][/FONT]I wrote a big paper in college about "Why there is no Hell" (persuasive essay)
It was around 40+ pages so obviously I cannot post that here, nor am I exactly sure if it even exists anywhere outside my mind for that matter...lol.
The word "Hell" never existed and is in fact a heathen word. It's origins were from the daughter of the Norse God Odin, who ruled over the underworld named Hel.
In the middle age Europe the name became synonymous with anything related to anything underground and calling your root cellar (to preserve your food) Hell was not unheard of...how it got the second 'L' I don't know.
The original words poorly translated were Gehenna, Tartarus, Sheol, and Hades. Gehenna was a burning trash heap that Jesus liken the hearts of certain men to.
Tartarus - means "abyss"
While Sheol and Hades meant underworld, where the "shades" and EVERYONE went.
So why did these four words that mean different things turn into a land of everlasting burning lakes of feces and exponential torture? That wasn't their meaning?
If God is said to have created and control of all things which he is said to have, then not only would he have created such a place but is also the one allow the everlasting torture. No matter what sin has been perpetrated there will come a point to where the punishment will outweigh the crime (it may take some time for certain cases), and then Hell and God would be considered "unjust" Which is another attribute of God...he is Just.
If I have a huge pit in some land I own and people must pass through said land to get from point A to B, I have a responsibility to warn people of this, so I may put up signs saying "Stay on the path, huge pit where you will die!". Of course people maybe think they know better, they may think they need a short-cut, maybe the signs fade away...etc. They wander off the path is the point, man being man. Someone will fall in. So I have alarms and cameras, etc. I have knowledge of someone falling in...I can hear and see them. So here is the question: Am I justified to say "I put up signs, you didn't stay on the path, too bad." No I am not just. Even if someone were to purposefully throw themselves bodily into my pit while damning me and my house...I cannot justify leaving them with a broken body at the bottom. It is just wrong on a basic level.
What petty sin in this life would justify an eternity of torture? There is none. Even as Jesus died he said "Father forgive them for they no not what they do." Wouldn't that be about the worst sin imaginable...killing Jesus? And yet they were forgiven.
The word "Hell" has been twisted over the centuries to control the masses with fear, it has been turned into something it is NOT, which is unlimited torture. Dante's version of "Hell" has come to be the most common vision conjured up in one's mind when the word is used. Do you think that was by accident?