Sin Is Worse Than Hell

For some, the doctrine of everlasting punishment in hell feels like a divine overreaction. Take Clark Pinnock as an example: “How can Christians possibly project a deity of such cruelty and vindictiveness whose ways include inflicting everlasting torture upon his creatures, however sinful they may have been?”

However sinful.

The assumption behind Pinnock’s question is that no amount or degree of wickedness could justify conscious torment without end. For this reason, Pinnock proposes a modified view of hell in which the ungodly pass out of existence after a period of suffering. But what if eternal torment is actually a fitting response to our sin? What if, instead of seeing hell as an overreaction to our misdeeds, we looked at it instead as God’s commentary on the gravity of our rebellion? In other words, what if it’s not God’s view of sin that needs adjusting, but our own? Read more