I really wish (hope) you are right. It is hard to imagine suffering continuing for all eternity or that God in his mercy wouldn’t put the wicked out of their misery.
—I really wish (hope) you are right.—
Thing is, as a Christian this is almost irrelevant. But it is relevant because, as a Christian, when I was being taught the
“eternal suffering” message and believed it, it was tainting my perception of God.
And when I actually studied the subject and looked at all the scripture discussing the fate of those that never know Jesus, I noticed that, to believe in the “eternal suffering” model, I had to give “special Christian meaning” to simple words like “death” and “destruction”. IOW, I had to redefine words to mean things that they don’t mean.
Also, the whole concept of eternity messes up the whole formula. I coined a phrase about 8 years ago: Time is a current in an ocean called eternity. IOW, one could argue that yesterday will exist for all eternity, as will today. They have actually already happened if you are outside of time and in eternity. You can see the beginning and end of the current.
But even this is only a theory based on what the bible says of time and eternity and the character of God.
1 Corinthians 13:12
For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.