Re: Does Hell make sense?
 

You're welcome. Now, would you care to answer my question?

What would you say if I punished my son for taking a cookie without asking, by holding a candle flame to his hand for 20 seconds?

Re: Does Hell make sense?
 

Since you are endeavouring to bring discredit to the Bible's teachings on hell altogether, the intent of this question is obvious. And you are dealing with hypotheticals in order to bring disgrace on the teachings of the bible. That is a far cry from answering questions whether you think God is cruel or not.

Re: Does Hell make sense?
 

Where you miss it, my friend is that the "...goodness and the severity of the Lord..." both serve the same purpose. To bring about the redemption of all.

Re: Does Hell make sense?
 

Good answer. But that has no bearing on how the bible says nothing about the lake of fire holding hope for its occupants. If this was true, the bible would be packed with info about it, not leaving us to assume what we think GOD WOULD do in our estimation.

Re: Does Hell make sense?
 

It's hypothetical for me, sure (I have never done anything remotely like it). But it's not hypothetical for some fathers, sadly. I don't know about the candle thing, specifically, but certainly other methods are used that are just as painful and harmful, and equally.... well, that's for you to decide. What do you think of fathers and mothers who use very painful and injurious methods of punishment?

Re: Does Hell make sense?
 

As I said, we cannot comprehend the degree of His love or wrath. The fact is I believe hell has torment of fire.

I suppose your view of Crakjak's universal reconciliation where the fires of the lake of fire are real would be worse than holding a kid's hand over the flame of a candle for 20 seconds, too. So anyone who believes in suffering in hell fire would be considered in error in your view.

Re: Does Hell make sense?
 

Of course we can! Like I said before, it's very easy to understand God's wrath. Steal a cookie, burn forever. How is that hard to comprehend?

Seriously.

Yep.

Re: Does Hell make sense?
 

That is not what I meant by comprehending. Just like the degree of His love is too deep for us to understand, since He can love in the depth of ways we cannot imagine, the same goes for his wrath. He is GOD. How can we comprehend His reasons and purposes? Who can know the mind of God? Seriously, we are talking about GOD here.

Can an ant comprehend our ways as humans? God is further above us than we are above an ant.

Re: Does Hell make sense?
 

That's different.

Re: Does Hell make sense?
 

Can you comprehend the reasons a parent might punish a child with a candle flame? Do you really need to?