God Himself explained this. God said 'From everlasting to everlasting I AM.' The Bible goes on to tell us (and God later confirms this in us when we're ready to understand it) that God 'Had no beginning and has no end.'
The contrived explanations from the indoctrinated are always void of any rationale or reason, as those characteristics were wiped from their minds a long time ago. With the precision of a surgeon, theists cut from the swath of scriptures that which suits their agendas and supports their indoctrination. No logic of any kind is required. Of course, most theists really have no idea what is written in the bible as their knowledge is primarily made up of childhood Sunday school stories of Noah and Joshua. What they don't know is that both Noah and Joshua were two of the most sadistic and cruel mass murderers of their time. Their commander in chief being the Abrahamic god, barking out orders of genocide and slaughter.
Re: the subject of belief.
It is one thing to *believe* in God (YHWH - the Hebrew God), but quite another to *experience* God, to *know* unequivocally that He exists because you have met Him - i.e. He has made Himself manifest in your life. The same is true of Yeshua (Jesus) Christ.
It is quite the mentally psychotic conundrum for theists who claim they have "met" their gods, as there would be a convention of gods filling the universe each time someone made that claim. Even most theologians would consider that complete nonsense.
Many years ago I used to *believe* that God exists, but now, by His Grace, I *know* that God exists, as does Jesus. That said, I believe the following statement to be true.
'For those who believe in God, no explanation in necessary. For those who do *not* believe in God, no explanation is possible.'
*Anyone* can know God if they seek Him with their heart, and if they seek Him they will find Him. This is a promise of God, and in over half a century I've never once seen it fail.
The deluded theist embraces the mystery-mongering found in contrived explanations that don't explain anything at all. In fact, "no explanation is possible."
If eternal *torture* awaited unrepentant sinners then Christ (Who's propitiatory sacrificial death on the cross paid for the sins of all mankind) would still be on the cross. He isn't.
The Christian wears a cross, the instrument of torture and death, as a symbol of piety. One wonders what they would wear had the Christ been killed recently, little electric chairs?
3. The Lake of Fire (Gehenna in Greek) AKA 'The second death,' (meaning the final or eternal punishment - an everlasting cutting off from God's Kingdom) was 'Created for the devil and his angels.' This fire (metaphorical or otherwise) *does* burn 'Forever' and everything that is thrown into it is *destroyed.* Think though, 'Death and Hades were thrown into the Lake of fire.' Death isn't a material phenomenon subject to physical burning and neither is Hades. Neither then are those resurrected souls (people are resurrected in spirit and don't have physical bodies that *could* burn) who remain unrepentant going to burn forever. 'Their portion is in the Lake of Fire' (the second death), meaning they'll be destroyed (subject to death) a second time - a final time. These will be people who don't WANT to be in God's Kingdom.
The childhood fantasies of theists are strange indeed. They contrive the most ridiculous explanations to the magic and mystery of their cult, as if delusion is a prerequisite to understanding.
4. Mankind (or humankind) was given the gift of choice and told to 'Choose wisely.' We have always had limited free will and are counseled to 'Choose life' many times in the Bible. Yeshua said 'I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to The Father but by Me.' To choose Life is to choose Christ. Simple.
Simple-minded, perhaps. The fictitious character of Christ did not glean his values from the Old Testament, in fact, he clearly departed from them. He demanded his followers give up their families to follow him.
"If any man come to me and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple."
Isn't this what modern cults do?
5. God *is* Love, and the actions of Love are restorative whenever possible, not punitive. God said 'I desire that *none* should be destroyed but that *all* should *attain to* repentance.' Yahweh says it Himself - He doesn't want to destroy anyone.
Here's where the ignorance of the theist shines most brightly, in the words of their own doctrines, which they know very little about, but find themselves extolling the virtues of the cruel and immoral Abrahamic god. One could fill pages with quotes from the Old Testament in which god demands the extinction of these peoples and the genocide of those peoples. The stories of Lot, Noah, Moses and Joshua are some of the most vile and despicable acts of violence ever conceived.
The ethnic cleansing of Joshua is indistinguishable from Hitlers invasion of Poland. Of course, Yahweh made the demands.
God didn't want to send the flood either, but people wouldn't listen to Him. Noah spent seventy years *pleading* with people to listen and mend their ways, and only fifty years building the ark. Think about that.
Yet, god took a dim view of humans and decided to wipe them from the face of the earth, save one family, along with the majority of "blameless" animals, as well. Think about that as you look for role models of upstanding moral value in the Old Testament.
While you're at it, please consider the Ten Commandments. The first four deal with what God wants us to render to HIM, but the other six are what we are to render to each other. To me, that speaks volumes about the Character of Yahweh.
The character of Yahweh can be viewed thusly: "And the lord said unto Moses, The man shall surely be put to death: all the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp. And all the congregation brought him without the camp, and stoned him with stones, and he died."
This poor man was gathering firewood on Sunday. This certainly does speak volumes about the Character of Yahweh.
Yahweh is our Father and He loves us. He tells us that we love Him because He first loved us. The Bible also tells us 'For God so loved the world that He sent His Only Begotten Son, so that everyone *exercising* faith in Him might *not* be destroyed, but have everlasting life.'
The central doctrine of Christianity is the atonement for the "Original Sin," that of forever paying for Eve having eaten the apple of knowledge.
Does this sound like a tyrannical, sadistic God to you? A Creator who loved His Creation so much that He gave His Own and Only Son to pay the price for our sins? (Remember, the wages for sin = death.) Don't you think it is inconsistent with everything we know about our Father to suppose for one moment that He would torture anyone for any length of time, let alone eternity?
Yes, it does sound like a tyrannical, sadistic god, who would condemn every generation afterward of painful toiling and childbirth, respectively, simply for the eating of an apple. A vindictive, sadomasochistic, vicious god, indeed.
Eternal torment is a lie made up by power-hungry men. It has nothing to do with God or our Lord Jesus Christ, and you won't find support for it in any Bible.
Pages upon pages of cruel and immoral murderous rampages are supported and written in the bible, something conveniently left out by Jesse.
My two cents.