I read something recently that has me thinking about goals and purpose. In their most interesting and absorbing (although quite difficult to read) book, God’s Final Victory: A Comparative Philosophical Case for Universalism, authors John Kronen and Eric Reitan ask this question which I have been pondering for the last couple of days: what purpose does eternal torment achieve if it never achieves the fulfilling of justice? In other words, as long as a soul is suffering in eternal torment, he/she is paying a debt to justice. In the basic understanding of penal justice, upon which eternal torment is predicated, when the debt has been paid, justice is fulfilled. Break a law and a certain fixed penalty is prescribed, above which you are not called to suffer because the debt to justice has been paid.

To act with purpose is to achieve a certain goal. What goal does eternal torment have?

On this day, January 1, 2019, many of us are repurposing our lives to achieve certain goals. The purpose of going to the gym may well be to get in shape for the coming softball season or to lose weight. One may take up flying lessons or the study of another language, with the goal of become proficient in doing these things. A short term goal may be the enjoyment of speaking another language, while the goal ahead of that is to be able to fluently speak the language so that you can travel in a foreign country and not make a hash of it. Our goals determine the purpose of our lives, the reason that we do or don’t do certain actions.

I think Kronen and Reitan’s question is a good one, and here is why: if the goal of all that has come to transpire on earth up to this time is the fulfillment of 1Ti 2:4 which says that it is the divine will that all men – all mankind, not just an “elect” few – be saved, then to what purpose in achieving this goal is eternal suffering which does not produce a change in the soul of the one suffering?

In fact, there is more than one goal which appears to be unfulfilled by the dogma of eternal suffering:

1. That God be All in All. 1Co 15:28. How does eternal torment without any possibility of the soul being brought to repentance fulfill this? According to those who accept this teaching, the souls of the wicked are preserved in a state of absolute hatred towards God, never reconciled to Him. Thus, they are maintained forever by the power of God – for it is God who keeps all Creation alive by the exercise of His will – in a state in which God is not “all in all” to them. He is to them the enemy whom they shall hate forever. This makes no sense if the goal is the reconciliation of all things to God in Christ.
2. The Destruction of Sin and Death: 1Co 15:26 According to this verse, the last enemy of God is death, and is done away with. But according to theologians who espouse eternal torment, hell is a state of death, that is, separation from God forever. God is life.  To be in Christ is to be alive – truly alive – and to be outside of Him is death.  We see a picture of this in the Parable of the Prodigal. When the Prodigal Son was separated from his father, he is said to be “dead.”  (Luk 15:24)  The parable is a picture of our state outside of union with our heavenly Father, and also shows the immense heart of love which our Father in heaven has. The purpose of eternal hell is to wreck the goal of destroying sin and death.
3. The Purpose of God in Creation: In the Orthodox East, we see the purpose of creation as theosis – God creating mankind to become “little gods” and share in His divine nature. According to those who espouse eternal torment, not only does this not happen in all cases, it does not happen in almost every case. I have read lurid tales of visions by Roman Catholic “seers’ which claim that 95% of all humanity dies and goes into eternal fire. So for the great majority of mankind, this goal of creation is not achieved and God’s will is thwarted.
4. The Goal of Plundering the House of the Strong Man:  When Jesus spoke of this in Matt 12:29, he was speaking of Satan as the “strong man” and pointing to the time when He would bind Satan through the Sacrifice of the Cross and plunder his house of its illegally gotten goods. All Creation – especially mankind – constitute the “goods” of which Christ spoke. Satan obtained ownership of them from God by trickery in the Garden of Eden. Christ bound Satan by His death, burial, and glorious resurrection. Yet within the doctrine of eternal hell, almost everyone who has ever lived winds up spending eternity in that state, as if after binding Satan, Jesus enters his “house”  loads a small grocery bag with a few small items and says “Okay, that’s all.  See ya!” Are you kidding me? Our trinitarian God owns all things as the Creator and Source of Life. If someone steals what is rightfully mine, I want every nickel of it back. Is God any less demanding of such satisfaction, especially when He has paid such a price for them in the crucifixion of the Son of God?
5. The Paying Off of the Debt to Justice: As long as the punishment continues, the debt is not paid. If the punishment continues forever, then is the goal of the Cross, which according to Western theology is the payment of the debt to God’s justice,  ever met? Does this make the Cross at best an ineffective source of justice, since only a select few are saved, their debt is paid, and the rest go on forever with a debt that never reaches conclusion? Of course, for us in the Orthodox East, this whole idea is off-kilter. We do not see the Cross in judicial terms.  We see it as medicine for the sin-sick soul. The Early Fathers of the Church call the Eucharist “the medicine of immortality,” showing that this medicinal understanding has been from early on in the Church.

I’m not willing to make a definitive statement regarding Universal Salvation and the next life. I am hopeful that God’s mercy  is indeed that broad, and His ability to turn around even the most wretched and depraved soul is but a small challenge to His wisdom and power. In other words, my hope is in a power, wisdom, and love of God that is so far beyond our understanding that He can accomplish what we feel is impossible – turning the most sinful and wretched soul back to Himself, no matter how long in eternity it takes to accomplish it.

I have a few modest goals for this year which will shape the purpose of my life. The most important is to get to better know and love this God whom the Bible describes as love. I will be working on getting better in my prayer life, seeking more advice from my very wise spiritual director, who is absolutely a blessing in my life, and trying to live out in practical ways the admonition of the Gospel to love others as I love myself.

What are your goals this year? Whatever they are, I hope you include God in them, for He loves you more than you can even imagine.