Why would our punishment have to be eternal hell in the first place, rather than a purgatory-ish prison? Hell wouldn't be an option if God hadn't created it.
As for the "Purposes of This Room", apologies, I didn't know—I usually just come to threads by the New Posts and come to ones with a title that interests me and I don't always pay attention to what section they're in, sorry about that!
That's a great question...why - WHY would a loving God create a place of eternal torment...AND - give the keys to that place to SATAN and let HIM rule over all those who were lost and mislead by him???? Maybe because Hell is an invention of imperfect humans and pagan ideology that was adopted by the church. Here is an excerpt from a very well researched article, which you can find online by searching "Eternal Punishment NOT found in the Greek New Testament" and "what the hell is hell". This quote is from the first title:
"The entire concept of eternal or everlasting punishment hinges primarily on a single verse of Scripture-- Matthew 25:46. This is the only place in the entire Bible where we find these two words together AND only in some Bibles. There are over a dozen English translations which do NOT contain the concept of "eternal punishment" on ANY of their pages, NOR the pagan concept of Hell. The Greek form for "everlasting punishment" in Matthew 25:46 is ”kolasin aionion." Kolasin is a noun in the accusative form, singular voice, feminine gender and means "punishment, chastening, correction, to cut-off as in pruning a tree to bare more fruit." "Aionion" is the adjective form of "aion," in the singular form and means "pertaining to an eon or age, an indeterminate period of time."
Ghenenna and Sheol were paganized as well - they went from meaning an actual pit of fire destruction that people used for their TRASH, to an entire WORLD with levels and it's own KING?????????? What happens when you burn up your trash? It's gone. It doesn't exist anymore. Just like being eternally CUT OFF from God, as the accurate translation of the Greek words at Matthew 25:46 also says. If God Almighty was not LOVING and CONSISTENT and RIGHTEOUS, with PERFECT wisdom and justice - then sure, maybe he would come up with the idea of tormenting those who rejected Him just to spite them, but that would be contrary to His perfect nature. Which - yes, will REMOVE those who choose not to follow His principles, principles that are there for OUR benefit - not His, as He is already perfect....but - here are a couple things to consider:
If God created hell, would He have said THIS at Jeremiah 19:5: "They have built pagan shrines to Baal, and there they burn their sons as sacrifices to Baal. I have never commanded such a horrible deed; it never even crossed my mind to command such a thing!" NLT
If YOUR parent put you in a burning OVEN when you made a mistake, would you want to draw close to them??? Would you consider them a loving parent, with consistent rules that made SENSE???? If God told us in Genesis that Adam's sin for condemning the ENTIRE human race was to return to the dust...why would He later create a an even WORSE punishment for those of us who were born into sin THROUGH Adam??? So then, when you READ this scripture at Jeremiah, and you reflect that even God himself say that this NEVER came into his mind, what is more consistent and unchanging? That God will eliminate unbelievers (including Satan) - take them out of existence, return them to the dust as He did with Adam....? Or - decide to adopt the PAGAN custom and concept of an eternal place of torment RULED by the one who tempted them all? REALLY??? Isn't that kind of REWARDING Satan??? Let's give SATAN a whole WORLD to rule, with all the loyal subjects he was able to convince to follow him................
This is the God of the Bible we are talking about - the one who REPEATEDLY and without fail, condemned any and ALL pagan rituals, idols and customs. The God who showed us through His Son what REAL LOVE is. This is a God you think would hold a gun to your head.....?
Are you SURE you are directing your frustration at the correct entity? Maybe, just maybe, we should reflect on who might benefit from portraying God as an erratic, petulant egomaniac. Who is trying to lead people away from God. Who might RELISH and REJOICE at the prospect of not only turning all the people of the nations against God, but even managing to create a false and fearful worship of a perfect and loving Creator. Even going so far as to insert pagan concepts into His Holy Word...and even if you want to debate the actual doctrine of a place of eternal torment, the very real fact that the Greek word HADES was used in place of the GRAVE multiple times in the New Testament isn't debatable. HADES is NOT a Christian concept AT ALL and to use it interchangeably is not only the very definition of adopting pagan customs, it is defiling the sacred word of God Himself. Revelation 6:8 - freaking biblehub cross reference that verse if you are so inclined. DANG - at least give the Aramaic Bible credit, along with a few others for NOT defiling God's Holy Scriptures with that. But - think about that for a moment. No one even NOTICES that kind of subtle stuff, it's part of what we accept as normal, even in sincere Christian circles attempting to adhere to Christ's teachings. Why not just use the original word GRAVE??? Why - maybe because that wouldn't scare people away from God............
Gee, I wonder who would like THAT...........?