Simply put, He doesn’t! The idea that God keeps people alive to suffer never-ending torture in hell is not found in the Bible. It has become a traditional belief in Christianity, but really it is the result of the influence of Greek philosophy on the early Christian church, rather than by a direct teaching from the Bible.

Yes, the Bible does however talk about a fire that consumes the wicked. It is plainly obvious, that at some point God needs to step in and put an end to sin and the suffering that results from it. This world cannot keep going on like it is forever. We recognise that criminals should be punished, and in some countries that penalty could be as severe as death. It is therefore not unreasonable for us to agree that God should also punish the wicked with a penalty as severe as death. To put an end to evil, he must destroy those who choose to follow an evil path.

The fire that the Bible talks about is merely a fire that destroys and consumes the wicked, so that there is nothing left of them.

“And you will tread down the wicked; for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I will do this, says the Lord of hosts.” – Malachi 4:3

But doesn’t the Bible talk about eternal fire? Yes, but only in the sense that the results of the fire are eternal. In 2 Peter 2:6 and Jude 1:7, the Bible describes the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah as having been destroyed by eternal fire and being an example of the fire that would destroy the wicked at the end of this world. Both these cities are no longer burning. Therefore, the fire itself is not an eternally burning fire. These cities have never been rebuilt. This shows that the eternal fire the Bible talks about is a fire that destroys completely and from which there is no coming back… ever.

No, God does not keep people alive in hell to torture them forever and ever. But in order to put an end to evil forever, those who reject God and pursue an evil life He will have no choice but to eliminate… permanently. This is what the Bible teaches that hellfire does. It is merely a fire that consumes evildoers completely and permanently. So, we now have three reasons left to be an atheist.

Further Information

The doctrine of an eternally burning hell is a doctrine that the Christian church has abused for many years to scare people into submission. (You used to even be able to pay money to the church to supposedly get people out of hell). As stated above however, this idea is not from the Bible. Apparently, the idea of an immortal soul that goes to hell and is tortured forever and ever comes from Greek philosophy and was around even before the time of Jesus.

In this section we will look at just a few more Biblical references that reveal that hell fire does not keep burning forever.

“(Speaking of Satan)… I will bring forth a fire from the middle of you, it will devour you, and I will bring you to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that look at you.” – Ezekiel 28:18

Here we see that even Satan himself will be “turned to ashes”.

What about where the Bible talks about the fire that cannot be quenched, or put out? This is mentioned in Matthew 3:12. Unquenchable fires are common occurrence these days. It simply means a fire that you can’t put out. There are a lot of bush fires that our resources just simply cannot put out. We have to wait until they run out of fuel to burn. An unquenchable fire cannot be “put out” but once there is nothing left to burn, it will go out by itself. Hell is the same; no one will be able to put out the fire of hell. It will burn until there is nothing left to burn.

What about the “everlasting punishment” found in Matthew 25:46? Again, the punishment will be forever, the punishing will not. The burning is not forever, but once burnt up, there is no coming back.

What about Revelation 14:11 and 20:10 that talk about being tormented forever? In 1 Samuel 1:22 and 28 we discover a usage of the term “forever” as meaning as long as it shall last. This is exactly the same as a person saying “I will love you forever”. This means “I will love you as long as I live”. Any torment that is experienced “forever” in hell is only “as long as one is alive”.

The Bible tells us that God will put an end to all evil. If an eternal place of torture existed, God would not be ending evil, He would merely be confining it to this horrible place. The Bible says plainly that when God makes all things new again, there will be no more pain. This simply could not be true if people were continually being tortured in hell.

“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” – Revelation 21:4

God is a God of love (1 John 4:8) and He does not want anyone to be lost forever (2 Peter 3:9). Unfortunately, at the right time, God has to step in and put an end to the problem of evil. To do this, people who participate in evil have to be eliminated as well. God does not want this to happen, but it is the only way to eliminate evil forever and restore a perfect world without any suffering.

The question is, is there evil in you? Where would you end up on that day of final judgment? God wants to save us from the results of evil, so He begs us to leave evil behind and follow Him.

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