Some propose that it is unusually cruel of God to punish man for eternity, regardless of what man did. This perspective is erroneous for four reasons.
First, it is based on an inadequate view of the heinousness of sin. Because man is sinful, he is utterly incapable of apprehending or appreciating the sinfulness of sin. Only a thrice-holy God is in a position to evaluate the nefariousness of sin.
Secondly, man fails to fully grasp that while sin is committed in time and space against a finite man like when a man kills another man it is first and foremost a sin against an infinite God (Psalm 54:1). Hence, the severity of the penalty.
Third, it is based on an inadequate view of the grandeur of man being created in the image of God and thus being a free moral agent fully endowed and fully responsible.
Fourth, this view ignores the fact that God actually paid an infinite price so that sinful and undeserving man could be forgiven for his sin (John 3:16). These truths must not be lost in the spoken and life message of the church. Man must constantly be reminded by the church (the voice of Christ) that he has the privilege of being a free moral agent and that he must use his freedom wisely, so as not to choose an undesirable and irreversible end.
