Ocr a level rs essay feedback please

hey, I wrote this essay - I asked someone to pick a random question I did it under timed conditions (40mins) without my notes to look back at - did check them like once or twice tbh - but I’d really appreciate if someone could give me feedback and a rough idea of what grade I’m working at. (I’m year 12)

Are Heaven and Hell eternal?
Heaven and hell are the two main destinations Christians believe in regarding the afterlife. It is agreed, within the faith, that those who are obedient to God and the order of Jesus Christ will be blessed with bliss and joy in heaven – whereas those who refused to follow this path will suffer a painful punishment. However, one of the key theological debates revolves around where these two places are eternal or temporary and beliefs differ across the various Christian denominations.

Firstly, one of the most compelling arguments, as to why heaven and hell are eternal, is made by some groups of Christians who argue that if the afterlife was only a temporary reward/punishment, with death at the end – what difference is there between that life and life on earth? For such bliss to be truly fulfilling it must be greater than the temporary world we are already experiencing – and for those people who disobeyed God and have wronged others – to give a punishment that will eventually end seems too alike to the punishments of this world. If you were to argue that the afterlife is not eternal, this would almost be challenging God’s omnipotence and justice – since it seems incredibly unfair for humans to go through so many restrictions and hardships in this life, for the final destination to also be temporary. This belief is upheld strongly by Protestant groups who turn to Matthew 25:46 to strengthen their beliefs – in this verse Jesus says, “And these will go into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life”. Since the idea of an eternal afterlife is so clearly evident throughout the Bible, it seems irrational for Christians to argue against this, due to the fact that Jesus has so heavily emphasised this concept in many of his teachings. On the other hand, philosophers like David Hume picked up many flaws in this ideology – the main being that if such a place, of never-ending punishment, really existed how can Christians align this idea with the belief that God is omnibenevolent? To think mankind could be put to eternal suffering and torment like described in Matthew, “weeping and gnashing of teeth”, seems to contradict the all-loving character of God. Although Hume makes a valid point his criticism can be countered with the predominantly Catholic belief in purgatory. It is believed that people who committed venial sins, not equivalent to those who truly disobeyed the orders of God, for them would be a place of redemption where they could make up for their wrongdoings and earn their way into heaven. Meanwhile, eternal punishment in hell would only be for those people who committed wicked sins, like blasphemy, murder, adultery etc, not for all categories of sin. Evidence for purgatory can be found in Maccabees, “pray for the dead, that they may be losed from their sins”. This idea can be used to argue against those who say eternal punishment would mean God is unjust – since redemption, even after death, is available for those who died with minor sins and truly had faith in God.
Secondly another counter argument to David Hume’s criticisms is the idea of annihilation. Annihilation is the idea that hell is the eternal destination for unrighteous people – however eternity is not spent there, instead people are eventually annihilated – meaning they are condemned to non-existence. Although, wrongdoers are not spending eternity in torment and punishment, heaven and hell remain eternal physical places that exist. To strengthen this argument, Christians denominations, like Eastern Orthodoxes, believe that as well as a physical place, Hell is also a spiritual state without God’s presence – so even though people do not spend the entirety of their time in physical hell – they are still in the eternal state of hell after annihilation - since they are banished from ever being in God’s presence. The reason why this idea is more convincing than Hume, is because proof of annihilation can be seen in Matthew where Jesus says, “fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna”. This quote supports the idea that people can be put to non-existence rather than continuous physical punishments. Therefore, this belief can confidently counter the majority of criticisms against eternal hell, since suffering and pain is only seen as part of the experience – whereas the spiritual state without God is the consequence that truly lasts forever.

Furthermore, other critics, like Bernard William, refused to accept heaven as an eternal place of reward since it seems that such a place would eventually bore humans - due to lack of anticipation and new experiences. William argued that if we were given a life that went of forever – we would lose our sense of self and pride as we’d be stripped from opportunities for new encounter since life would never end. Christians can successfully argue against this by putting forward the fact that human knowledge is extremely limited, as we know with scientific proof. They believe that God is all knowing and that mankind is restricted in the ability to comprehend such concepts like eternal heaven, since we have never been exposed to such a place or state. In this world, all we have ever known is that all things are temporary, and everyone must eventually die, based on biological and empirical evidence – but what we can’t know of is what we haven’t been able to experience. We cannot argue that a life of eternal bliss and joy would eventually bore us because we have never been able to be apart of or create such a place. As well as this Christians argue that God is the greatest planner and that since He is our creator, He would not create a place of such nature, where we would lose our sense of love and anticipation - because this way the concept of heaven becomes futile. Instead, we should have faith in God’s omnipotence and acknowledge that with our limited knowledge, of worldly happiness and feelings, understanding eternity if far beyond what we can understand, thus we should trust that a place created by God will not be undesirable or flawed.

To summarise, although it is difficult for humans to understand the concept of an everlasting life, wether it be joyous or tormenting, the majority of Christians would agree that this is possible through God’s power and knowledge. Whilst, we have never encountered a place of this kind this does not make it impossible for God to create – to provide justice to believers and also the disobedient.