It's been said that God once bet the Devil that He could keep His Divine hooks in a good man no matter what, even amid horrific pain, even through the tragic deaths of all the man's children. It's said that God won that bet.

It's also been said that people have to honor God as their father, but moreso. They're owing Him their existence, and all. (But doesn't the duty of a grown child to thank ones father for ones wretched life end where the duty of a parent not to willfully inflict suffering on ones own children begins?)

It's also been said (by a scholarly preacher, visiting just last week) that the word in the Bible talking about the stinging smell of brimstone is the same as the word for the building materials of Noah's Ark. (And yet that preacher had turned around and talked about God's Deliverance, which was gotten after they buried you).

If it was all a game, one could at least pick teams mindfully -- and maybe with just a touch of spite.
If the wages of sin were death, at least one could get paid and have an ending.
If deliverance was going to reek a bit in any case, why not warm oneself at the hearth of hellfire? Sounded faster.
If one couldn't cast one's cares upon the Lord in a way that /did/ anything, the Devil was fine.