28 The Question of an Eternal Hell
Good in an ultimate sense- and his act of creation good in a
final sense- if the eternal loss of any soul to endless sorrow
were a real possibility?
It seems clear to me that the only possible sensible answer
to either question (not to belabor the issue) is an unambigu-
ous no.
III
I am of a fairly argumentative disposition, it would be fair to
say, but in this case I honestly have no desire to provoke a dis-
pute, or even to inaugurate an animated discussion. It is not
that I fear offending against pious belief, or that I suffer from
any doubts regarding my views; rather, it is that I think most
rhetorical engagements on these issues are largely pointless,
partly because they are interminably repetitive, but mostly be-
cause they have less to do with genuine logical disagreement
than with the dogmatic imperatives to which certain of the dis-
putants feel bound. I am convinced that practically no one who
holds firmly to the majority tradition regarding the doctrine
of hell ultimately does so for any reason other than an obsti-
nate, if largely unconscious, resolve to do so, prompted by the
unshakable conviction that faith absolutely requires it. There
are, I admit- unfortunately, I have met some of them - those
Christians who are earnestly attached to the idea of an eternal
hell not just because they feel they must be, but also because
it is what they want to believe. For some of them, in fact, it is
practically the best part of the story. It gives them a sense of be-
longing to a very small and select company, a very special club,
and they positively relish the prospect of a whole eternity in
which to enjoy the impotent envy of all those writhing, resent-
ful souls that have been permanently consigned to an inferior