Does God Justify Torture?

For several days there was reaction to the Vice President speaking out on the controversial subject. And now one of the United States' top judges said in an interview in Britain that interrogators can inflict pain to obtain critical information about an imminent terrorist threat. The form of so-called 'torture' being analyzed is 'waterboarding'.

Waterboarding involves strapping a person down and pouring water over his or her cloth-covered face. Doing so creates sensation of drowning. It is supposedly so brutal that it has been condemned by nations around the world. But in 2002-2003 waterboarding was authorized for three al Qaeda detainees because of widespread belief among U.S. intelligence officials that catastrophic attacks were imminent. Defending his position, the Vice President stated, "it's a good thing" that top al Qaeda figures underwent the harsh interrogation tactic in 2002 and 2003 because the 'forced' information helped protect the country and saved thousands of American lives.

When discussing the Bible and spiritual things, it is never long before the subject of punishment surfaces in the form of a place called hell. Those to whom the place is frightening or distasteful may write it off as fantasy. Others may believe it may be real, but not all that bad. Then too, many will admit to its reality, but never to their being the ones deserving of going there. After all, they are not as wicked or deserving as some murdering al Qaeda terrorist. Or are they?

The same Bible that describes the unimaginable glories of a heaven for the righteous shares as much, or more, on the place of torment for the unrighteous. The big question is, just who is deserving of what and why?

Surprisingly, all deserve hell as the Bible has revealed in Romans 3:23. "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God". Chapter 10 makes it more precise, beginning with verse 10. "There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside."

The Bible warns man that hell is real, terrible and permanent! Jesus Himself made that abundantly clear in Matthew 10:28 when He said, "And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."

But God does not torture or force anyone to go or not go there. He simply and effectively warns men of their lost condition and repeatedly offers His alternative way out. Nowhere is this made clearer than in perhaps the best known Bible verse of all. Jesus declares in John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." Verse 17 continues, "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved."

Despite what Scripture reveals, some will still maintain that God is love and therefore has no business in 'torturing' souls for all eternity. They are dead right, but tragically wrong. God is love. That is exactly why He allowed his own Son to be tortured and sacrificed on the cross as Paul relates in Romans 5:8. "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

God's love for a rebellious and sinful race is beyond human comprehension. But so is His absolute holy, righteous and just nature. Were He able to accept sin, His Son would not have had to die to forgive it. When Abraham was pleading with God in Genesis 18 to spare the wicked city for the sake of the few righteous there, he posed a great question to God. In verse 25 he asked, "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" The question was presented because Abraham knew the obvious answer to his own question.

God does not unjustly condemn or torture. He first warns and offers the way of escape. His judgement never comes for revenge or any other illogical or selfish reason. When ultimately forced to inflict wrath on an unrepentant sinner, it is because He is bound to His own eternal attributes to do so. His ways have always been right, fair and just and forever will be.

Those who continue to doubt or scoff at the concept of eternal wrath had better reconsider the offer of John 3:16 while weighing the words of Hebrews 10:31. "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."

Bill Breckenridge