Quora Answer: Is the Penalty of an Eternal Hell for Disbelievers Unjust?

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ 

The following is my answer to a Quora question: “Is the punishment of eternal hell for unbelievers the most unjust concept ever?” 

The only religions that have this concept are religions of linear time, and they tend to be of the Abrahamic family of religions.  By no means is this idea of an eternal punishment universally accepted within all of them.  There are opinions for, against and every position in between.  There are several elements to consider in this.  Firstly, we have to address the Nature of God; and then, the identity of these “unbelievers”, and finally the role of Hell or its equivalent. 

This again comes back to a belief is God’s Mercy versus God’s Justice.  If God is Merciful why is there damnation?  And if God is Just, why is it eternal?  Therein lies the conundrum.  As such, more and more people, learned people, have come to the conclusion that this is untenable from a credal perspective unless we do not believe that God is Absolutely Merciful and Absolutely Just.  Regarding the identity of these “unbelievers”, it again calls into question the nature of Divine Decree if admittance to Heaven or damnation to Hell is partly a lottery of where one is born. 

In summary, the question is not whether eternal damnation is an unjust question, but for theists, the real question should be if it is even tenable and consistent with our Conception of Omnibenevolence.