What is Hell? What is the purpose of Hell? I'm lazy and I just search a few articles on the Internet
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell_in_Christianity
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_views_on_Hell
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Problem_of_Hell
To many religions, Hell is a horrible place to punish people, and now I have a question:
What is the purpose of Hell?
Did I say that Hell is a horrible place to punish people? Yes, but
What is the purpose to punish?
In an ideal modern society, I guess:
(1) The wrongdoers are sent to prisons so that they cannot cause any more harm to other people outside the prisons.
(2) The wrongdoers are sent to prisons with their freedom limited as a punishment. In that way, any action has a consequence and justice is upheld.
(3) The wrongdoers are given time to rehabilitate, to correct his/her wrong behaviours before going back to the society.
In real life, some dictators, kings, government officials, etc. simply punish people to scare away opposite voices.
If we compare Hell with prison:
(1) When someone goes to Hell, he/she cannot cause any more harm to other people not in Hell.
(2) When someone goes to Hell, he/she cannot go to Heaven (or other places). This is the punishment.
(3) That somebody is dead; there is no way to live as the same person before his/her dead. If there is no "life" in Hell, there is no point for him/her to be a good person again. But if there is "life" in Hell, do we give them chances to become good people again, even still living in Hell?
My next question is: what is the purpose of the unquenchable hell fire mentioned in the Bible? Okay, I know that someone mentioned that Hell was designed for demons, not human, but still, what is the purpose of the unquenchable hell fire?
If the hell fire is really eternal, what is the point to burn the demons forever? Does it mean that someone will be very happy to torture the demons? If the hell fire is not everlasting, how long will it last? Did God use hell fire x minutes to kill one demon? Did God develop hell fire version 1 to torture the demons for x minutes? Could God develop hell fire version 2 to reduce the torture time by half? What is the implication for a dead person in hell to be burnt to dead again for x minutes? If you say God designed Hell for demons, not humans, but still God knew that there would be humans in Hell, right? Or you want to say that God is not all-knowing?
In an ideal modern society, if a person do bad things and once reported, the government shall start investigation ASAP and bring him/her to court for justice. But as mentioned in the Bible, the scheme designed by God only uphold justice when the judgment day come. When every one on Earth are dead, what is the point to punish by the hell fire?
Well, if God created angels and humans, does it mean that God failed twice? I still do not understand the whole picture and there are always be lots of questions.