If I was going to rank the topics that make me internally cringe when it comes up, Hell is definitely way up there on the list.

I've done quite a fair bit of reading and study on the topic, and I've given it plenty of consideration, so I'm not afraid to get into a conversation about it, but there's still an overall revulsion to the the whole idea that I can't wash away no matter how much processing I do.

The idea that some people will suffer in a place of fire and agony for eternity almost makes me nauseous. I don't want that for my worst enemy.

What's more, if I'm in the fully realized kingdom of God - "heaven" - how can I have true peace when part of me is grieving for the suffering of the souls of others? I can't imagine heaven is a place of uncaring or mocking of those who suffer.

How can I have true peace when part of me is grieving for the suffering of the souls of others?

So my problem seems to be that I have two choices: get on board with the reality of a place of eternal torment or ignore the whole thing as best I can. I'm not the kind to ignore stuff, and I can't get happy about the first option, so here are some perspectives I apply to the concept of hell as I try to put it into proper perspective in my life of faith:

1. God is smarter than I am

In The Great Divorce, author C.S. Lewis posits an idea; that everyone in hell can leave anytime they want, but the vast majority choose not to. I highly recommend the book, but essentially, hell is a place of separation from God and those who have chosen it have no interest in getting closer to God. They live in a dreary wasteland of perpetual isolation. There's a bus that runs between hell and heaven, but even those who board the bus almost always return to hell. If you're interested in why, you should totally ready the book.

Here's my primary takeaway: not that C.S. Lewis is totes correct about how heaven and hell work, but rather this: If a human can come up with a plausible idea of how everyone in hell wants to be there, it gives me hope that God's solution comes from an angle I can't even begin to understand.

God is way, way, way smarter than me. Just because I see a two sided problem doesn't mean that God doesn't see 100 different options I can't even consider.

Lewis' idea, to me, is very different from concepts like 'annihilationism' which I find to be a slightly less terrible concept than eternal suffering. If we're trying to take the edge of the rough parts of God, I tend to think we're way off base. God doesn't need PR spin. He also isn't going to play by whatever rule book we try to impose on the afterlife.

2. God is different than I am

Okay, this one may make your brain hurt. I know it makes mine hurt. I don't think God exists inside of time. I believe God created space and time and that God exists outside of it all.

The scripture about a thousand years being a day and a day being a thousand years? I think that's a poetic way of expressing that. The deal with God being from everlasting to everlasting, again, I think it points to God being outside of time. He existed before our time and after it, simultaneously.

Think of it like this: God is right now at the creation of the world, God is right now at the crucifixion of Jesus, God is right now at your birth, God is right now with you as you read this, God is right now at your death and God is right now at the end of this age. For God, it's all the same moment.

When God performed the act of creation, it was all the same thing. The very act of creation involved the earthly life of Jesus. The pain of that sacrifice was part of creation.

So even if we talk about an eternity in hell, I have no idea what that actually means. I can't understand non-linear existence. For me yesterday is past and tomorrow is future. I have no clue what eternity actually means outside the realm of time. Spending eternity in hell may not be what I think, just like sitting around playing harps all day is a ridiculous view of heaven.

Even if we talk about an eternity in hell, I have no idea what that actually means.

3. God is more loving than I am

When I "know everything completely", including the nature and reality of hell, I believe that I'm going to respond by saying, "God, you're so merciful and generous and loving! I can't believe how great you are! I thought hell was this terrible thing, but now I see it's all part of your love and generosity!"

As I already said, I don't know exactly what the nature and reality of hell actually is, but God isn't a mean kid on an anthill with a magnifying glass, burning people for entertainment. So whatever God is doing with the afterlife, it's loving, not hateful. I'm not saying that "God is loving, so a hell of eternal suffering is impossible." I'm saying that I don't fully understand, but whatever God is doing, when we get the full picture, we're going to see that it's always been loving and we're going to worship God all the more, not pull back from fear or sadness.

This is where I place my faith. God is loving and good and generous. When I think I see an area where God is none of these things, it's because I don't have the full picture.

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I wish I had a more satisfying answer than, 'have faith', but come on. That's the life followers of Jesus have signed up for. Trusting God when we don't understand. However, we don't need to pretend that hell doesn't exist or that we're sure of what it looks like and we're totally fine with it.

We can say, "I'm not sure, but I know God is loving and my job is to share the good new of Jesus about having an abundant life starting here and now."