Tuesday, January 20, 2009

"Burn for eternity? What an outrageous punishment!"

How do finite crimes equal infinite punishment? In order to fully accept the idea, one must first discard the notion that the authority of God is a negatively fastidious and hateful authority; rather, the gift of life in itself provides great opportunity and favor for mankind. Having noted that, according to Genesis 6:6, God can be grieved by the wickedness of man:
 

"The Lord was grieved that he had made man on earth, and his heart was filled with pain."

While at times theoretical premises are truly not strong enough premises for such sensitive conclusions, the multitude of reasonable explanations provide a sound resolution. Consider that unrepentant sinners are eternally sinners against God because they do not deviate this inflicted grief, such equivalence constitutes eternal punishment. It is safe to say that Hell is a representation of how much God hates sin, thus serving as theoretical evidence for His absolute holiness.

God is not only just, but because He is love He is justice. As Octavius Winslow wrote in Our God, "
He would not be God were He not love! Omnipotence is the power of love; omniscience is the eye of love; omnipresence is the atmosphere of love; holiness is the purity of love; justice is the fire of love." God's absolute hatred of sin is because He is the definitive of both love and justice. If the wickedness of sin is to be taken lightly by God, then the intensity of the definition of true love is also to be taken lightly. God is a God of order, as shown by the galaxies, planets, stars, and laws of the universe and how they are precisely aligned. Accordingly, God's laws are methodical, therefore those who choose to accept those laws and those who do not will be ultimately separated in order to suit this universal alignment. The consequence of sin, which inflicts both death and corruption, is more than a mere judiciary placement. By the natural order of existence, it is the attempted dethronement of an eternal God, the Author of goodness, that constitutes eternal damnation.

Scientifically, Heaven and Hell are not identified as physical parts of the universe, and by this, consequently, if such places exist, they exist beyond space and time. "Burning for eternity" holds an entirely different meaning when time is not a factor. Time is a system used to measure the sequence of change, however, if both Heaven and Hell are invariably existentials, such eternities cannot be fully comprehended because humans are merely programmed with the logistics and qualities of the finite universe.

One's imagination of eternity is, from the earthly disposition, that of an unfathomable number of years. When the final year is reached, trillions more are added thus everlastingly continuous. Correspondingly, this mentality is why it is incomprehensible that God was never created, or always being. By definition, there is no measurement of duration in eternity. Quite opposite of common thinking, time is merely a property of the finite universe, hence the human perception of eternity is generally flawed and inaccurate.

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