Expert: Dean Gade - 11/6/2005

Question
If our soul is indestrutible, do sinners have to suffer in Lake of Fire, or Hell, for eternity, time without end? Will there be a second chance for thenm to be saved from Hell after general resurrection?-------------------------
Followup To
Question -
Is human soul an entity that can exist apart from body? Does soul go to Heaven and God, or remain unconscious till resurrection, once a person dies? Do you know the different position on soul by the United Church of God, an international association,in Cincinnati, Oh.?
I would appreciate your comments on that. That church also says that, on the resurrection of those who have not believed in Christ, would have another chance to be saved.
Answer -
It is difficult to completely separate the "soul" of man from the "spirit".  Sometimes they are used interchangeably...and at other times as two separate parts of man.

But, the soul IS separate from the body.  We are told that we(the "real" us as an entity) will receive a NEW body at our resurrection.  St. Paul gives a hint of the soul as separate in this passage about his body:

2 Cor 5:1-4
5:1 Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. 2 Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, 3 because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. 4 For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.
(from New International Version)

There is no clear answer to you second question.  "Time" seems to be our problem here.  God dwells in the eternal and not in time.  When we leave this world, we will be with God for "eternal" life.   
I find it easiest (if possible) to understand our being with Him forever as 1. immediate as far as our entering eternity, but 2. waiting for the resurrection according to the view of those who are still alive on earth.

I do not know what these denominations teach.

Every indication in the Bible is that once Judgement Day arrives, their is no opportunity to be with God by those who have lived their lives with the will of not living with God.  They will simply continute to get wish fulfilled after they die.

Matt 24:42-44

42 "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
(from New International Version)


Luke 21:34-36

34 "Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap. 35 For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth. 36 Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man."
(from New International Version)  

Answer
Yes.

But I don't think that we have a good understanding of what "hell" is all about.  I don't think that we CAN understand it, but God has given us some pictures which we can understand.  He did this(gave pictures in ceremonies) in the Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah as the eternal sacrifice for the sins of the world.

But many of the people chosen to carry the message of salvation were suprised and even rejected the reality of the Christ.

As we take all the passages about "eternal death" and those who die without the benefit of Christ's vicarious atonement for their sins, we see that the main part of "hell" is SEPARATION FROM GOD.

This is the agony which Jesus had on the cross; the forsaking of Him by the Father:  
Mark 15:33-34
34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"-which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"   
(from New International Version)

We are constantly warned by Jesus and the writers of scripture to be on watch, beware of a life of sin and dissapation lest we miss our time of salvation:

Rom 13:11-14
1 And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.

12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.

13 Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.

14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.
KJV

2 Cor 6:1-2
6:1 As God's fellow workers we urge you not to receive God's grace in vain. 2 For he says,

"In the time of my favor I heard you,
and in the day of salvation I helped you."

I tell you, now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation.
(from New International Version)


Matt 13:14-15
4 In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:

"'You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
15 For this people's heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.'  
(from New International Version)


"Saving faith" is not a work of man's reason.  It isn't as if man can reject God all his life and then, after tasting death, decide he better trust God to avoid hell.  That IS NOT FAITH.  It is still seeking self, being in charge, being god and having God bow to his will.

Too often "faith" is taught as something else than loving God enough to trust Him for all things in this life and the next.  It is taught as an intellectual process  and something we can boast in because it is from US. To trust God, have faith in God, there can be nothing to boast about on our part except, perhaps, that God has made us His child.

Again, those who don't want God to be in charge of their life but want to live independently of God, will have to spend eternity having their life's desire fulfilled after death.  They will continue to be separated from God.