Mere “anger with God” is not what will send a person to Hell (or eternal torment or whatever you choose to call it). Lack of faith in Jesus Christ is; ultimate and final rejection of the prompting of the Holy Spirit to confession and repentance of sin. Plenty of Christians express anger, confusion, even disillusionment with God. I think it is actually kind of healthy, in a way, as working through the “dark nights of the soul” can help strengthen our faith, not weaken it. It’s telling that when Elijah had his little pity party after the miraculous display of God’s power and the subsequent threats of Jezebel on the prophet’s life, God did not condemn or rail against him for his depression, lack of faith, and self-pity. He spoke softly in a breeze and nourished him. Would that we, too, treated each other as kindly.
The qualification “hurt so much in life” is too subjective. Millions of Christians have historically faced horrible abuse and torture, even unto death–their families and their own–without denying Jesus. Skeptics often like to criticize the concept of eternal Hell as unfair for a mere lifetime of sin and rejection of God, but flip it around: what’s a lifetime of hurt and pain when measured against eternity in Paradise? To paraphrase C.S. Lewis, with God or without him, Great Physician or Cosmic Sadist…or pure myth, fairy tale…we are all in it. And in for it. If rejection of God made all the pain go away, surely religion would have died out millennia ago. No, when people kick God to the curb out of disillusionment or mere disappointment, they are still left with all the pain…and no reason for it, no resolution but death.
And are any of them really sure about that?
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