Christianity - A Journey from Facts to Fiction — Page 55
Sin and Atonement 55 Limited Suffering for Unlimited Sin It may be suggested that it is not always the pangs of conscience which create a miserable state of mind and heart in those who are sensitive to their faults. On the other hand, intense sympathy for the sufferings of others may also create a life of agony for someone who is totally or partially innocent of crime, but has that sublime spiritual quality of suffering for the sake of others. That would also create a similitude of hell. Mothers suffer for their ailing babies. The human experience stands witness to the fact that sometimes for a permanently disabled child the entire life of the mother is turned into a living hell. So why cannot we concede to Jesus as that noble quality of being able to suffer for the sake of others? Why not indeed! But why only three days and nights? Why not for his entire sojourn on earth, and even before and after that? Noble people do not suffer only temporarily for a very limited period of hours or days. Their hearts do not rest in peace unless they see misery mitigated or alleviated entirely. The hell which we are considering is not the prerogative of an innocent divine person only; it is a noble quality shared to some degree even by the beasts of the jungle for their near ones. After a few more remarks I shall rest my case, but I have one other important issue to briefly touch upon. The punishment prescribed by God for Jesus Christ as only lasted for three days and three nights, while the sinners for whom he was punished, had committed sins so horrible and for so long that, according to the Bible, their punishment was to be eternal suffering in hell. So what sort of a just God was it that when it came to the punish-