Is Eternal Punishment in Hell Overdoing It?

A very common question that people have is this: Isn’t God overdoing it a bit by sentencing people who sin for the short time they are here on earth to eternal suffering in hell? Isn’t that cosmic overkill? It’s a question that deserves an answer.

We must understand that the Bible is clear, in that it teaches that all sin is inherently against God. God is infinite in his perfection which means that sin is an infinite evil which deserves infinite punishment. Think of this: when a crime is committed, the relationship between the offender and the offended party do matter. It is wrong for a young man to lose his temper and punch his friend, but it is a far worse offense for the same young man to punch his mother. This analogy even falls short, though, because God is different from humans in degree but also in being. Shooting a dog is bad, shooting a human is far worse. In the same way, sinning against a human is bad, but sinning against a God who is infinitely worthy of obedience is far worse.

Remember that according to Jesus the greatest of all commandments is to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, yet who among us has kept that command for even ten seconds. If we’re honest, we all love ourselves more than God. If we are continually breaking the greatest commandment, then our guilt must be enormous before God.

You may be thinking to yourself that even though you have committed this sin, it’s still not that bad. Measured against biblical standards, we just don’t take sin very seriously. Let’s put it this way. If we wanted to evaluate the horrors of murder, who would give us a more accurate picture? Would it be the murderers on death row or would it be the friends and family of the murder victims? Of course the murderers would tend to lessen the severity of the effects of their actions. Similarly, we tend to underestimate the severity of our sin. We often view it as a blunder or a mistake but we don’t see it through the eyes of God’s holiness. If we were to do so, we would see it as evil, wicked, hateful, and worthy of eternal damnation. Only God, as the offended party, knows the full extent of the awfulness of sin.