Editing Problem of Hell (section)

==Issues and criticisms==
There are several major issues within the problem of [[Hell]].
* The definition of Hell.
* Whether the existence of Hell is compatible with the existence of a [[justice|just]] God.
* Whether Hell is compatible with [[Mercy#Christianity|God's mercy]], especially as articulated in Christianity.
* Whether Hell is compatible with the concept of an all-loving God.
* Whether any sin or combination of sins could warrant never-ending punishment or eternal torture.
* Whether [[Argument from free will|free will]] is compatible with God's omnipotence and omniscience.

Traditionally Hell is defined in Christianity and Islam as one of two abodes of Afterlife for human beings (the other being Heaven or [[Jannah]]), and the one where sinners suffer torment eternally. There are several words in the original languages of the Bible that are translated into the word 'Hell' in English. There are also a number of names in the [[Quran]] that translate as hell, perhaps the most common one being ''[[Jahannam]]''.  In at least some versions of Christianity there is a question of whether or not Hell is actually populated forever. If it is not, one must suppose that those populating Hell may eventually die, or that God will ultimately restore all [[immortal soul]]s in the [[World to Come]], i.e. Heaven, which would at least lessen the issue of divine injustice and deal with one of the key propositions of there being "no escape". This is known as the [[universal reconciliation]] doctrine. In Islam it is commonly thought that Muslim sinners will not spend eternity in Hell but spend time there to be purified of their sins before being allowed into Heaven.<ref name=JISYYHIU1981:93>[[#JISYYHIU1981|Smith & Haddad, ''Islamic Understanding'',  1981]]: p. 93</ref><ref name=":22">{{Cite book|title=The Islamic understanding of death and resurrection|last=Smith, Jane I.|date=1981|publisher=State University of New York Press|others=Haddad, Yvonne Yazbeck|isbn=0873955064|location=Albany|page=93|oclc=6666779}}</ref><ref>A F Klein. ''Religion Of Islam''. Routledge 2013 {{ISBN|978-1136099540}} p. 92</ref>

The question of compatibility of free will on the one hand, and God's omnipotence and omniscience on the other, can be framed as:
{{quote|... "Does God know or does He not know that a certain individual will be good or bad? If thou sayest 'He knows', then it necessarily follows that the man is compelled to act as God knew beforehand how he would act; otherwise, God's knowledge would be imperfect...." (Jewish philosopher [[Moses Maimonides]])<ref name=maimonides>''The Eight Chapters of Maimonides on Ethics (Semonah Perakhim)'', edited, annotated, and translated with an Introduction by Joseph I. Gorfinkle, pp. 99–100. (New York: AMS Press), 1966.</ref>}}

An early Islamic school of thought known as [[Muʿtazila]] could not accept the orthodoxy of [[determinism]] since it meant that a person "could be punished for acts which God himself had commanded him to perform".<ref name=":0">[[#AGI1978|Guillaume, ''Islam'', 1978]]: p. 132</ref> Muʿtazila were then accused of the heresy of "dualism" because they gave human beings 'power' over their actions (free will), which made them the 'creator' of their works, and "thus encroached on the almighty power of God, for there would be two creators of actions".<ref name=AGI1978:133>[[#AGI1978|Guillaume, ''Islam'', 1978]]: p. 133</ref>

In some respects, the problem of Hell is similar to the [[problem of evil]], with the suffering in Hell equivalent to the suffering of victims of evil in the temporal world. Framed this way, the suffering of Hell is caused by [[free will]] and something God could not have prevented; or worse still is caused by the lack of free will, as God's omniscience—His knowing/determining all that will ever happen in His creation, including human acts of good and evil—makes free will impossible and souls [[predestination|predestined]], but God still decrees punishment in hell. The problem of Hell could be viewed as the worst and most intractable instance of the problem of evil.<ref>{{cite book
| last= Kvanvig
| first= Jonathan L.
| title= The Problem of Hell
| publisher= Oxford University Press
|location= US
| year= 1994
| page= 4
| isbn= 0-19-508487-X}}</ref>

If one believes in the idea of eternal Hell, unending suffering, or the idea that some souls will perish (whether destroyed by God or otherwise), author [[Thomas Talbott]] says that one has to either let go of the idea that God wishes to save all beings (suggesting that God is not omnibenevolent), or accept the idea that God wants to save all, but will not "successfully accomplish his will and satisfy his own desire in this matter" (suggesting that He is not omnipotent and omniscient).<ref>Talbott, Thomas, "Heaven and Hell in Christian Thought", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2017 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), forthcoming <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2017/entries/heaven-hell/> "Theists who accept the traditional idea of everlasting punishment, or even the idea of an everlasting separation from God, must either reject the idea that God wills or desires to save all humans and thus desires to reconcile them all to himself (see proposition (1) in section 1 above) or reject the idea that God will successfully accomplish his will and satisfy his own desire in this matter "</ref>