Hellfire doctrine defames God

THE EDITOR, Madam:

Unless someone is zealously fixed to the gusto of unsolvable mysteries, it an head-scratching puzzle to reconcile the doctrine of eternal torment, in a blazing Hell with a God, who’s very essence is recorded as love – 1 John 4:7.

Evidently, the quality of human justice, compared to God’s, suggests a different outcome of life – a God, who is the very paragon of integrity and fairness itself. Even in our faulty sense of right and wrong, we recognise that a crime should not be exceeded by its penalty, which a fiery torment for whatever crime committed within a 75-year period would achieve. Not only because of the passing of prominent figures, such as Queen Elizabeth and others, is this concern valid, but because it flies in the face of everything God is. And it is nothing beyond a barefaced lie on a creator who was so impelled to offer his only begotten son to suffer for those where even enemies, to rescue them. Which enemies, if later deflected from the way, could have reconciliation with repentance and forgiveness, and not the dangling rope of an everlasting roasting, swinging before them as is often promoted by many (John 3:16). This sounds like a prescription recommended by Satan himself.

Another absurdity of the hellfire theory is the see-saw disequilibrium it fosters. If you are good, whatever ‘good’ means, you are automatically transported to the heavenly realm upon your expiration here, with the same questionable qualifications for entrance there as for being ushered into a burning Hell for being reprobate, a barbarian or ‘bad person’. Apart from tarnishing the name of man’s creator, the kind of penalty and reward system that such concepts facilitate, allows for the most mechanical, self-serving, shell-like followers of Christendom imaginable, who would easily bypass councils as loving God and you neighbours as yourself, in favour of individual profit and reward (Mark 12:30-31).

In the end, the pure love of God that is offered unblemished, without any hidden fine prints, has been razed by many upon the unholy altar of the hellfire doctrine – where worship takes place.

HOMER SYLVESTER

Mount Vernon

New York