As an addendum to last week’s “Church Chat” from the world headquarters of the Church of the Infinite Chasm, a few additional thoughts about the biased and unfair arguments leveled against creation and those who subscribe to it. As discussed last week, those arguments often are nothing more than propaganda, which is information that does not convey facts and is deliberately (or through ignorance) slanted so as to steer the listener or reader to the desired conclusion.
Here’s another example (right). 
On first reading, it sounds like a scathing indictment of God, doesn’t it? Like God is a despicable character who would be adored only by individuals as murderous and hateful as He is.
The truth, however, is far from this. Allow me to explain. Even if you are an atheist, you’ve heard the story of Genesis: A perfect couple, Adam and Eve, were placed in a garden paradise and told to become fruitful and fill the earth. They were given but one rule: to show their respect for God, simply avoid eating the fruit from a single tree. Were they to violate that law, they would die. A side note: as “perfect” people, Adam and Eve were sinless. Put another way, they could not make a mistake; if they wanted to “mess up” somehow, it had to be deliberate. Unlike us, they could not make an unintentional mistake. In that context, a death sentence for their actions seems far less cruel and extreme. To use a simplistic example, it was like placing a platter of dozens of cookies in front of your child and telling them to have any or all they wanted except for…. that one…. and that’s the one they ate the minute your back was turned. Except remember, these two were adults, and they were perfect. Even so, the big deal wasn’t eating the fruit, not at all; it was about a deliberate and conscious rejection of their own father and the extremely simple restriction (if you can call it that) he placed upon them. It was about believing a snake (that was made to appear as if talking) over the loving father the account says they spoke with every day.
I’m relating all of this for a reason connected with the graphic above. The deliberate rebellion by Adam and Eve resulted in a death sentence – that is what the Bible says. Very simple: death. The opposite of life. The Bible does not say the “wicked” get eternal life. It says the “good” or the “righteous” get that reward. People who say the Bible teaches that the wicked will be tortured forever in a burning hellfire are guilty of two things.
1.) Teaching that everybody gets eternal life. I promise you, the Bible does not say that.
2.) Teaching that there is a fiery place of everlasting torture for the wicked, a popular church doctrine that is also not a Bible teaching.
After all, if The Original PERFECT Couple got the death sentence (the absence of life), how just would it be for IMperfect people who cannot avoid mistakes to be fried forever? What would your reaction be if you heard that an angry parent held his or her unruly child’s hand over a hot burner on a stove – even for one minute – as punishment for acting up? That parent would be going to prison. And we’re to believe God would do such a thing forever?
The Bible describes death as sleep, and says the dead have no conscious thoughts. Read it for yourself: Ecclesiastes 9:5, 10.
So next time someone tells you no just and loving God would torture people for simply being unconvinced, tell them you couldn’t agree more.
If someone wants to attack God, let the criticism at least be based on facts, not in a lie such as eternal torture.