13 PHILOSOPHICAL QUESTIONS ABOUT THE POST-MORTEM STATE OF THE DAMMED:
As expected, Evangelicals have either ducked the basic relevant 13 philosophical questions posed at the start of this thread or offered superficial answers that avoid an in depth response because of the threat that attunement to their best moral instincts poses for their faith. Here is a brief overview of how I would begin to answer these questions. I will discuss each point in detail, if there are any honest truth seekers here who want such expanded clarifications.
(1) At the moment of postmortem survival, do we retain the same basic moral character that we developed in this life?
"Yes, John implies that the righteous and unrighteous alike still retain their basic character after Jesus' Parousia: "Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy (Revelation 22:10)." If God removed the free will of carnal believers to make them fit for Heaven, (a) why does He abandon His respect for free will during our earthly sojourn and why doesn't he just give the wicked in Hell a righteous nature, so they can no longer choose the sinful way?
(2) Would many carnal Christians be unable to live in a sin-free heavenly realm?
Of course, and that fact illustrates the need for the purifying process in what Catholics call Purgatory and what Paul believes takes place in the 2nd Heaven (1 Corinthians 3:15; 2 Corinthians 12:2, 4).
(3) Does Jesus' principle that like attracts like in the afterlife make many professing Christians unsuitable company for the saints in Heaven?
"With the judgment you make you will be judged, and the standard ("measure") you apply will be the standard applied to you (Matthew 7:1-2)
Hell, then, is a mirror in which people get to see what it would be like to live in a world of spirits who share our selfish core desires. People there are victimized in the same way they victimize others in life. So Hell serves as an educational tool.
(4) Might not Hell be a realm of both reformative justice and retributive justice?
It must be if God is Love in His essence (1 John 4:8) and if God truly wants to save everyone.
(5) Because of their secular upbringing or negative life experience, millions of people have heard the Gospel with no conviction that it is true. Is it just to send them to eternal conscious torment because their spiritual intuition is fatally flawed?
Of course not! Precisely for that reason, Paul teaches the possibility of being saved, apart from formal profession of faith in Christ (Romans 2:7, 10) and Jesus teaches that sinners will be judged by how they respond to whatever limited spiritual light they are able to grasp (Luke 12:47-48).
(6) Can anyone do enough in our brief sojourn on Earth to merit eternal conscious torment with no chance of postmortem redemption?
Of course not!
(7) If there are multiple Heavens and Hells with different levels, might not continual progress be made from one level to another?
Such progress is implied by Paul's location of Paradise in the 3rd of multiple Heavens and by the status of Paradise as the preferred initial point of arrival in the Heavens.
(8) How does the concept of pure unconditional divine love apply to those in eternal conscious postmortem torment?
Evangelicals often sever their connections with their best instincts by simplistically citing Hebrews 9:27 in reply: "It is appointed unto man once, to die and after that the judgment." To avoid making a mockery of the concept of Pure Unconditional Love, Evangelicals need to ask the obvious question, "What happens after the Judgment?" See the Scriptures cited in this post for the beginnings of an answer.
(9) If denizens of Hell sincerely wanted to repent, rise into God's loving presence, and be spiritually transformed, would a loving God deny them that opportunity?
Of course not. Indeed, 1 Peter 3:19 and 4:6 teach that unrighteous in Hell get a chance to repent and be by implication be retrieved from Hades.
Otherwise, it would be a joke to claim that God's essence is Love and that He continues to love the unrighteous, even after their death.
(10) What keeps sinners in Hell--God, Satan, or the sinners themselves?
Evangelical scholar, C. S. Lewis, succinctly replies, "The gates of Hell are locked from the inside." Escape from Hell depends on the choices of its denizens. Of course, C. S. Lewis grasps and accepts the biblical case for Purgatory.
(11) Shall the will of an omnipotent God to save everyone be eternally thwarted?
"Who can resist His will (Romans 9:19)?" This question implies that God remains true to His purpose and will never abandon His desire to save everyone until that glorious goal is accomplished. But He won't force them against their will; instead, God will provide continued opportunities for repentance and spiritual transformation throughout eternity. Most humans have either never heard the Gospel or, if they have, they have seen no resason to believe it. Does God still want them to ultimately respond and be saved?
"God our Savior...desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4)."
But God in His foreknowledge is ultimately only the Savior of the elect. Right? Wrong!
"The living God... is the Savior of all humanity, especially of those who believe (1 Timothy 4:10)."
"Especially" just means "more immediately" and leaves open the possibility of postmortem salvation.
(12) Is it reasonable to assume that no soul retrievals from Hell would ever be attempted?
That assumption is reasonable if God is not Pure Unconditional Love. In fact, God is and always remains Love and the New Testament implies soul retrievals from Hell several times (1 Corinthians 3:15; 15:28-29; 1 Peter 3:19; 4:6; Philippians 2:9:11; (understood in terms of its underlying OT text, the invitation to universal salvation in Isaiah 45:22-23); Revelation 21:15; cp. 5:9; 22:15).
(13) Could Heaven truly be a realm of bliss for the redeemed if they knew that close family members and other loved ones were confined to eternal conscious torment?
Of course not. And that holy discontent is expresses in the next 2 Christian apocalypses after Revelation, the Apocalypse of Peter 14 (125 AD) and Sibylline Oracles II, 331-335). Both texts still breathe the vision of Revelation. The first question posted by the saints upon their arrival in Heaven is, "Can our loved ones in Hell still be saved and brought here?" God's answer is an emphatic Yes! A true Christian is a person-for-others. So Heaven would be a place of torment for them, if their loved ones were absent, suffering in eternal torment.
