> There is absolutely nothing to back up this here paragraph but my opinion, but... I have considered punishment in hell to be a form of mercy. People would be punished according to the level necessary to keep them from harming others. It seems entirely possible that the pain (the greek word translated as "agony" can be interpreted as anything from discomfort to torture) is a preventative measure, to keep the people from being absolutely horrible to each other. They could become terrible monsters easily, as they rejected God in life and now are in a place without his presence. I think God prevents a great deal of the atrocities that might normally occur here on earth. That's my idea. Feel free to pick holes in it, too.
>

Disclaimer: since Scripture isn't terribly clear about the particulars of eternal punishment, what follows is just my unsubstantiated idea of it. When I try to envision hell, I think of a place dominated by a Hobbesian state of war: each person against all others, with no compassion, love, or other moral virtues to mitigate the endless conflict. It's a state of each person acting sheerly out of hollow and spiteful self-interest. In short, I picture hell as a place where people *are* absolutely horrible to each other -- where, in fact, they have lost the capability of doing anything else.

Strange as it may seem, such people would not choose to dwell in heaven even if they were allowed to do so. They have once and for all insisted that the universe operate on their terms or not at all, and they will reject even what is for their benefit if it means having to humble themselves before God and embrace life on his terms rather than theirs. C.S. Lewis, with characteristic insightfulness into human nature, populates hell with those sorts of selfish and spiteful characters in his book _The_Great_Divorce_.


> > "A mind is like a parachute - it only works when it's open."
>
> Well, not always. If someone tried earnestly to convince that gravity need not affect me if I step out of his airplane and believe with all my might, I must say my mind would be quite closed to that. Some things are known.
>

Wow. I'm going to have to adopt that as my new motto; I've never been able to express it so clearly and elegantly as you just did.
"Some things are known."

> gab"If you actually read all that above, you are a stalwart Forum reader. I like the word 'stalwart', too"by

Iss "yes, and also 'dauntless' " achar