Tough Questions for Christians #5: Purpose of Hell

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Punishment of any kind only serves one of 3 purposes, whether it’s spanking you child, putting them in time out, grounding them, police giving you a fine, or even jail time – there is only one of three purposes which that punishment can be useful for.

One is correctional. If you perform an action which is to the detriment of those around you, obviously we don’t want you to continue to perform such an action, so you’ll be punished. The idea being that next time such an action, you will remember the punishment, and you won’t do it. That’s the reason prisons are also called “correctional facilities.”

Another reason, is to serve as a deterrent for someone else. If police or a judge decide to “make an example” out of someone, that means they’re going to be particularly harsh on one person so other people who may be doing the same thing will stop performing said action, without being punished.

The third purpose is to help the rest of society continue to run, and to protect the rest of us. Murders, rapists, and so on, are locked up for the betterment of everyone else, to prevent them from preying on the innocent.

Now that being said, Hell doesn’t really fit any of those three categories.

Hell is a place of punishment no doubt, but it’s not really a place of correctional punishment – because you’re not going to get out. You’re never going to have the option to learn your lesson. You’re not going to have the option to NOT perform such an action again.

Hell isn’t a great deterrent either, because if you don’t ALREADY believe in Hell, it’s not going to deter you from anything. In fact, many religions have their own versions of Hell, and they are completely undeterred by the threats from opposing religions. You won’t find a single Christian who is nervous about going to the Muslim Hell, strictly because they believe in Jesus. They will not be deterred from believing Jesus is God because of something a Muslim says. Likewise, Muslims will not be deterred by the Christian threats of Hell for refusing to accept Jesus.

Not to mention, no one can ever actually see anyone going to Hell. They never get to see that someone is actually being punished. Therefore it’s usefulness as a deterrent is just about nothing.

And finally for the protection of everyone else. In Heaven we shouldn’t be allowed to be killed anymore – we’re already dead. Theoretically we shouldn’t be able to be injured. There is not really anything to be protected from. So sending someone to Hell doesn’t protect the souls in Heaven either.

So this “Tough Question for Christians” is kind of an easy one for you.

Since it can’t serve as a correctional facility, it has limited usefulness as a deterrent, and it doesn’t serve to protect those in Heaven, what is the purpose of Hell?

TOUGH QUESTION FOR CHRISTIANS #5
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF HELL?

originally posted on YouTube at: www.youtube.com/azatheist