Man is not perfect,
yet he has some love. God is perfect. He is love. A man or a child would
not torture his horse, his dog, or his cat.
[73]Suppose we have a dog that becomes mad and tries to bite every one
in the neighborhood. He must be killed; but we would not torment the
poor brute by putting it into a slow fire. We would kill it in the
easiest way, so that it would not suffer much pain. Why would a person
do this? Because his sense of justice and love would deter him from
doing anything else. Man has not as much love as God. Every thing that
God does for man he does for man's good.
[74]The doctrine is unreasonable because no one could be eternally
tormented unless that one were eternally conscious; and the Scriptures
above cited show that the dead are not conscious. Furthermore, there
could be no eternal torment of the soul unless that soul were immortal,
indestructible; and the Scriptures above cited and all other Scriptures
bearing upon the subject show that man is not immortal, that none are
granted immortality except those who receive it as a reward for
right-doing and who are made joint-heirs with Christ Jesus in his
glorious kingdom. Then it is easy to be seen that this is a doctrine of
Satan; and the two doctrines or teachings of inherent immortality and
eternal torture must stand or fall together. And since they are both
false, they must both fall.
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