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—Hell as a golf course without balls is about the dumbest analogy i can imagine.—

There was a great “hell” in a Twilight Zone episode. A ne’re do well died and went to “heaven”. It was amazing. He had everything he wanted. The “dames” were falling all over him and he gambled all he wanted and never lost. But one day he approached his guide and said, and I paraphrase, “this is great and all, but couldn’t I lose every now and then. This is really depressing to always get everything I want. I thought heaven would be better than this.”

To which his guide said, “Heaven? Why did you think this was heaven?!” Followed by an evil laugh. The end. :)

Here is a great analogy about the problem of hell as “eternal suffering” from my link above:

Suppose for a moment that a wonderful man—Mr. Right, if you will—offers a marriage proposal to the woman he loves. “Marry me,” he says, “and I will give you a life like you’ve never dreamed of before. You will be loved with the greatest commitment and passion that any woman has ever known. I will give you the finest house with all of the wonderful things you’ve ever wanted, and you will be happy for the rest of your days!”

Now suppose the woman is very flattered by the proposal, but is uncertain about whether or not she is ready for such a commitment. Asking for a few more days to think it over, Mr. Right answers, “You are welcome to take more time, but it’s only fair that I warn you what will happen if you decline my generous offer. Your only option, other than spending paradise with me, is to be thrown into my underground dungeon, have your eyes gouged from their sockets, and be subjected to unimaginable pain every hour, on the hour, for the rest of your long, miserable life.”

What do you suppose would be going through the young woman’s mind at a time like this? I imagine that would change the way she feels about the man considerably. She might have previously accepted Mr. Right’s proposal because of her love for him, but is there much chance of that now? Surely not. If she takes him seriously, she’ll undoubtedly marry him, but not as much for love as out of genuine terror at the alternative.

Is this God’s way of doing things? Does God want His people to turn to Him out of fear that they will be tortured otherwise? Where is the love in that? If everyone really believed in this doctrine, wouldn’t that properly tarnish their concept of the Savior? I would imagine some might even have a hard time calling Him “Savior” at all. How merciful can it be to create a never-ending torture pit for everyone and then save only a few from it?

Hell as a golf course without balls is about the dumbest analogy i can imagine.

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Have to agree with you that this is just dumb. Annoying situation but not painful, I would think.

And Sheen was a brilliant man. Perhaps the rest of the section in his book tied it all together with something else.