Does Eternal Anger Rest in the Bosom of The Omniscient God of Love?
It is said that one notable sign of intelligence in humans is the inherent inability to remain angry with those with whom one has found offence. Psychologists tell us that this is because intelligent people understand and can, to some extent, sympathize with the plight and imperfection of others. This highly astute sense of awareness tends to lessen the duration and severity of the anger of the intelligent more so than those of lower intelligence.
Perhaps this idea should teach us to beware of the simple and the foolish among us, for not only do they speak foolishness, they also are often children of wrath. Many disruptive and decadent souls are known for their bursts of anger, even when they have not been wronged by others. They are also known for their inability to forgive easily and harbor disproportionate grudges for excessive amounts of time. This is why Solomon says that anger remains constant only in the bosom of a fool (Ecclesiastes 7:9).
Then what must we say of God? For He is the most intelligent entity in the universe, possessing perfect knowledge and wisdom far above all created beings. This biblical description certainly is not the character profile of a common fool. However, is it possible for God's wrath to last for an infinity despite this?
The Bible clearly teaches that the anger of God does not endure always. While the context of Psalms 103:8-10 is speaking about His dealings with His people, this characteristic is connected directly to His divine nature in the same passage. This means that God does not behave this way with his people only but it is actually who He is (nature), implying that this is actually what He is as a person (character). The God of Heaven is the "...only wise God" (I Timothy 1:17) according to our scriptures, hence, He could never behave or harbor wrath the same as an irrational human dissonant. This would mean that God in His divine, just wrath is entirely too wise and sympathetic to humanity (Hebrews 4:15) to find himself mired by the feeble and predictable constraints of infinite, disproportionate wrath.
All previously mentioned concepts considered, when it comes to common Evangelical teaching regarding The Lake of Fire, we are forced into something of a conundrum. When it comes to the punishment of the sins of humanity, does the only wise God of the universe conduct himself as a fool?
Here, the honest and considerate Christian finds himself in something of a theological oxymoron: How can Hellfire, an extension of the just wrath of God, last for an infinity if the wrath that produced it cannot?
Is The Righteous God of the Universe less forgiving than a feeble fool?...or, in the words of Father Abraham, "Shall not The Judge of all the Earth do right?" (Genesis 18:25)
Thomas T. Hardy
The Layman's Guidepost, LLC