I’ll take a stab at this. First, God does not send anyone to hell; they choose hell by rejecting God. As a theologian once said, “The road to hell passes by the gates of heaven.” The essence of hell is the agonizing knowledge that you had the opportunity to choose heaven, but rejected it. The torment is psychological and emotional, not physical, and the descriptions of hell’s torment are metaphorical. God’s justice demands that those who reject Him receive what they elected. An even worse hell would be making people who hated Him live in His presence eternally. That people live eternally in hell is inextricably tied to His promise that humans have eternal souls. If He simply snuffed out those who rejected Him, then what guarantee is there that He will not likewise snuff out all others at some time? His promise must be eternal and unchangeable. Therefore, the promise of eternality must stand for both those who reject Him and those who accept Him.
Thank you for this.
I have numerous objections.
1) I personally am not sure that God is not just sadistic, but infinitely sadistic. If he punishes even one person for infinity that deserves a finite punishment, then this would make him infinitely sadistic.
The implication of infinite punishment is an incredible one, because infinity is something so awesome no human can understand.
So then why would anyone want to be with an infinitely sadistic God?
I feel like killing Jesus myself, to be perfectly honest!! Give me some wood, some nails, and a hammer.
I am so angry at him!! He has caused me so much torture! No human being has abused me so much!!
And please nobody tell me that I need help. I feel that the great mass of people who do not think about eternity need help. It seems like this something on which existentialist thinkers agree. We all are called crazy.
Perhaps I have a different God than the rest of you. Mine is a sadistic and torturing beast, who is worse than Hitler. You others get the exact opposite.
I have to stop now as I am getting visibly upset.
Thank you and everyone else who tried to help me, but my existential crisis is way too deep to fix in one evening.