Could Hell be seen as a reward?

Hell is never a reward. God created every human being. He's placed eternity in their hearts and a desire for God. Unbelievers substitute this desire with earthly desires and thus deceive themselves that they don't need or want God. In reality, it is not possible to resist God when we see Him in His beauty. "In His presence is fullness of joy" and "at His right hand are pleasures forevermore". These are basic longings of the human heart. To be loved, and to be happy. Most atheists (as is commonly said around these parts) don't know what they don't know. God has a wonderful magnetic quality about Him that draws us to Him without Him even trying. He is so good we wouldn't want to resist Him.

I'll pose a counter-question.

Say you have a man, and all he talks about is how much he wants to drink pure sulfuric acid and how wonderful that would be. Then, one day, he asks really nicely and someone grants him access to the sulfuric acid. He then drinks the sulfuric acid.

Now, is the acid a reward? I suppose in one sense. After all, he got what he thought he wanted. On the other hand, he also got a miserable and painful death. So, I guess what you would have to say is that he got his reward, but the reward wasn't what he really wanted and so it damned him.

But we can ask for things which are not God. And we can focus on them exclusively. And we can make them the center of all of our desires, but fundamentally, they are straw. And on the day of reckoning, the straw will burn, and the house built upon the sand will fall, and the virgins who had better things to do than make sure they had enough oil will be cast out. And those who have chosen that life will find that the master knows them not. And they will be cast into the darkness. And there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

But, they have made their choice. And God will not force a man into heaven.

(Before anyone gets rid of the "and"'s, they (as well as the "but"'s) are an allusion to the Hebrew word וְ (generally translates to "and" or "but") a word which grows in strength with repetition)

Like many people have said. It is in one sense a reward, while in the larger sense not at all. The Bible says the following in Mathew 10:28

Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

Well, destroying both soul and body would be a terrible consequence. It probably couldn't be seen as a reward at all. The act of destroying your soul means you will live in mental agony. But more than that. Although they might not want to relate themselves to God on Earth, when they are in Hell, they will be begging God to save them. They will not be happy that they are in their current state, and their body will be damaged as well. No win situation.

Now, consider the definition of Reward:

a fair return for good or bad behavior

In this sense. It is indeed a reward. However not a pleasant one. It is the "fair" return for their behavior. Therefore, you are right in the sense that it is a "reward". However that applies purely based on the English definition.

So, we can conclude the following. It is the "fair return" for their actions, and therefore is a reward. However, it is not one they will be even SLIGHTLY happy about. They will live in eternal condemnation by soul and body.

This isn't fun to talk about, especially on the World Wide Web, but it is just true. There is no "pro" to going to hell.

It is only a "reward" in the linguistic sense that it's the just result for one who has obstinately turned away from God. It could also be seen as a "reward" in the sense that the one who goes there gets what he wants: himself and only himself for all of eternity.

I don't have the book in front of me so this quote will be off the top of my head, but an exorcist related that 'hidden knowledge' is a mark of possession. In the particular case, a possessed child, was asked what the relationship was between two sinners in hell who were associates on earth. The answer from was along the lines that in hell nobody has a relationship with anyone else, the damned are eternally turned inward on themselves. They forsook the chance to be united with God so now they have only themselves.

To the degree that having lost God and having only yourself for eternity is a goal, hell is a 'reward.'

Luke 16 is your answer here. The rich man who is sent to hell clearly says, "Don't let my brothers join me here!" Ergo, hell is clearly NOT a reward.

19 “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20 At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21 and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24 So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’

25 “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’

Here, even without God's presence, Dives (a name commonly given the rich man) isn't even concerned about God, and yet he hates this place.

Indeed, he hates it so much, that his last request is that people he loves not join him here. It is the classic response to the old T-Shirt that says, "Hell is where all my friends are."

27 “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, 28 for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’

If hell were simply the opposite of what God likes, and therefore (in some not really coherent fashion) pleasurable to those who like the opposite of what God created them to be, then one would assume that this man in hell might at least want the company.

As it is, he doesn't.

Ergo, one can safely assume NOBODY likes hell.

The Christian definition notion of hell itself already assumes in itself a belief in the Christian doctrines. As such, most atheists have exactly zero fear of hell, and it is considered merely an invention, typically either of fear or of control (depending on who you ask). As such, it isn't the atheists desire to exist in an afterlife without God - simply the entire notion of the afterlife is rejected.

So in answer: no, it would not be a "reward"; the mere fact of existing and have been wrong would be enough to make it miserable, even before the torment. But as I stress, atheists (and I include myself in this very completely) have no fears over this hell, or any other by any other religion. For example, I assume most Christians do not fear the hell of Jaunism, Taoism or Zoroastrianism. The atheist merely fears one less hell than most believers. To emphasise: it is not the desire of the atheist to endure an afterlife without God; the afterlife itself is unwanted.

What the atheist expects is simple: to cease to be, on the event of expiration on this world. It doesn't relate to the question, but a common follow-on question to this is "but if there is no afterlife, what reason is there to be ethical in this world?" to which the answer is simple: "there is just this world; and that by itself is plenty of reason to be ethical and face the consequences of our actions in this world that we share". Which usually works out pretty well for everyone.

Of course, if some God is truly fair to all, but ironic, they'll scupper everyone, as proposed by David Mitchell.