Justice and the Lake of Fire

Justice calls out:

The punishment must fit the crime!

Created from nothingness we must choose

and be judged by the Son some day

Did we love darkness or light?

Were our actions wicked or true?

Did we believe in him who was lifted up,

or did we look away?

When we cry "Lord, Lord," that fateful day

will Jesus say, I never knew you; depart from me?

If so a terrible penalty must be paid,

first awful knowledge, then annihilation

Those He does not know—undone

The literalist calls out:

But that’s not what the scriptures say!

What of the undying worm and outer darkness?

Bodies cast into Hades, Hell, and Abaddon,

the lake of fire, unquenchable flame,

gnashing of teeth, and the rich man's torment?

That’s quite a list, frightful in fact,

but maybe this is the second death

dressed in dreadful metaphor and hyperbole

Perhaps these devices are only flashlights, weakly gesturing

Is not justice a brighter light?

The problem remains, exact reader,

how God—who requires us to do justice,

love kindness, and walk humbly,

could torture forever those that annoy Him

For us cruelty to a fly for a day would be evil

Can the source of all love require souls in endless pain?

On Judgment Day the lost will truly be destroyed,

but eternal torment is not their fate

They did not ask to be brought out from darkness

Darkness will claim them again

Justice is done and the remnant is saved