The topic was created in the Worthy Christian Forums, in a thread proposing the the soul is not immortal. People have varying opinions about that, and I decided to add some balance, and offer some food for though, this is what I wrote:

     I would like to think that sinners do not suffer ECT (Eternal Conscious Torment). That was what I believed when I was an Atheist, and I was quite comfortable with that. Going to sleep and never waking up was fine.

     When I became a Christian, things were different, but I an glad to say that I was not motivated to confess Christ, because of a fear of Hell, but I imagine that perhaps, some people do. I think that is weird thinking, as coming to Christ with a gun pointed at you head, is too much like Islam or the Spanish Inquisition. Wanting to conform to God's will out of love and appreciation seems much better, but I can understand also that some do not appreciate what they have been given. Some see their lives as an endless stream of misery, but I have never been in their shoes.

     On one hand, I want to believe that God is so loving and merciful that He would not allow people created in His image, to endure suffering like that. It strikes my flesh that an eternity of suffering for a mere lifetime is unjust. It is easy to think that way. However, who am I to judge God? He created everything and the creation is His to do with whatever He pleases. He defines what is good and what is evil, I do not. He know what mercy and love are, and judgement, and grace, and all other truths that are beyond my ability to understand as He does.

     IF God chooses to allow suffering for eternity, it is HIS call, not mine. Whatever God does is good by virtue of His very nature, whatever I think of it and whether I like it or not. There are many Christians who do not accept the concept of ETC, some of them are conservative theologians of great learning and repute, John Stott comes to mind. I am hardly in a position, to say that I am more educated, knowledgeable, wiser, smarter, or Spirit led than they are. It would be very prideful for me to say they are wrong, even if in my studied opinion I think they are erring.

     Some people are not emotionally able to accept the concept of eternal Hell for people. Some people cannot accept that their pet may not be in Heaven with them. Some people cannot bear the idea that their mom or dad, husband or wife, brother or sister, or son or daughter will suffer eternally. Some people cannot believe that a loving God can even allow sickness or other misery on Earth, and some people even go so far as to think that God only wants health and prosperity, but all of those are another topic.

     I would opine, that one does not need to accept the concept of ETC to be saved, it is peripheral in that respect but it is not unimportant, otherwise I do not think that Jesus would have had so much to say about Hell. Many things He said, do not sound as though there is no eternal suffering. Because of that and other things in the Bible, I tend to believe in ETC, but I am willing to change my mind if scriptural evidence convinces me otherwise.

     One of the things that helps me to accept what I do not like, is the comfort that God knows what He is doing, and it is always just no matter how I see it. While it seems disproportionate to me that a lifetime crime deserves eternal punishment, I also ponder that nature of the crime. We know that sin separates us from God. That is what death is I think, separation. "but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

     Did Adam die on that day, or not? I say yes, he did. That day he was separated from God by his sin, again, I think death equals separation. Physical death is the separation of life from the body. Spiritual death, is separation of your spirit from God, and so all sinners are spiritually dead by nature. The Bible in many, many places, refers to the unregenerate person, as dead. Apart from and act of God to restore our relationship with Him, we remain dead.

     On the other hand, the gift of God is eternal life, and that manifests itself after we die as an eternal relationship with Him - no more separation. I think that is a major part of the mystery. There are two "places" eternally. One is with God, one is without God. With God, is everything good. To be eternally separated from God, is to be eternally separated from everything good.

     Now, what would "life" be like, is there was not one good thing in it. Miserable, right? Some unbelievers mock the concept of eternal Hell with the notion that they will be partying in Hell with their friends. Maybe so, but if one likes a party this nasty tasting food and drink, music that sounds bad and hurts the ears, those sorts of things, yeah maybe, but it will be a pity party of people kicking themselves for having been so willfully ignorant and unbelieving.

     Now, the other possibility, is that the unbelieving will just be annihilated, permanently unconscious, just like most people assume that lifeless corpses are. That is almost pleasant by comparison to the other state. Like I said - endless sleep does not sound so bad, we find that easier to accept.

    That all being said, I do think there is a way to understand the severity of the ECT, if we consider the severity of the sin. I know that sin is sin, to God it seems to be more black and white, binary, not analog. One is either perfect, or one is not. it is not black, grey, and white, it is either white, or not white. However, from my human perspective, and maybe that of others reading this, we see degrees of sin. We see defrauding an old lady of her life's savings, and worse that stealing a paper clip from our work place. We see breaking the speed limit by one mile an hour as less of a crime that driving though a school zone drunk. We see cruelly torturing an ant, as less of a problem that torturing our aunt.

     If God ever acts like that on the eternal judgment court and sentence (and I am not saying that He does), then I can see how eternal torment is understandable for temporary sin. How? Just as the the ant and aunt example, we place a value that is not related to the time spent torturing, we place a value on the importance of the victim, the intrinsic value.

     Sinning against God, because of His infinite value and absolute right to deserve love and obedience, makes the appropriate penalty also infinite. Again some can accept that, some will not.

Now we know about the passages about how their worm dieth not, gnashing of teeth, eternal darkness, etc. Certainly those are things to be avoided, no matter what they mean. In Rev 20, we see the following language:

“and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”

There for certain, we see that it is not a party, not merely unpleasant, but TORMENT! We also observe that it is not temporary, it is 24/7 FOREVER! Now Rev 20 also says:

“And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”

It is not clear there that the unbeliever is to be tormented eternally, but it is clear that they will at least suffer the same end of being tossed into the lake of fire. It is also not clear there, that the unbeliever escape the torment. I think it is also feasible, that God might have different degrees of discomfort, as the Bible seems to indicate that there are different rewards, according to one's works on earth. Why take chances with wishful thinking. Whether or not the dread of this outcome will motive the unbeliever, it should motivate Christians to obey the great commission, and make disciples of all nations, teaching them to obey Jesus!