Some believe that Satan is “in charge” of hellfire. An illustration may help a parent to see how illogical it would be for God to have the Devil torment people in hellfire. We could say something like this: “Imagine that your child has become very rebellious and is doing many bad things. How would you react?” Likely, the parent would say that he would correct his child. He might repeatedly try to help the child stop doing what is bad. (Prov. 22:15) At this point, we might ask the parent what he would do if the child rejected all efforts to help him. Most parents would say that eventually they would have no choice but to punish the child. We could then ask, “What if you found out that an evil person had influenced your child to become so rebellious?” No doubt, the parent would be angry with such a person. Driving home the point of the illustration, we might ask the parent, “Knowing that an evil individual had influenced your child, would you ask that person to punish your child for you?” The answer, of course, would be no. Clearly, then, God would not use Satan to punish the very same people who have been influenced by the Devil himself to do bad things!

10. (a) How might we reason with someone who believes in hellfire? (b) What reasoning have you found to be effective when discussing hellfire?

¹⁰ Scenario 2: A deeply religious householder finds it hard to believe that bad people will not be tormented forever in hellfire. His belief in hellfire may be rooted in a desire to see wicked people pay a penalty for their bad deeds. How might we reason with an individual who feels that way? First, we could assure him that the wicked will be punished. (2 Thess. 1:9) Then, we could have him read Genesis 2:16, 17, which shows that the penalty for sin is death. We might explain that by his sin, Adam caused the entire human race to be born as sinners. (Rom. 5:12) But we can point out that God said nothing about being punished in hellfire. We could then ask, “If Adam and Eve were in danger of being tormented forever, would it not have been fair to warn them of that?” We could then read Genesis 3:19, where sentence was pronounced after their sin but nothing was said about hellfire. Instead, Adam was told that he would return to the dust. We might ask, “Would it have been fair to tell Adam that he would go back to the ground if he was really going to a fiery hell?” If the person is open-minded, such a question may cause him to think more deeply on this subject.