Antinatalism and the risk of endless conscious torment

 

Antinatalism and the risk of endless conscious torment

"If he truly thought that our situation in this world were as horribly perilous as he claims, and that every mortal soul labored under the shadow of so dreadful a doom, and that the stakes were so high and the odds so poor for everyone—a mere three score and ten years to get it right if we are fortunate, and then an eternity of agony in which to rue the consequences if we get it wrong—he would never dare to bring a child into this world, let alone five children; nor would he be able to rest even for a moment, because he would be driven ceaselessly around the world in a desperate frenzy of evangelism, seeking to save as many souls from the eternal fire as possible. I think of him as a remarkably compassionate person, you see, and so his more or less sedentary and distractedly scholarly style of life to my mind speaks volumes, even libraries. If he were really absolutely convinced of the things he thinks he is convinced of, but still continued to go his merry recreant’s way along the path of happy fatherhood and professional contentment, he would have to be a moral monster. But I do not think that he is a monster. So I have to think instead that, in his heart of hearts, at a level of calm conviction so deeply hidden beneath veils of childhood indoctrination that he is all but unaware of its existence, he keeps and treasures the certainty that in the end—in the words of Dame Julian of Norwich (1342–1416)—“All shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.”" (David Bentley Hart. That All Shall Be Saved: Heaven, Hell, and Universal Salvation, p.30)

I think that David Bentley Hart here provides two excellent arguments against the forms of a doctrine of endless conscious torment (ECT) that are coupled with exclusivism (i.e. the view that the visible entrance to a particular religious tradition is a necessary condition in order to be saved). It is hard to live in any other way else than a ceaseless activity of trying to convert others to one's own particualr tradition if someone loves others and wills their good.

The second, however, is far more subtle and possibly even more devastating than the other. If it is true that it is so easy to be damned (by choosing a wrong religion, by failing to repent of a sin before a sudden death and so on), it is quite weird that one can think of bringing a child into this world if one already knows that the chances of salvation are so poor and the ending up in a state worse than non-existence so high.

The intrusive thought of risking a state of ECT makes me wish to have never come into being. I'm incredibly confused to how even genuinely compassionate people profess a belief in unending torment and yet see 'life as a good gift'. Life in this world rather seems a heavy task, a rather painful test in which the risks seem to outweigh the benefits. Is it a good ethical choice to bring another human being into being if one already knows that it is quite likely that will end up in a state that is worse than non-existence? If I truly act for the good of others, would I bring them into a situation (without their consent) in which the risks are so immense?

To me if an exclusivist supporter of ECT isn't a convinced antinatalist, it is either because they can't see the through the cognitive dissonance or it is because they regard reproduction as merely a command that the human species is compelled to obey.

This is a rather interesting example of how an 'afterlife belief' can influence our life, at least when it is confronted with its most radical but logical conclusions. 

The above, of course, is an argument that is mostly targeted to those variants of ECT that are also coupled with exclusivism. 

We might ask: under which conditions is good to bring another human being if ECT is true?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ancient and Medieval witnesses of the presence of ‘universalism’ in Diodore of Tarsus and Theodore of Mopsuestia

Ancient and Medieval witnesses of the presence of ‘universalism’ [1] in  Diodore of Tarsus and Theodore of Mopsuestia Introduction In this text, witnesses of Theodore of Mopsuestia’s and Diodore of Tarsus’ eschatological ‘universalist’ views, are reported.  As shall we see, the attestations of Diodore’s endorsement of a form of apokatastasis are always accompanied by an attestation of his disciple, Theodore, endorsing the same view. All these common testimonies are from Syriac sources, both Eastern-Syriac - Isaac of Nineveh (fl. 7 th century in his Second Part, 39.7-14; for Theodore only in his Second Part, 3.3.94 ), Solomon of Basra (fl. 13 th century in his book of the Bee, 60 ), Theodore bar Konai (fl. 8 th century in his Liber Scholiorum 2.63 ) - and Western-Syriac - John of Dara (fl. 9 th century in his On the Resurrection of Human Bodies 4.21 ). There is a brief comparison of a passage in Isaac’s Third Part (discourse 6) about eschatological punishments and the cont...
Read more

On the possible presence of universalism in some ancient Christians Latin authors

  On the possible presence of universalism in some ancient Christians Latin authors Introduction In what follows, I’ll present some evidence for the presence of a doctrine or a sympathy of universalism (i.e. the belief that all human beings will be ultimately saved) in some Latin Fathers. There are some suggestive passages in the writings of Ambrose of Milan and John Cassian. Also, Rufinus of Aquileia, in his quarrel against Jerome of Stridon, while admitting that the fate of the wicked is a mystery shows a clear sympathy for the doctrine of universalism. However, it should be noted that none of the figures I quote in this post have been cited as universalists (as far as I know) before the 19 th century and, also, the interpretation of their texts never seem to have caused controversy among later writers (again, as far as I know) about the possible presence of genuine universalist beliefs or interpolations in their texts. While this fact alone doesn’t exclude an universalist...
Read more

On the presence of universalism in East Syrian tradition

On the presence of universalism [1] in East Syrian tradition East Syrian theologians were influenced by Diodore of Tarsus (fl. 4 th century), his disciple Theodore of Mopsuestia (fl. 4-5 th century) who is called the ‘Interpreter/Exegete/Expositor’ in the East Syrian church (also called ‘Church of the East’), and Evagrius Ponticus (fl. 4 th century) [2] .  The point of this text is to show that there a was significant prevalence of the idea in this tradition (this doesn’t necessarily mean that it was a majority view). For more details about Diodore and Theodore see my previous post: https://ancientafterlifebelifs.blogspot.com/2026/01/ancient-and-medieval-witnesses-of_28.html An updated version of this post can be found here:  https://ancientafterlifebelifs.blogspot.com/2026/03/on-presence-of-universalism-in-east.html  A testimony of an opponent: Babai the Great (fl. 6 th century): Let me start with the testimony of an opponent of ‘universalism’ in the East-Syrian Ch...
Read more