PSac is right, of course.
But in my experience, fear over the doctrine of hell has chased people away and/or impeded them from knowing the love of God. This is just me, though, and others obviously feel differently.
Mary - Words have been translated incorrectly, and I think that serves as a bias in itself. In the KJV, hell is used in place of Sheol. But Sheol is not described as a place that needs to be feared. So while I may be looking at the scriptures with the opposite bias, I'm trying to see if it is possible, and if that original thinking was biased on its own.
I am still in the process of doing this, and it is as you say, a very difficult thing to do.
And as for your question that you don't understand "the purpose or point of a place of eternal torment", hey---we do the same thing to people in this life. Look at someone like Scott Peterson. He'll spend the rest of his life in prison. While he may not be physically tormented, I'm sure he must be mentally tormented every single day. What makes you think God couldn't do the same thing?
I'm going to describe the problem I have with this particular line of reasoning, though you've probably heard it before.
We put people in prison for three reasons:
1) to deter bad behavior to the individual and others learning by example.
2) to correct bad behavior, and ideally rehabilitate an individual
3) to protect the innocents that this individual poses a continued threat toward.
(if there is another reason, I welcome being informed of it)
But our punishment is not eternal. It may last for the life of the individual - if that individual has proven that he/she is a continued threat against others. Then the person dies, and the punishment is at an end. In an eternal torment, a single person can suffer for one hundred/one thousand/one millions years - and still be no closer to an end to their torment.
My personal reasoning tells me that we have misunderstood something. Others are more than welcome to their own reasoning. But this is why I began looking at the bible to see if there is a bias to the original view of hell.
So I'll try and put those three points in perspective with eternal torment:
1) the consequence of eternal torment (and I'm going to say mental, and not physical) may deter bad behavior. I can see the point and purpose in a deterrent.
But...
2) eternal torment is not going to correct anything; nor is it going to rehabilitate anyone - because they can NEVER be free of it.
3) locking a person into a place of eternal torment might protect the innocent from physical harm. But mental? There are many 'innocent' who would be tormented by the knowledge of such a place of tormented souls existing constantly outside of their paradise - especially if some of those within were loved ones. Myself included.
Possible that we have simply misunderstood what this 'hell' is actually supposed to be. But I still see no purpose for it to be eternal for any individual.
Tammy
