My mom, a Methodist who was raised Presbyterian, does not believe hell exists just because God is love. It makes no sense that the most loving Person in the world would want to make any dead people suffer excruciating pain forever.
Clearly, God does punish people. So, I wonder why she thinks He punishes anyone at all, even if it wasn't forever? Yes, God is love, but He is also holy. His holiness prevents Him from tolerating and excusing unrepentant sin. He is very patient and slow to anger. But, notice what that says. Slow to anger. That means He does get angry. It just takes a long time for Him to get angry. And He is just. So, God's trait of holiness and His sense of justice demands that He punish unrepentant wickedness.
The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). That is not just talking about physical death, but also the second death (Revelation 20:15) which results in eternal separation from God. And scripture indicates that being cast into the lake of fire results in eternal torment (Rev 14:10, 20:10).
Now, with all of this said, what makes your mom think that it will be physical pain that people suffer in hell? It's only the souls of unbelievers that are in hell right now, so they can't possibly be experiencing physical pain there. I assume maybe she's talking about the lake of fire (Rev 20:15) instead? I don't believe it will be physical pain that people experience even in "the lake of fire", but rather will be mental and emotional anguish and torment. There is nothing in scripture which indicates that it will be physical torment. The lake of fire is not a literal, physical lake of literal fire. The lake of fire is symbolic just like much of Revelation is. The fire represents the burning emotional pain of regret. Regret that they will be separated from God for eternity and miss out on all of the eternal blessings they could have had if only they had repented of their sins as God commands "all people everywhere" to do (Acts 17:30).
After all, look at how many miracles God performed on people for the purpose of eliminating physical and psychological suffering, even on people who do not know Him.
Recently, non-Christians have been telling me if hell is real, we believe in a "wicked" god and it is better to not to be a Christian because of our belief all non-believers will suffer this way after a physical death.
They have the wrong understanding of hell, unfortunately. People don't physically go to hell. Just their souls go there. But, they are probably really referring to what scripture calls "the lake of fire" which is the eventual eternal destination of unbelievers. But, again, I don't believe it will involve physical pain in "the lake of fire".
This is totally understandable. Unfortunately, I was taught being a Christian requires believing in a literal hell at an evangelical church.
Hell is certainly an actual place. Scripture makes that clear. I assume (hope) when you say "literal" you just mean physical?
What can I tell non-believers to make them understand the existence of hell does not mean we believe in an evil God?
By telling them it's not a place of physical suffering, but rather mental and emotional torment that people bring upon themselves by rejecting God.
2 Thess 1:7 And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, 8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: 9
Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;
A passage like this shows that the punishment they will experience in the future when they are judged will be separation "from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power". They will experience feelings of deep regret over that.[/quote][/quote]
