Can God be right to torture people for eternity?

For justice to exist, punishment must fit the crime. No matter how
many bad deeds one commits in this world, there is a limit. Yet, hell's
punishment is infinitely greater. It’s eternal.

Biblical Errancy Pamphlets by Dennis McKinsey Pamphlet 1 Q23.

Answer:

Thomas Aquinus said by sinning 'one offends God Who is infinite. Wherefore since punishment cannot be infinite in intensity, because the creature is incapable of an infinite quality, it must needs be infinite at least in duration. Quoted by John W Wenham, The goodness of God, IVP, 1974, p31 see also Summa Theologia, Part 3.

So then if a finite creature sins against an infinite God, then the punishment must be finite pain for an infinite time. The issue of justice is settled. However, the (loaded) question ignores the fact that the infinite God has done something to prevent his finite creatures from suffering for eternity. The infinite God became a finite creature and took upon himself the punishment for our sin. The infinite God could do nothing and still maintain his justice, but he acted to demonstrate his mercy while still maintaining his justice.

We should note that hell is a punishment which we deserve, because we have sinned against an infinite God, but God has paid the price for our sins through Jesus death so that we do not have to go to hell, we can go to heaven instead which also endures for eternity, and which we do not deserve. God has provided a way out, which also demonstrates his mercy. Surely God delights in showing mercy, rather than justice.

(Ezek 18:23 NIV) Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign LORD. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?

(Micah 7:18 NIV) Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy.

The bible does not speak of torture, but of the punishment of hell:

(Mat 25:46 NIV) "Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."

(2 Th 1:8-9 NIV) He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. {9} They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power

(Jude 1:7 NIV) In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.

Even our penal system speaks of punishment rather than torture. It also protects the innocent from the wrongdoers. We do not want to live amongst thieves and rapists, a prison is a place of quarantine, it separates us from those who want to do us harm. The penal system is the job of the State, and ultimately, God must separate the righteous from the wicked. Hell is is a place of punishment and also separates eternally those who want to do good from those who want to do evil.

(Rev 21:27 NIV) Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.

In our penal system some prisoners have remorse and we try to help to them become useful citizens. We call it parole or a second chance. In this life also God gives us better chance, a new life. Forgiveness, a new life. He will forget our sins and not hold them against us. He gives us a new life in this world and the next. For an infinite God that is pretty good.

But God sent Jesus into the world so that man should not perish, he did something about our predicament.

(John 3:16 NIV) "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

God sent Jesus to rescue us from the coming wrath, God did something, so we don't have to go to hell.

(1 Th 1:10 NIV) and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead--Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.

(Rom 5:9 NIV) Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him!

(1 Th 5:9 NIV) For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.

(John 3:16-19 NIV) "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. {17} For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. {18} Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. {19} This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.

Further it is worth noting that hell was created (originally) for the devil and his (fallen) angels. Not for man.

(Mat 25:41 NIV) "Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

God wants to dwell with man. And there will be no more pain and sorrow.

Rev 21:3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. Rev 21:4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."

It is not just an issue about pain but of shame.

Fortunately, God sent his Son to die for sinners. His pain and shame is our substitute for our pain and shame.

Heb 12:2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Many people believe that Jesus was our substitute for our pain, but he was our also our substitute for our shame. He scorned the shame of the cross (Heb 12:2).

(Rom 10:11 NIV) As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame."

Dan 12:2 Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.

For more on the pain - shame issue see Honor and Pain by J P Holding