Q: Why would a loving God say he gives you free choice to love him, and then if you did not, send you to a place of eternal torment? I have heard of others who believe that hell is not a place of eternal torment, but rather a spiritual death, a doing away with, or as the second death and perishing forever. That seems more realistic. But, I would like for you to explain to me the logic of the doctrine of eternal torment of hell.
A: Even were I as brilliant a theologian as a St. Thomas Aquinas or a St. Augustine, which I decidedly am not – neither brilliant, nor a theologian - I have a sneaking suspicion that you would not find my answer satisfactory. I say that because it seems to me you are basing your question not on logic, but rather on feelings. Feelings that are perfectly natural, and feelings that I can actually relate to (although my kids would tell you that Dad has no feelings), but feelings, nonetheless.
No one likes the thought of someone suffering, even if just for a little while. The suffering of others, especially of those we love, can be gut wrenching to us. The idea of someone suffering for all of eternity, then, is something that just doesn’t sit well with most of us. It just doesn’t “feel” right. But, we need to recognize that it is just that…a feeling. And when it comes to matters of faith, feelings, no matter how sincere they are, can lead us down the wrong path. Our Catholic Faith is a faith that is built on reason, or logic, and not on emotion, or feelings. Now, we need a faith with emotion, but our faith cannot be built on emotion.
Okay, on to the “logic” of eternal torment in Hell. The logic is really quite simple: God gives you a choice to love Him or to reject Him. If you reject Him, then you have chosen not to be with Him in Heaven. Remember, you have rejected Him, He has not rejected you. You have lived your life with the attitude, “God, my will be done, not Thine,” so God simply allows your will to be done for all of eternity. You wanted to live for yourself in this lifetime, God lets you live for yourself in the next. Hell is simply the farthest place you can be away from the God you have rejected.
And the fact is, if you have rejected God in this lifetime, then after you die, the last place you want to be is face to face with God. Have you ever, for example, lied about someone and they found out about it and you knew that they knew you had lied about them? Who is the last person on earth you want to be around under those circumstances? The person you lied about. You don’t want to be around them. You might spend a lot of time at home because you don’t want to go out and take the chance of them even seeing you. And if you were to see them, it would be a very painful thing for you to endure.
What did Adam and Eve do when they sinned against God? They hid from Him. They did not want to even be seen by Him. They did not want to be in His presence. And when God did see them, what happened? It was an experience that caused them a great deal of pain – pain that they had to endure for the rest of their lives. So, if a soul has rejected God in this lifetime, contrary to what one might think, it would not be a very pleasant thing for that soul to be in Heaven in the presence of God.
Think again about the pain one would experience if they had to be in the presence of someone they had lied about. Now, take that pain, and when it comes to being in the presence of the Living God that one has utterly rejected, multiply that pain by a million to the millionth power, and you’re still not coming close to the pain the soul would feel. That soul has rejected Love itself. That soul has rejected Eternal Goodness. That soul has rejected the very thing that it was created for – to love God. Were the damned to behold the face of God, it would be so painful for them that they would long to be back in Hell.
So, the logic of eternal torment in Hell, is that the soul has freely rejected that for which it was made. As St. Augustine says, “Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee.” The soul cannot find rest in God because it has rejected God. That is the essence of the punishment of Hell. It is called the “poena damni,” or pain of loss. The soul cannot be what it was destined to be. The soul has lost itself in itself. And since what the soul has rejected is Eternal Good…Eternal Love…then the soul’s suffering is eternal…without end. That is logical. It may not make us feel good, but it is logical.
But, does it really have to be eternal suffering?
To be continued…
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