Torture in Hell?

AZ's next question has to do with the nature of eternal punishment.

Tough Questions for Christians- Torture


AZ is now speaking against the statement, “We all deserve to be tortured for all eternity for our sins.” In summary, he says that those who say that don’t really understand true torture. If we truly see torture, can we honestly say we “deserve” that kind of treatment?

This time I’ll have to agree with AZ. God is a just God and He gives back in accordance to what is done. We reap what we sow—we do not get many times magnified what we deserve. I believe—and I’m willing to be wrong about this—that the description of fire and physical torture is symbolic. Some people will get that kind of suffering (more about that in a moment), but not all.

What we all deserve is to be around people who are just like us. To have to deal with people who act like we act. Thus, if we are liars, we deserve to be living in a community of people who you can’t trust. If we are
anxious, we deserve to be in a community of the fearful, isolated and scared that someone may lash out because of their own fear. If we are violent, we deserve to be in a society of the violent.

God gives us back that which we give to others. If we give mercy to others, we will receive mercy. If we give forgiveness to others, we will obtain forgiveness. But if we spend our time judging others, then we deserve to be judged. If we spend our time hurting others, we deserve to be hurt. If we torture others, we deserve to be tortured.

Jesus, however, gives a very interesting example in Luke 16. He talks about a wealthy man who was in constant contact with a terribly poor man. The poor man was starving and had sores all over his body and dogs licked the sores. The wealthy man had feasts each night. He had medicine for his sores. He had a house to keep out unwanted creatures. And this man died and went to hell. He suffered in flame. Why is this? What had the wealthy man done to deserve torture? He wasn’t a torturer himself. He didn’t harm others. He didn’t do anything.

And that was his sin. He had the power to relieve the poor man’s tortures. He could have relieved his suffering at any point, but chose to use all of his wealth and resources on himself, instead of on even a single person that could have used his help. Because of this, God tortured him. Not because he held the whip in his hand, but because he looked at a tortured soul, and though he had the power to do something about it, he did nothing. “Deliver those who are being taken away to death, And those who are staggering to slaughter, Oh hold them back. If you say, "See, we did not know this," Does He not consider it who weighs the hearts? And does He not know it who keeps your soul? And will He not render to man according to his work?” Proverbs 24:11-12

God’s justice also acts on our inaction. With our free will we also have the responsibility to help those who are in need of help. And God will punish us due to our apathy as well as for our unjust actions. If we can do something about AIDS in Africa, about the homeless, about the sex slaves in our own nation, about the innocent being destroyed by U.S. bombers—if we can do something about this and we do nothing, then we are given the responsibility. If we can stop the torture of souls and we do nothing, then we are deserving of torture.