Punish is an interesting word choice on your behalf. Consider the distinction: God doesn't see the suffering he enacts on earth as punishment because it does not reflect in any way the individuals choices made by any human - it has nothing to do with what is deserved or not deserved.
What should a soul have to endure to be worthy of Heaven, if we start by believing that no one is beyond redemption? Is it enough to say 'I believe in God', 'Jesus, I believe in your Suffering'? Is it enough for them to say 'I'm sorry for all my sins because they offend thee, my God' or to say, 'I'm sorry because when I was on Earth, I really didn't believe in You and now I know it's true, and wham, bang, one look at this infernal place and I'm ready to believe! I wouldn't do anything the same way, and please let me into Heaven quick'?
Should creatures who have tortured and killed other creatures, people who have deliberately duplicated through their actions punishments as severe as disease or fire or earthquake or any natural disaster just go to Heaven? If they don't know, if they don't understand, if they haven't begun to comprehend what they've done. Would not Heaven, in no time, be Hell, if every cruel, vicious, selfish monster of Earth were to go there? If it were so easy, then the suffering of the world would be worse than intolerable. It would be damned near unforgivable.
What would be forgivable - from the point of view of a soul who died in pain and confusion? A soul who knew that God didn't care? When I spoke to you of Sheol, I spoke of selecting people who had forgiven God for an unjust world, not reformed monsters. But those were people who had been victims of God's injustice. What about the souls of the guilty? The transgressors, those who commit injustices?
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What should a soul have to endure to be worthy of Heaven, if we start by believing that no one is beyond redemption? Is it enough to say 'I believe in God', 'Jesus, I believe in your Suffering'? Is it enough for them to say 'I'm sorry for all my sins because they offend thee, my God' or to say, 'I'm sorry because when I was on Earth, I really didn't believe in You and now I know it's true, and wham, bang, one look at this infernal place and I'm ready to believe! I wouldn't do anything the same way, and please let me into Heaven quick'?
Should creatures who have tortured and killed other creatures, people who have deliberately duplicated through their actions punishments as severe as disease or fire or earthquake or any natural disaster just go to Heaven? If they don't know, if they don't understand, if they haven't begun to comprehend what they've done. Would not Heaven, in no time, be Hell, if every cruel, vicious, selfish monster of Earth were to go there? If it were so easy, then the suffering of the world would be worse than intolerable. It would be damned near unforgivable.
What would be forgivable - from the point of view of a soul who died in pain and confusion? A soul who knew that God didn't care? When I spoke to you of Sheol, I spoke of selecting people who had forgiven God for an unjust world, not reformed monsters. But those were people who had been victims of God's injustice. What about the souls of the guilty? The transgressors, those who commit injustices?