Editing Problem of Hell (section)

==Christianity==
{{See also|Christian views on Hell}}
In Christianity, Hell has traditionally been regarded as a place or state of [[punishment]] for wrongdoing or [[sin]] in the mortal life, as a manifestation of divine justice. Nonetheless, the extreme severity and/or infinite duration of the punishment might be seen as incompatible with justice. However, Hell is not seen as strictly a matter of [[retributive justice]] even by the more traditionalist churches. For example, the [[Eastern Orthodox]] see it as a condition brought about by, and the natural consequence of, free rejection of [[Love of God|God's love]].<ref name="Orthodox Christian Homepage">{{cite web |url=http://home.it.net.au/~jgrapsas/pages/afterdeath.htm |title=Orthodox Christian Homepage |publisher=Home.it.net.au |access-date=2013-10-24 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020901031115/http://home.it.net.au/~jgrapsas/pages/afterdeath.htm |archive-date=2002-09-01 }}</ref>

In some ancient Eastern Christian traditions, (such as 7th century [[Syriac Christianity]]), Hell and [[Heaven (Christianity)|Heaven]] are distinguished not spatially, but by the relation of a deceased person to God's love.

{{quote|I also maintain that those who are punished in Gehenna, are scourged by the scourge of love. Nay, what is so bitter and vehement as the torment of love?...It would be improper for a man to think that sinners in Gehenna are deprived of the love of God...it torments sinners...Thus I say that this is the torment of Gehenna: bitter regret.|St. [[Isaac of Syria]], ''[[The Ascetical Homilies of Isaac the Syrian|Ascetical Homilies]]'' 28, Page 141<ref name="Orthodox Christian Homepage"/>}}

In terms of the Bible itself, issues of [[salvation]] and access to heaven or to hell are mentioned frequently. {{opinion?|date=February 2012}} {{discuss|https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Problem_of_Hell#Biblical_references_to_hell_are_speculative_at_best.}} Examples include [[John 3:16]]
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." which tends to show the wicked perish and the saints have everlasting life or {{bibleref2|John|3:36|NIV}} ([[New International Version|NIV]]), "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on them",<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+3:36 | title=Bible Gateway passage: John 3:36 – New International Version}}</ref> and {{bibleref2|2 Thessalonians|1:8–9|NIV}} (NIV), "Those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus, they will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might."<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Thessalonians+1%3A7-9&version=NIV |title = Bible Gateway passage: 2 Thessalonians 1:7–9 – New International Version}}</ref>

The minority Christian doctrine that sinners perish and are destroyed rather than punished eternally such as is found in John 3:16 "That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.", is referred to as [[Christian mortalism]]; [[annihilationism|annihilation]] for those not awarded [[immortal life]], [[conditional immortality]] for those who are.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.afterlife.co.nz/free-resources/what-is-conditional-immortality/ |title=What is Conditional Immortality? |publisher=Afterlife |date=2013-10-03 |access-date=2013-10-24}}</ref> This Christian view is found in early Christianity, resurfaced in the Reformation, and since 1800 has found increasing support among Protestant theologians.<ref>[[Richard Bauckham]] "[https://theologicalstudies.org.uk/article_universalism_bauckham.html Universalism: a historical survey]" (@ theologicalstudies.org.uk), ''[[Themelios]]'' 4.2 (September 1978): 47–54. "Here and there, outside the theological mainstream, were some who believed that the wicked would be finally annihilated (in its commonest form. this is the doctrine of 'conditional immortality')." "Since 1800 this situation has entirely changed, and no traditional Christian doctrine has been so widely abandoned as that of eternal punishment.3 Its advocates among theologians today must be fewer than ever before. The alternative interpretation of hell as annihilation seems to have prevailed even among many of the more conservative theologians."</ref>

===Justice===
Some opponents of the traditional doctrine of Hell claim that the punishment is disproportionate to any crimes that could be committed. Because human beings have a finite lifespan, they can commit only a finite number of sins, yet Hell is an infinite punishment. In this vein, [[Jorge Luis Borges]] suggests in his essay ''La duración del Infierno''<ref>{{cite book|last=Borges|first=Jorge Luis|title=Discusión|year=1999|publisher=Alianza Editorial, S.A.|location=Madrid, España|isbn=84-206-3331-3|page=230}}</ref> that no transgression can warrant an infinite punishment on the grounds that there is no such thing as an "infinite transgression". Philosopher [[Immanuel Kant]] argued in 1793 in ''[[Religion within the Bounds of Bare Reason]]'' that since morality lies ultimately in a person's disposition, and as disposition is concerned with the adoption of universal principles, or as he called them: "maxims", every human being is guilty of, in one sense, an infinite amount of violations of the law, and  he consequently an infinite punishment is not unjustified.<ref name="Kant1998">{{cite book|author=Immanuel Kant|title=Kant: Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason: And Other Writings|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hDRrfrtpJv4C|access-date=23 December 2012|year=1998|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-59964-1|page=89}}</ref>

===Divine mercy===
Another issue is the problem of harmonizing the existence of Hell with God's infinite mercy or omnibenevolence which is found in scripture.

Some modern critics of the doctrine of Hell (such as [[Marilyn McCord Adams]]) claim that, even if Hell is seen as a choice rather than as punishment, it would be unreasonable for God to give such flawed and ignorant creatures as ourselves the responsibility of our eternal destinies.<ref>Richard Beck. "[http://experimentaltheology.blogspot.com/2007/03/christ-and-horrors-part-3-horror-defeat.html Christ and Horrors, Part 3: Horror Defeat, Universalism, and God's Reputation]". ''Experimental Theology.'' March 19, 2007.</ref> [[Jonathan Kvanvig]], in ''The Problem of Hell'' (1993), agrees that God would not allow one to be eternally damned by a decision made under the wrong circumstances.<ref>[[Jonathan Kvanvig]], ''The Problem of Hell'', New York: Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0-19-508487-0}}, 1993</ref> One should not always honor the choices of human beings, even when they are full adults, if, for instance, the choice is made while [[depression (mood)|depressed]] or careless. On Kvanvig's view, God will abandon no person until they have made a settled, final decision, under favorable circumstances, to reject God, but God will respect a choice made under the right circumstances. Once a person finally and competently chooses to reject God, out of respect for the person's autonomy, God allows them to be annihilated.

===Catholicism===
====Official teaching====
The [[Catholic Church]] does not believe in the problem of hell, but believes - as dogma - that because God is all-good he condemns the impenitent to eternal punishment in hell at death and at the [[Last Judgment]]. This dogma was defined by the [[Council of Trent]]<ref>[http://www.thecounciloftrent.com/ch14.htm Council of Trent, Session 14, Canon 5]</ref> based on Jesus' teaching of the same during his public ministry and when "he descended into hell."<ref>[https://www.vatican.va/content/catechism/en/part_one/section_two/chapter_two/article_5/paragraph_1_christ_descended_into_hell.html Catechism of the Catholic Church 633]</ref>

The church also teaches that hell is a place of punishment<ref>''[[Catechism of the Catholic Church]]'', 1035, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, {{ISBN|0-89243-565-8}}, 1994 – the revised version issued 1997 has no changes in this section</ref> brought about by a person's self-exclusion from communion with God.<ref>''Catechism of the Catholic Church'', 1033, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, {{ISBN|0-89243-565-8}}, 1994</ref> Hell is the free and continual rejection of God's forgiveness of sins.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p123a12.htm#1037|title=Catechism of the Catholic Church 1037}}</ref> This rejection takes the form of the committing of a mortal sin without repentance.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s1c1a8.htm#1861|title=Catechism of the Catholic Church 1861}}</ref> (This does not include [[original sin]], since it is not an evil deed, since no one is predestined to hell, and since [[Feeneyism]] is the heresy that non-Catholics and excommunicated Catholics cannot be saved)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p123a12.htm|title=Catechism of the Catholic Church 1037}}</ref> A sinner, once in hell, will inevitably refuse to turn away from his mortal sin to God's forgiveness. Accordingly, hell must endure as chief punishment for this continuing lack of repentance.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p123a12.htm#1057|title=Catechism of the Catholic Church 1057}}</ref>

====Unofficial teaching====
Some theologians speculate about the reason for the creation and eternity of hell. A common argument made is from divine justice: as the righteous receive an eternal reward (God) for a temporary good deed, so the wicked receive an eternal punishment (loss of God) for a temporary evil deed. Another common argument is that the loss of God includes the loss of one's good inclinations and desires, so that all that remains is evil inclinations and desires (whereby the demons and the damned refuse to repent).<ref>[https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07207a.htm New Advent, Hell]</ref> 

[[Thomas Aquinas]] said that not all punishment is remedial or temporary, such as [[capital punishment]], and that hell fits this exception. He further said that, by being confined to hell, the wicked cannot commit sin among the righteous in heaven.<ref>[https://isidore.co/aquinas/ContraGentiles3b.htm#144 Thomas Aquinas' Contra Gentiles, Chapter 144 THAT BY MORTAL SIN A MAN IS ETERNALLY DEPRIVED OF HIS ULTIMATE END]</ref>

According to [[Catherine of Siena]], Jesus told her of the righteous in heaven: "Their will is so one with mine that even if a father and mother saw their child in hell, or a child its parent, it would not trouble them: They would even be content to see them punished, since they are my enemies."<ref>[https://isidore.co/misc/Res%20pro%20Deo/ITOPL_OCR-layer-only/15.%20Supplementum%20-%20Dogma%20&%20Moral/Moral/St.%20Catherine%20of%20Siena_OCR.pdf The Dialogue of Saint Catherine of Siena, 83]</ref>