn us. But ones in selfish nature can suffer torment because of their own nature making them suffer in the presence of our
"fire" - - kind of like how predators fear a campfire and will hide in the dark while you can share in love's warmth of affection, around that same campfire. By nature Satan's spirit is tormented by even the Spirit of God's own love. So, I see how perhaps Satan was tormented in Heaven, because of his pride nature.
There were demons who were tormented as soon as they saw Jesus. People were with Jesus Himself . . . and hated Him. He gave them proof, evidence, but they hated and murdered Him. They had the perfect circumstance, of being right in the presence of Jesus; and we see how their character was their dictator. So, seeing Jesus on the throne, being in Heaven's circumstances, is not guaranteed to change an evil, Satanic being.
This is why people need to trust in Jesus, so God changes our character to be spiritually compatible with Him; and this started now in Jesus is part of what we mean by becoming "born again" > becoming a new being in the character of Jesus growing in us, and God's fire doing us good, then, because our character in Jesus benefits from fire . . . like chicken becoming tasty and nice smelling, versus sewage and rubber burning with a great stench . . . in the exact same fire!
So, there is no escaping fire, for anyone. But >
It's what you make it,
how you take it . . .
just don't
you fake it!
If you are in God's love, you are in fire which can burn Satanic stuff away from you. And the fire won't hurt you, but it will change your character to be more like God's all-loving gentle and kind love.
But we see how evil is the opposite of this, and many are in desperation for pleasure to try to make themselves feel something nicer than what their selfishness-infected nature makes them able to experience emotionally and mentally.
So, fire is not the real problem of hell, I offer.