Michael Tooley Hell And The Problem Of Divine Evil Unjust God

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• published: 17 Feb 2014
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Closer to Truth http://www.closertotruth.com While accounts of the nature of hell vary within and between religious traditions, formulations of the traditional doctrine include at least the following five elements. E1 Some persons do or will reside in hell and will be there for an infinite period of time. E2 Hell is the residence of those persons who have failed to satisfy some condition(s) dictated by God as necessary to avoid hell and enjoy heaven. E3 The cumulative well-­‐being and well-­‐being at any moment of any resident of hell is negative. E4 Those in hell are blocked from leaving. E5 Those in hell are consigned to hell as punishment for either failing to satisfy the condition(s) God requires for one to avoid hell or for actual sins committed or both. 2. The Problem Stated Some philosophers have argued that the conception of hell that follows from (E1)-­‐(E5) is inconsistent with the traditional conception of God. In particular, it poses a problem for theists who (a) believe in an afterlife and (b) believe that some persons will reside in hell forever. Such theists affirm the following two theses: (i) God exists, and is essentially omnipotent, omniscient, and perfectly good. (ii) Some created persons will be consigned to hell forever. Marilyn McCord Adams (1993) has argued that (i) and (ii) are logically incompatible in the same way that (i) and (iii) Evil exists have been said to be logically incompatible. Adams' reasoning is in many respects characteristic of recent work on the problem of hell. The case she presents is the primary focus in this section. Adams argues as follows for the logical incompatibility of (i) and (ii) (1993, 301-­‐303):2 1. If God existed and were omnipotent, God would be able to avoid (ii). 2. If God existed and were omniscient, God would know how to avoid (ii). 3. If God existed and were perfectly good, God would want to avoid (ii). 4. Therefore, if (i), then not (ii). If Adams is right, then the truth of (ii), given (4) entails that (i) is not the case. Thus, if persons are sent to hell, then God either does not exist or God lacks one or all of the omni­‐properties. For God, if we are to believe an orthodox story, has prescribed eternal torment as a punishment for insubordination. There are, of course, disagreements about what it takes to be insubordinate. Some say that the mere fact of not believing in him is enough to mark you out. Others think that you must violate one of the divine commandments. However the test is set up, it is clear that there is some complex of psychological attitudes and actions that suffices for damnation. The orthodox story is explicit about the temporal scale of the punishment: it is to go on forever. Many of those who tell the orthodox story are also concerned to emphasize the quality of the punishment. The agonies to be endured by the damned intensify, in unimaginable ways, the sufferings we undergo in our earthly lives. So, along both dimensions, time and intensity, the torment is infinitely worse than all the suffering and sin that will have occurred during the history of life in the universe. What God does is thus infinitely worse than what the worst of tyrants did. However clever they were at prolonging the agonies of their victims, their tortures killed fairly quickly. God is supposed to torture the damned forever, and to do so by vastly surpassing all the modes of torment about which we know. Although those who elaborate the orthodox account are sometimes concerned with the fit between crime and punishment, there is no possibility of a genuine balance.2 For the punishment of the damned is infinitely disproportionate to their crimes. Even the worst of this-worldly offenders is only capable of inflicting a finite amount of suffering. However many times that offender endures the exact agony he caused, there will still be an infinite number of repetitions to come. Moreover, in each of these repetitions, the torment will be intensified and extended across all possible modes. This is to assume, of course, that the damned have committed some crime. If the orthodox story supposes only that they fail to believe in God, then the injustice is even more palpable. Alice the agnostic may live a life full of charity and good works, notable for its honesty, fairness, and loving care of those around her. If lack of faith suffices for damnation, then the divine reward will be an eternity of the most exquisite agony. "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it." Matthew 7:13 (New King James Version)