For follow-up discussion and general commentary on the topic. Comments are sorted chronologically.
Bolatito Babasola
It is simple but delicate. Christ is sinless, thus, He cannot spend eternity in hell. More so, only pure blood can atone for human sin.
Terry Gillard
What an interesting list of opinions there are! But what difference do they make?
If I believe in a conscious eternal hell (which is the biblical view) then my stance is with the 24 elders in Rev 4 that are so excited (and grateful) in their redemption they're spending the time throwing crowns before their Saviour!
For one who believes in annihilation - so what? If you are right - then when I get there you can tell me so: More than anything else I will never be happy giving people the slightly comfortable notion that what Christ went through doesn't matter because it will just end for them anyway, because if that belief is wrong many, many will spend an eternity in hell that may have had a chance to find forgiveness in Christ.
Danny Hickman
People don't "find forgiveness" in Christ or any other way. The saved, the redeemed, the elect, are chosen like Jacob was; He was chosen over Easu while in the womb, before either had done or said anything, "In order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of Him who calls" (Rom 9:11) God's Sovereign Choice.
I don't think it can get more plain. Go down to vs 15. For He says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. " Ex 33:19
He chose us (the saved) in Him (not in yourself) before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy (set aside) and blameless (forgiven) before Him in love (because He loves us).
Come you who are blessed by My Father, (chosen by Him) inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world (from the beginning of time, not after you did anything). Matt 25:34
There's nothing mysterious about this.
I don't know what Heaven is like, because "eye hasn't seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him (1 Cor 2:9). And I put no thought into the workings of Hell. Eternal joy is comprehensible. I can somewhat imagine. I can't fathom eternal terror or torture, and I don't care to try and understand it.
When we talk about how worried we are about people who are special to us, whom we think could be lost, we expose our selfish hearts.
God gave His Son for us....