Are we more just than God??? Certainly not. God is justice, He is fair, He takes everything into consideration, He judges the lost 'according to their works"----if we can see that infinite torture is not justice, He certainly can. How can we love a God that would punish the Jews that have rejected Him, even during the holocaust, by being worse than Hitler and torturing them forever?? At least under Hitler, there was an end to the suffering.
How is it not just to do as said you would? God gives us MANY chances to turn to Him in our lives, IF we forsake those chances and choose the world are we not guilty of having a false idol? (Putting ANYTHING or ANYONE above ABBA the Father)
Jesus even warns that the Jews will not be spared.
Romans 11:21
21 For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.
Jesus is the vine, we are the branches...... IF we do not bear spiritual fruit we WILL be cut off and we WILL be thrown into the fire. For if He will not spare the natural branches (those that belong to Him naturally through the Jewish faith..... why then would He spare those NOT of the natural vine UNLESS they abide in Him and He in them?)
If Hell were temporary, why then would the rich man speak of an unending torment IF he were "just dead and obliterated"?
Luke 16:19-31
19 “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20 At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21 and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.
22 “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24 So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’
25 “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’
27 “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, 28 for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’
29 “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’
30 “‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’
31 “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”
"31" Even speaks that "even if one were to rise from the dead they would not be convinced" Sounds an awful lot like Christ, dont you think? Rose from the dead and yet, unbelief runs rampent, even by so called "Christians" that God is not who He says He is and will not do as He said He will.
This "Hell is temporary" or "Certainly a loving God would not throw me in hell forever" is the same lie of the devil that told Eve "You will not SURELY die if you eat of this tree".
I personally do not feel that hell is a punishment. Simply the conclusion of a choice. You choose life, or you choose death. Both eternal, but only one of them is the correct choice. God punishes those He loves so they are corrected from going asstray. What is the point of punishment and guidance IF one has already arrived at their destination?
God honors the choice we choose out of love because He gave us free will. What we choose to do with that free will is on our souls. We choose God, or we choose a dying world that leaves us seperate from God. If one wants nothing to do with God in this world, how would it be loving to FORCE them to be around a creator they wanted nothing to do with in life?
God is merciful, God is just.... but you can not think of those terms in light of a human mindset. You must look at it from a creators mindset. If I as an artist draw a work of art and then destroy it because I was not pleased with it, how would that drawing (lets say in this example it could talk) have any right to declare "Thats not fair" and that assessment hold MORE weight than what I decided as its creator? How is it not just if I tell that drawing I will destroy it if it does not do as I created it to do, then I do exactly as I told it I would?
Does that mean that one will NEVER sin? Absolutely not. However, it DOES mean that in ones walk they will reach a point where they are no longer LIVING in sin (excusing it as "well, nobody is perfect".) They will however stumble into sin now and then, but there is a difference between excusing it.
Weak example: Screaming a curse after you stub your toe in the dark at 2am and willfully going off on someone for no reason with cursing.
Do you HONESTLY believe that Jesus came, suffered all that suffering and punishment to save us from a hell that is "only temporary" or a case of "no longer existing at all" ? IF it were only temperary..... why even have it at all? Why not let EVERYONE in regaurdless of how they lived and the side they choose?
Lastly for those thinking we all end up in Heaven eventually even those that suffer hell, if Jesus says:
Matthew 7:21-23
21 “
Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven
will enter. 22 Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many a]">[
a]miracles?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’
Matthew 18:3
Truly I tell you, He said, “unless you change and become like little children,
you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
If hell were temparary and we all wound up going to Heaven after a time in hell.... then Jesus did not speak truth in the underlined part. He would have instead said "They will not enter the kingdom until after their time in hell is served" because Jesus did not/does not lie.
If "Hell is simply a destruction and ceasing to exist" how is it that the Rich man in the story of Lazarus can be so aware that he is suffering if he has been obliterated?