Argument # 13:  God is good, holy, just, righteous, and fair.  We are all sinners and deserve to go to hell.

 

This argument presupposes that all non-Christians are evil and not good.  I could name many wonderful, kind, honest, caring, moralistic non-Christians to debunk this, but as the circular reasoning of the related argument of Argument # 10 demonstrated, they will simply rationalize it away and say that by God’s perfect standards, even the nicest, kindest, caring people on Earth are not good, but evil.  And that’s that.

 

Christian fundamentalists and evangelists, especially fire and brimstone preachers, are fond of telling us that we are all sinners.  Though they would add that we all deserve to go to hell too, they have learned not to say that in front of non-believers because it tends to turn them off and lowers the chances of converting them.  However, that is what they believe nevertheless.  They love quoting these famous verses to support this doctrine of original sin:

 

Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”

 

Romans 3:10 “There none righteous, no not one.”

 

Furthermore, they like to portray their God as holy, righteous, just and fair.  Therefore, since God is righteous and fair, eternal punishment for sinners and non-believers must be fair and just as well.  They may not like this idea deep down, but since that’s what God and the Bible says, it must be so and no one can argue with it.

 

Anyone with common sense though, who isn’t blinded by fanaticism, knows that this just isn’t so.  Rather, it’s the biggest oxymoron and contradiction in the world to try to reconcile a just and fair God with endless torture and eternal never-ending punishment. 

 

1)  First of all, no one deserves a literal eternal punishment without end.  No killer or murderer could ever deserve such a thing.  Not even Adolf Hitler.  Therefore, there are huge moral and philosophical problems with this concept.  But the Bible says that we deserve it not for anything we did, but simply because the first humans, Adam and Eve, took a bite of the wrong fruit off the forbidden tree, thus infesting all humans throughout history with “original sin” which damns them by default. (Gee, that sure makes a lot of sense doesn’t it?)  As a result, all humans are born spiritually dead in depravity and destined for eternal damnation, whether they lead good or bad lives, since it makes no difference.  It’s no different than damning zebras for being born with stripes or damning turtles for being born with shells.  It’s not only unjust and psychotic to do such a thing, but completely nonsensical too.  In fact, that one act of original sin brought death, disease, and suffering into the world. (How just and fair, isn’t it?)  See the below section entitled Philosophical problems with Christian theology for a philosophical evaluation of this whole concept.  In a great book on fundamentalism:  Fundamentalism: Hazards and Heartbreaks, page 70-71, the authors raise a good point on this issue:

 

“It is difficult to see the point and the morality of endlessly torturing people.  Pain is presumptively bad, and it is desirable only when the infliction of it is necessary for a greater good, such as reforming criminals or deterring potential criminals from crime.  Endless torture, however, is not designed to reform people, nor is the threat of it necessarily effective at deterring people from harming others.  Torture, war, corruption, and murder were rampant, for example, throughout the Middle Ages, when people were filled with the belief in, and fear of, Hell.  Indeed, the belief in Hell has, in itself, often yielded persecution, torture, and murder……. Morally speaking, almost any other treatment of the wicked is preferable to endless torture, in which finite crimes receive infinite punishment.  Even the annihilation of the unsaved would be less morally objectionable than an endless Hell.”

 

2)  Second, a loving, just God simply wouldn’t do such a thing as send people to an eternal damnation without end.  We all know that deep in our hearts (though some of us deny it out of loyalty to their religious fanaticism).  Furthermore, in the Bible are listed many incidences where God and his followers kill innocent children, infants, pregnant women, carry out a mass execution of captives, etc.  See the large section below entitled:  Biblical Atrocities committed by God and his followers:  The no-win indefensible issue for Christians.  The things listed in that section are simply indefensible.  Would a good God do those kind of things?  I don’t think so.  See also Bible Atrocities.

 

Christians like to respond to these charges by iterating that we have no right to judge God’s morality or reasons, since after all, God says “My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways” (Isaiah 55:8).  Therefore, they argue, how can the created judge the creator?  Besides, they say, since those are God’s rules, and he is the creator and master of the universe, we have no choice but to abide by them.  And since it’s better to be safe than sorry (especially when it concerns your eternal destiny) it’s best to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior and become saved.

 

However, they simply have no basis, evidence, or good reasons to assume that, other than “it’s just so”, which isn’t good enough, not for the unbrainwashed.  The arguments I presented in this article more than prove that to be the case.

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