GOD AND HELL

Albert Ziegler

Phil-192-01

Professor Davidson

 

            Can a loving God send a person to an eternal Hell of pain and suffering? Starting from a point of assumptions that God and Hell both exist, and God is omnicompetent, all of which I do not believe, allows us to discuss what that question means.  A loving God could not send a person to a Hell of eternal pain and suffering.  I will explore what it means for God to be a loving God, what it means to be separated from God eternally, and the Free Will argument. I will conclude that God is not a loving God and deserves neither worship nor adulation.

            What does it mean for God to be a loving God? For God to be a loving God, God must be omnibenevolent.  What is omnibenevolence? Using a standard definition of omnibenevolence we see two parts to that word.  The first part of the word means, “A combining form denoting all, every, everywhere...” (http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=omni).  The second part of the word means, “Having a disposition to do good; possessing or manifesting love to mankind, and a desire to promote their prosperity and happiness; disposed to give to good objects; kind; charitable” (http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=benevolent).  Those definitions imply that God is all loving.  If God is a loving God and has mankind’s welfare as a priority, then God would intervene in human suffering.  If God sees the need, and chooses not to intervene, then God is not a loving God.  Since human suffering exists it is demonstrated that God does not care and isn’t a loving God.

            The idea that God is the father of mankind also implies the love of a father.  If a father loves his children, then he would not want them separated from him for eternity.  If God sends people to an eternal Hell, then God would be eternally separated from his children.  If God sends people to an eternal Hell, then it follows that God is not a loving God.  An argument to refute this thesis is the Free Will argument.

            Is there such thing as free will?  What is free will?  If free will was given to people by God, and free will means the ability for people to make choices independent of God, and God has given people minimum behavioral standards to follow of our own choice, and told people that not following those standards would cause people to go to an eternal Hell, than if people do not follow those minimum standards than they choose to go to Hell.  The question is not whether an omnicompetent God can send a person to an eternal Hell, for under the definition people have formed for God, God can send people to Hell.  If people do not truly understand Hell, they can not make an intelligent choice in regard to Hell.

            This brings into question whether God is truly omnibenevolent.  Does it not follow that if God does not make it clear to humans what Hell is and expects certain behaviors to stay out of Hell, then God has failed in getting this information across and people can not choose to go to Hell.

            If free will is the ability to make our own choices, and it is something special provided by God to mankind as a gift, and God is omnicompetent, then God has the power to intercede in free will.  If God does not intercede, then either God cannot, chooses not to, or does not care.  It would demonstrate that God is not perfect.

 omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent and is not deserving of Godly status.  Hence, God, as we understand and perceive of God, would not exist.

            In conclusion, a loving God cannot send a person to an eternal Hell of pain and suffering.  I conclude that the entity, God, is not a loving God and deserves neither worship nor adulation.