Torture is something the vast majority of people find abhorrent. However, many of those same people follow a god that promises eternal torture for countless people. How can a god do this yet still be considered merciful? This is a problem that needs more examination.
One obvious question is: Why torture for all eternity? Assuming torture is needed, it would seem logical that a merciful god would end if after minutes, days, years, centuries or at the most a few trillion years or so. Eternal torture makes a death sentence seem very mild and merciful indeed. It seems odd that a punishment which many people think goes too far for human standards would be incredibly soft by the standards of their merciful and loving god.
Now, followers of these religions will argue that horrible criminals, mass murderers and the like (people this god supposedly created) deserve to be punished. That may be, but even for the most horrible figures in history like Hitler or Stalin, is not all eternity going overboard? Imagine having a birds-eye view of someone like Hitler being tortured now. Would not even one of his victims think enough is enough after a few days, centuries or trillions of years?
If some people need punishment, could not a god find better ways? Things like community service and other forms of punishment should be enough for some crimes like not believing in the right religion or any at all. Or, their souls could simply be dissolved. Assuming they have to be kept alive for the punishment, then why not some kind of prison just outside this heaven?
Most find punishment for the sake of punishment a very problematic concept for even a short time. Punishing for all eternity when nothing good can possibly come from it really stretches the boundaries of ethics!
Furthermore, according to many religious teachings, this torture is being dealt out simply over what religious ideology, if any, people followed in life! If it is important to this god that people follow a certain religion, why not give overwhelming evidence to support it and save so many people (many of whom lived good lives) from the most horrible fates?
On top of all of this, if this god is all-knowing, he should have known the fate of the people he was creating beforehand. Why create people knowing they will be sent for sadistic eternal torture? No life at all is surely better than one followed by the most horrible torture for all eternity!
Another problem with eternal tortures for failing at test is that the test is so arbitrary. What about the child who dies of some disease (created by this god) or is brutally murdered (while this god watches)? Does this child go to eternal torture (as many religious people once believed) or straight to heaven? If the child goes to heaven, then this child is skipping this test that some people are being eternally tortured for failing. Therefore, Hitler, Stalin and all the others condemned to eternal tortures now could instead be in heaven if they only had the fortune to die young.
Nobody has ever explained why a merciful and loving god would deal out the most horrible eternal torture, especially over a test that is so arbitrary. If there is an answer, it goes beyond human logic even though the test is for humans.
Many people live their lives with for the goal of eternal heaven. While heaven certainly beats the alternative in religions like Christianity and Islam, when one stops to really think about endless eternity, it does not sound so attractive no matter what the rewards. Human nature simply does not seem to be designed with eternity in mind, and the idea of life being a test has troubling questions.
From the rather vague descriptions of a joyous place in Christianity to beautiful virgins in Islam, the kind of place heaven is has varied greatly with the time and culture. One consistent theme though is that it is eternal.
Forever is a very long time and well beyond human comprehension. People cannot imagine trillions upon trillions upon trillions of years that will never end. If the human mind cannot even possibly begin to imagine it, how can it possibly deal with it?
Also, people will have to pass the time without the kinds of stimulation they usually need. Be it through work, education, sports or hobbies, without something to reach for, people feel lost. What can people do in a place where everything is taken care of for them, infinite knowledge can be had without effort and there is no risk in anything they do? Without risk, can reward be very sweet?
Hobbies, visiting long-dead relatives and the like can keep people occupied in heaven for days, weeks, years and perhaps even centuries, but even a millennium is a drop in the bucket of all eternity. Then what happens?
Then there are those who are suffering an even worse fate in hell. Some may deserve it for a while but would not even someone murdered in an event like the Holocaust say enough is enough after watching Hitler burn for a few trillion years? How can someone be happy in heaven knowing other people are suffering horrible, eternal torment?
Finally, what form to people take in heaven? Do they all return to what they looked like when they were at their prime (or what would have been in their prime)? Do those who were deformed or ugly become prefect?
There does not seem to be any way human beings could possibly enjoy eternity in heaven without their very nature taking an entirely new form when they get there. Considering how totally horrible heaven would be even after only a few trillion years or so for any typical person, that new form would have to be something really different than anyone is now. However, if they are something so totally different, then it becomes eternal life for another being and not eternal life for them!
Furthermore, by people becoming totally different beings, has not the entire test this merciful god sent them to earth for, and what many are damned for all eternity for, just become totally meaningless? For example, many of the sins and desires that would get people into hell should not be a problem in heaven. Presumably, people would not be feeling sexual lust (or at least have an outlet for it), be motivated to steal if they could always get what they wanted anyway and would not have any of the same kinds of conflicts or desires that lead people astray in life.
In short, if there is a heaven, it certainly could not be designed for beings anything like humans are now. Either it is for different beings or it is not what anyone should strive for, but this does not fit with the idea of life being a test.
In debate, theists will often ask the question: What if you are wrong? This is a fair enough question that everyone should consider whenever making a decision. However, while religious people ask this question to others, they often do not ask it to themselves. Everyone can be wrong about everything. This includes their god. It is time for everyone to really consider what god options there are and make the most rational decision possible.
This first thing to consider is that history, as well as the world today is full of gods and religions. Virtually every one has had devoted believers utterly convinced in their hearts they are right. Without hard evidence, anyone’s sincere beliefs are as good as another’s and needs to be weighed equally. With this in mind, assuming there is a god, everyone has to consider that they may be wrong.
With so many religions to choose from, it is necessary to categorize to list the possibilities as follows:
1. One of the Abrahamic religions is correct and there is a loving, merciful god out there that will send us to cruel, eternal torture (or some other type of eternal damnation since the religions cannot agree on this either) for not believing in the correct Abrahamic religion.
2. One of the other religions, past or present, is correct.
3. There is a god or gods and none of the religions of human history are correct.
4. There simply is no god.
Faced with these choices, many suggest taking what they consider a safe bet and choose Islam or Christianity (their version of course). However, if we are going to assume there is a god out there that sends people to eternal torture over ideology, this is not a safe bet either. Any possible god could be from option 2 or 3 above and despise being characterized like the god of the Abrahamic religions.
There is also this to consider: Assuming humanity was created by a god, maybe that god wants us to be atheists or agnostics. That would explain why we do not have any hard evidence to support any religion.
For those looking for the safest option, atheism or agnosticism just might be it. The anthropomorphic god or Christianity, Islam and many other religions of history is often pretty cruel, bigoted, vile and an overall bad character. If there is a god that judges people after they die, let’s hope it is one that does not judge people over what ideologies they believe in but by how they lived their lives. That would be a god worth being wrong about, and the only way can truly good people be safe.
Many major religions teach that our thoughts and actions will determine the fate of our souls for all eternity-heaven or hell (whatever they may be). Since our brains control our thoughts and actions, then our brains decide what happens to our souls. However, having a physical brain determine what happens to an immortal soul raises serious questions.
If we have immortal souls and our actions (decided by our brains) determines their fate for all eternity, what happens to those who lose have some kind of mental defect brain damage? For example, what about the mentally ill? How can they be judged fairly when they do not have full mental facilities? Sending them to hell would be sadistic beyond words. However, if they go to heaven, they would be getting a free pass. If some can get a free pass, why not give one to everyone?
What about a very bad person who suffers brain damage? Let’s say that person lives in almost vegetative state for years before he dies. If that person loses their previous memories, will they be judged for their actions in the years they were brain damaged or for the lives before the accident? If they are judged for their lives after the accident, then haven’t they dodged their responsibility by living a few years longer? If they are judged by their lives prior, then that means people cannot be saved after they are brain damaged.
The point here is why do we have these fragile brains determining heaven or hell for all eternity? If this is for souls and their fate for all eternity, then why not have our souls in charge? Why have brains? Why do our flimsy little brains determine what happens to indestructible souls? As it stands with our brains, something as simple as falling off one’s bike or depriving oxygen to the brain at birth can throw off this all-important test. That hardly seems like the perfect test from an all-knowing and just being.
On top of all of this, even a healthy brain is hardly perfect. It is all too easy to brainwash people. What happens to their souls? What about the soul of a child that is brutalized and into committing atrocities? Does that child get eternal torture for falling into a situation beyond his/her control?
Furthermore, many children die before their brains even have the chance to develop. If the brains of these people do not determine their fate, then do their souls determine their fate? If so, why is not everyone judged by their souls and not their brains?
Finally, it has been shown the intelligence and belief in religion is inversely related. If intelligent minds are likely to send their souls to eternal torture, should not this god make people with lower IQs?
Of course, these questions can all be easily answered if the religions that teach this whole bit about our brains determining what happens to an eternal soul are wrong. Perhaps the real question should be if people really have souls or if religious teachings about heaven and hell have it wrong.
It is basic teaching of the Abrahamic religions that life is a test. Because life is a test, this loving god has to sit by and watch the cruelest things happen in the world but can not interfere (just like Star Trek!). To reject this premise is to deny some of the most basic teachings of all these faiths.
Now, there are some major flaws in this premise before we even start looking at it. For example, why would an all-knowing being need to test us? Even if it would, couldn’t it find a better way that did not involve so much human suffering? These contradictions go on, but we will ignore them for now.
Ok, so life is a test, a test so important that it will decide our fate for trillions upon trillions upon trillions of years. Now would not you think a perfect, just being with the power to create the universe could find a way for everyone to take it in a fair way? When we look at the world though, this clearly is not the case.
For example, what about the mentally ill? How can they take this test?
How about all the countless children that this god watches die young from various causes including the diseases that the creator of the universe created?
What about a person who is brain damaged and forgets their past. Is that person judged on their old or new personality?
What about the children who are brutalized or brainwashed into committing horrible atrocities (for example, the Khmer Rouge of Cambodia or child soldiers of Africa) and then die young?
There are a many more examples of people who did not have the mental facilities, died young or lived lives in which they had no real chance to practice free will. So, what happens to them? According to these religions, they either go to heaven or hell.
So, let’s say they go to hell or are damned in some other way. How is that fair and divine justice? Why should someone be damned for a test they had no chance to take? How in the world can that be divine justice? Surely no divine being could be that horrible, cruel and unfair.
Most religious people will say they get to heaven. There are many problems with this argument too though.
1. How is that fair? If they can just skip the test, why not everyone? Why send anyone to heaven then if so many can just skip the test?
2. In the case of people dying young, at what age are they held responsible for their actions? If it is puberty, then atheist children who die the day after they reach puberty are damned for all eternity, but those who die a day earlier go to heaven! How is that fair?
3. What if Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot or some of the other horrible people in history had died when they were young? Would they have gone to heaven then? If they would have gone to hell anyway, then life is predetermined and there is no need for the test. Why would a god create people knowing they would be damned anyway?
4. If they can all just go to heaven, then why this whole test on earth in the first place? If the worst people in history can skip the test, why not everyone? How many would-be Hitlers and the like are there now? In that case, we should be overjoyed when children die young since they get a free pass and cannot be damned!
No matter how one tries to twist and justify this, there is no way to come out with divine justice. Many either get a free pass or a damned for things they had no control over. That is a divine test from a merciful, loving being? That was the reason to put us on this earth with all its problems when everyone could have been sent straight to heaven (or hell)?
While the view of believers on this top has shifted over time, religion has never answered the question as to what happens to babies when they die. Many top religious thinkers once said they went to hell or someplace between heaven and hell. Now, as the world has changed, most take a different view. It seems inexplicable as to why this god did not take a few seconds and devote a few lines in his books to clearly answer this question. Could it be there is no good answer?
There are a few choices here, but none of them offer a divine plan.
1. We can say these babies go to hell. However, few in the modern world still believe their god would be as utterly cruel and sadistic as to send babies to burn for all eternity for the crime of dying young.
2. Some have proposed that these babies are sent to some kind of purgatory. However, that is hardly fair either. Would a loving and merciful god separate a child from its parents for all eternity in less-than-desirable place for the crime of dying?
3. We can say they get a free pass and go to heaven, but this raises its own problems. The whole purpose of this world and suffering is supposed to be a test (although it seems odd an all-knowing god would need to test anything!). If these babies can get a free pass by dying young, why not everyone? How many would be mass murderers such as Hitler or Stalin got free passes and are in heaven now then? Why send anyone for sadistic eternal torture for a test many can just skip?
Some religious people will try to counter that their god has a way of judging, but what would that possibly be? Since babies have not done anything to be judged by, then the only way they could be judged is by something that was predetermined in a divine coin toss. If their fate is predetermined, then is not everyone’s? This god creates people he knows he will send to sadistic eternal torture?
If life is a test, surely a being with the power to create the universe could make sure everyone had their chance to take it, correct? Why sit and watch children murdered or die from the childhood diseases this god created?
Furthermore, it is not only the babies that die without having any chance to exercise free will (and how people exercise free will is determined by a lot of factors regardless). What about the mentally ill, brain damaged or those that have been brainwashed such as a child soldier brainwashed and brutalized to commit horrible atrocities? If that child dies a brainwashed killer, is it sent to hell for being born in the wrong place at the wrong time even though he might have grown into a very good person in a better environment?
There are just so many ways in which life does NOT appear to be a test. It all boils down to this though: either babies and the like who die without ever having the chance to exercise free will are sent for horrible torture or get a free pass! That hardly seems like a divine test created by a perfect god.
