Christian belief in eternal torment is indefensible.

"There is no point in having a debate if you simply say God is correct no matter what God does." You are arguing that God has no right to put people in hell for eternity because its not just, it doesn't seem fair "to you," but my argument is, if indeed God does exist and is the Creator of the universe, does he not have the right to decide what justice is? It it seems fair "to him" who are you to overrule his decision? How does one determine that a punishment is fair anyway? The universe is God's property, and all things in it; and if I choose to smash my car to bits in my back yard, its mine to do as I please. So if even if God's sole purpose for creating us was to send us to hell (it isn't, but what if it was?), its his choice! I am asking you to justify your argument that the Creator does not have the right to decide what to do with his creation. And why should God be bound by "human standards" of justice3 anyway, if indeed he crteated humans? Does not his say so overrule ours? 1. God's plan was faulty. God's plan was for those who obey him to enjoy eternal life in good conditions, and those who don't to suffer punishment, that was always God's plan from the beginning. God told Adam what would happen if he ate the tree. By giving man free will God showed that his plan was not to have mindless robots who are forced to obey him, but only those who truely willingly obey from the heart to enter eternal life in good conditions. Just because some or even most don't make it does not mean God's plan was faulty. No matter how many go to hell, God will still have a world of people who are righteous and serving him. Those who survive armegeddon will repopulate this earth. In the new heavens and earth only righteous people will dwell, and there will be peace in heaven and earth; hence, God's plan reaches fulfillment, not failure. So it is wrong to say God's plan has failed. To illustrate, imagine your purpose is to have a beautiful garden, clean and free of corruption, but weeds keep popping up. Some of these weeds and even wild vines choke off most of your lovely plants. But one day you get rid of the weeds and vines, and they never come back again, and your garden once again flourishes to the full. No matter how much of your garden was lost; your original purpose for the garden is fulfilled, hence, no failure. God's plan could only be a failure if he never gets what he wants, but he will. 2. Eternal Torment is excessive and does not fit the crime. "God's plan was for everyone to live eternally." No, it wasn't. God's plan was everyone who is obedient to him to live eternally, and they will. My opponent misunderstood God's plan to begin with. The same way a judge has the right to decide a sentence, how much more so the Creator? We are designed to live forever, so logically, the only punishment one can bear for eternity, is eternal separation from God. A holy God cannot simply overlook sin. Its outside his nature to do that. "it is the consequence that counts, rather than the duration of the crime. And murderers should get the death penalty. But this does not justify eternal torment." When you kill someone, that person will be dead forever (assuming Christian doctrines of resurrection, etc, are wrong). So even the death penalty is an eternal punishment. So how can my opponent cry out against eternal torment but uphold eternal unconsciousness? And what's ironic, is that when you kill someone (assuming Christian teachings about the soul are incorrect), that person is no longer conscious to regret their crime. It seems like a mere sleep is the punishment for heinous crimes, whereas eternal torment keeps that person conscious and in regret of what they did. "the penalty would be the same if the IRS catches you or your sister turns you in. If your sister doesn't report you, then you don't pay the penalty. And if you commit a crime in front of a police officer, the penalty isn't any worse than if a civilian reports you to the police." Your sister would probably just scold you, the IRS would get you locked up by legal means. If you cursed your neighbour, there is little he could do. He might curse you back. If you curse a judge in court, you could get thrown in a cell. If you curse God, you could suffer a worse punishment. "the CONSEQUENCE of the crime should determine the punishment." The consequence of sin is eternal separation from God, that's a big consequence, and the punishment is that anyone who makes that bed can lie in it! You separate yourself from God forever, you can stay in that eternal separation forever. And it will be tormenting for you to see others making it to paradise and you outside of God's love and care. "the consequence of a crime is determined by the VULNERABILITY of the victim. Even though stealing $100 from a homeless person and stealing $100 from a millionaire would result in the same penalty, it is obvious that the homeless person would suffer more from this crime than the millionaire. A better example, recognized by our court system, is child abuse. While it is bad to hit an adult, it is worse to hit a child! And while it is terrible to rape a woman, isn't it even worse to rape a young girl?" First my opponent gives an example from the human justice system, then he gives a so-called "better" one because the first was somehow faulty. In the first, stealing from both the rich and poor has the same punishment. His own example didn't agree with his contention that the punishment should vary according to the vulnerability of the victim; so he gives one on child abuse. This illustrates the folly in depending on this crooked human justice system to tell uswhat true justice should look like. It also shows the folly in imagining that mere man can be more jsut than God. God created our sprits/souls to survive the death of the body. God designed us to live forever. So we "must" spend eternity somewhere. Now, why should God have to redesign us to accomodate law breakers? He shouldn't! He's not obligated to! Such disobedient ones must either spend eternity in good conditions, or bad conditions; in peace and good health, or in torment and pain, be it physical or psychological. So eternal torment is merely a case in lying in the bed they make. I hope my opponent understands that.