Is Hell an Unjust Punishment?

I want to shift the conversation for the next few posts on what I refer to as the “uncomfortable” doctrines of Christianity. These are the beliefs in the Christian faith that, for any number of reasons, many terminally deconstructing members of my generation find particularly unpalatable. Maybe they call them illogical. Maybe they deem them too harsh–too cruel for anyone to accept in good conscience. Maybe they feel as if they have a better way of “running” things than God does.

Whatever the case, these are among the most prevalent of reasons on why Gen Z is leaving the faith. I have encountered countless objections to these doctrines, both in person and online. In many instances, I believe they stem from a misunderstanding of what scripture is saying. In some others, they stem from a notion much harder to correct–the belief that one knows a more virtuous pathway to take than the Author of Virtue Himself. Not much can be done about the latter; that is up to the Lord to soften their heart and the free will of the individual to accept the softening. 

As far as I can tell, the most common of these doctrinal rejections usually centers around the idea of hell. This one is intensely personal for me, as it was the central reason one of my closest friends terminally deconstructed. He once had a personal and life-giving relationship with the Lord, but his understanding of hell was too much for him to bear. I know the pain and emotional agony this doctrine brings to people. 

So is hell a good reason to leave the faith? Respectfully, I do not think so. Let’s begin our discussion with what the Bible says on the subject.

Revelation 20:11-15

Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. 13 The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. 14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. 15 Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.

The above passage describes what popular culture might call “judgment day.” This takes place at the end of days when Jesus judges all who ever lived on what they did with the life God gave them. Those who are in Christ will not have their sins held against them, as they will be covered by the perfect blood Jesus shed on the cross. However, those who rejected Jesus will be held accountable for each act of wickedness they committed throughout their lives, and then the just judge of the universe will give them their verdict: guilty. Their punishment? Eternal separation from God in the lake of fire, otherwise known as hell. It is there they will join Satan, the great deceiver, in his punishment. 

The knee-jerk reaction of some progressive Christians is to attempt to explain hell away. They may call it a metaphor of some sort for how living a life of evil will bring you misery and despair. This, to put it lightly, is an interpretive stretch bordering on willful ignorance. Scripture says what it says. It is quite explicit on the reality of hell. There’s no sidestepping around it. It is the eternal destiny of all who reject Jesus Christ as their Lord.

Others will propose ideas like Annihilationism, which states that all evildoers, when tossed into the lake of fire, will simply cease to exist completely. Annihilationists believe hell will not be a place of conscious torment but a place of nothingness. Annihilationism does not appear to line up with scripture, which describes the punishment of Satan as everlasting (Revelation 14:11). Also, the “temporary hell” Jesus speaks of, which is where unbelievers currently go to await their ultimate judgment, is a place of conscious torment: 

Luke 16:19-28

There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20 At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21 and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.

22 “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24 So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’

25 “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’

27 “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, 28 for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’

If that is how the temporary hell is, then it is unlikely the genuine article will be more bearable. 

Assuming this is correct, one may ask how any crime on earth could warrant such a horrific punishment. How could a finite crime committed in finite reality possibly justify an infinite punishment? Maybe one can picture the worst of the worst going to hell–child rapists and serial killers and the like–but every sinner that has not called upon the name of Jesus? Isn’t that an excessive and unjust sentencing? 

No. 

A man by the name of Pastor Paul Dirks wrote an insightful book on this topic titled Is There Anything Good about Hell? Within this book, he references Saint Anselm of Canterbury (d. 1109), who in turn wrote the book Cur Deus Homo, which translates to “Why God Became a Man.” In this work, Saint Anselm argues that the punishment for a crime must be directly proportional to the honor and importance of the individual or entity against which the crime was committed. Dirks then quotes Jonathan Edwards to drive this point home, who said this:

“Nothing is more agreeable to the common sense of mankind, than that the sins committed against anyone must be proportionally heinous to the dignity of the [person who is] offended and abused.”

Todd Friel of Wretched Radio extrapolates this idea by putting it into terms easy to understand. 

“If I tell a lie to my son, nothing happens. He doesn’t have any power. I lie to my wife, I sleep on the couch. I lie to my boss, I get fired. I lie to a judge, I go to jail. Same crime, different punishment….That’s why when we sin it is worthy of infinite punishment because we sin against an infinite Holy One.” 

The severity of any given punishment will scale depending on who has been wronged. That is a natural part of life and intrinsic to the human sense of justice–for good reason, as that sense of justice comes from God Himself. 

This may not be satisfying to some Gen Zers. “Even if God is infinitely holy,” they may protest, “it does not mean He should subject someone to such a terrible eternity.” I understand where they would be coming from, but to hold such a position is to vastly underestimate the immense severity of what it is to sin. 

My guess is that we cannot fully grasp in our limited faculties the weight and seriousness of sinning against a completely just, holy, and righteous God. To spurn such a loving and wholly virtuous God Who has shown His creation nothing but heartache-inducing love is a moral atrocity, the fullness of which, if it were ever to sink in, would render us mad with grief and anguish. There is no human category of perversion or sickness to place so profane an action–and then here we are performing this profane action repeatedly and casually, with sin coming as naturally to us as sucking in air. It is the greatest injustice ever to exist. 

Even so, some members of my generation along with other skeptics will suggest that our moral atrocity notwithstanding, God is taking things way too far with the punishment of hell. They suggest there is no amount of evil, even if it is infinitely bad, that is grave enough to warrant eternal separation from God in the lake of fire. 

To this, I would humbly ask who they are to make such a definitive judgment. Can the clay statue hold a perspective greater than the one who molded it into shape? Can we, using the moral rationality God placed in us as a reflection of His character, ascend Him in our view of what is and isn’t justice? How can we tell God His moral standard is off-kilter if He Himself is the moral standard? We cannot. 

Uncomfortable as this doctrine may sometimes be, we can be rest assured God is not mistaken in His judgment. Furthermore, as comical as it may first sound, the doctrine of hell profoundly underscores God’s love for humanity. Even though this punishment is exactly what we deserve, He still made a way to save us. Even though we have acted wickedly and despised Him again and again, He lovingly reaches out to us, with every breath we draw in acting as another opportunity to accept His mercy. He came to earth in the flesh to die the torturous death we deserve, enduring all manner of humiliation and injustice on our behalf. He died for the very sinners that put Him on that cross. Consider this scripture:

Romans 5:8

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Think of what Jesus Christ endured for us. For you specifically. The beatings. The whipping. The hammering of the nails into his wrists and feet. All that to bring you into right relationship with God and give you everlasting life. There is no love greater than that:

John 19:1-6

Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. 2 The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe 3 and went up to him again and again, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!”And they slapped him in the face.

4 Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews gathered there, “Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.” 5 When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!”

6 As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!”

Matthew 27:35-44

Then they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots. 36 And sitting down, they kept watch over him there. 37 Above his head they placed the written charge against him: this is jesus, the king of the jews.

38 Two rebels were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. 39 Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads 40 and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!” 41 In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. 42 “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. 43 He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” 44 In the same way the rebels who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.

Isaiah 53:5

But he was pierced for our transgressions,

    he was crushed for our iniquities;

the punishment that brought us peace was on him,

    and by his wounds we are healed.