Are heaven and hell eternal?

  • eternal means that exist forever…

  • AQUINAS BEATIFIC VISION supports the idea of heaven being a place of eternal happiness and joy where there will be no more suffering, because human purpose of fufuliing the image of God has occured. he also highlights how hell is an eternal place where gods justice is maintianed VS williams highlights how after a while an eternal place may seem amazing, humans will eventually get bored and feel the nomitinousness of life - aquinas may counteract suggesting that in the perfect state of heaven you would not have such negative emotions - also with hell it does not fit with gods nature for people to be punished for eternity, does not suggest that he is omnibeneveloent even if it may highlight his just nature

  • BIBLICAL EVIDENCE overall supports the claim that heaven and hell are eternal places, this is best seen in the parable of the sheep and the goats where the goats are sent to eternal daminiation whilst the sheeps are sent to eternal happiness in heaven - one of the clearest dicpictions that christians have about the afterlife. VS there is an overall inhoreancey within the bible, matthews gosepl suggests annhiliation as opposed to punishment which may sit better with a more moral understanding and interpretation of the bible - so we cannot really rely on the bible to give us an accurate depiction of the afterlife - but perhaps drawing in our understanding of the nature of God we can come to a conlusion that an eternal hell is bad

  • AUGUSTINE SUPPORTS ETERNAL through his grace and limited election belief that stems from the doctrine of original sin whereby some will go to heaven for the sins that humanity has commited whilst others will not , argues that hell is an eternal punishement for a sinful humanity vs hick argues that it is not proportate for people who have finite sins to be infintely punished, a belief in purgatory rather than just heaven and hell being eternal places. pegaluis further supports with the immoralty and not fitting with gods nature of being all loving

  • ARG → whilst heaven being eternal may fit with our understandings of the nature of God, hell being eternal does not.