Why Is Eternal Punishment Fair?
Those who question the traditional doctrine of hell have a fundamental misunderstanding of one or more of the following: the nature of God, the nature of man, or the nature of sin. God is holy and perfect. He is undeniably just, and his nature demands that He deal with sinful people who persist in their wicked ways. In earlier posts, I detailed man's fallen corrupt nature. And as I made clear in my post regarding God's judgment of the Canaanites, God cannot abide sin, and He will not. Any offense against an absolutely holy God, no matter how trivial it may seem, is a serious offense. We have forgotten the essential nature of the very God we begrudge for holding us accountable.
The length of punishment is not a function of the length of time it took to commit a crime. It is a function of the seriousness of the crime. One can pilfer small office supplies over several years. A murder can be completed in seconds. And the ultimate “crime,” or sin, is rejecting God. Interestingly enough, no one ever wonders about the fairness of eternal reward for a finite life led in obedience to God. That never seems disproportionate.
So why not force everyone to go to heaven or snuff out the wicked? Christ’s atoning death on the cross demonstrated man’s intrinsic value. Forcing him to go to heaven against his will or annihilating him treats man as instrumentally valuable, as a means to an end. Eternal separation from God, which is what hell is, is morally superior to either. As J.P. Moreland says, “Hell will forever be a monument to human dignity and the value of human choice. It is a quarantine where God says two important things: I respect freedom of choice enough to where I won’t coerce people, and I value my image-bearers so much that I will not annihilate them."