State of the dead, eternal salvation/damnation-separation

My blogger friend has made a wonderful post (here:
Written not with ink- Wednesday words  2012-02-01)
http://written-not-with-ink.blogspot.com/2012/02/wednesday-words-punishment.html

Here is my extremely wordy response.

The loss of salvation is not eternal torment, because what kind of loving God could torment someone eternally? And why would Cain (who killed his brother) be punished 5500 years longer than say... Hitler? any of the sadistic killers running around now?

So first of all, when you die, you go to sleep. You know nothing. Jesus consistently referred to the dead as being asleep. David is often referred to as 'sleeping with his fathers'. The saved will come back to life at Jesus' return and get our new glorious eternal bodies.  The unsaved will all remain dead (asleep) until our thousand years in heaven are over and the New Jerusalem comes down to earth.  Then the unrighteous will come back to life.. see that they had opportunity and did not take it, and every knee shall bow and confess that God is righteous, and then the unsaved will be burned up (causing their soul to be eternally separated from God).  The worse the crimes of that person, I guess the longer it takes? Anyway, at that point the earth will be remade to its Edenic glory. Sin (selfishness) will be no more.

Anyhoo... I think it is not always a person's entire lifetime that they have to accept salvation. If they keep rejecting the call on their heart over and over, they will stop being able to respond to the Holy Spirit.  Also, there is the possibility of sudden death in which case you may or may not have time to call out to Jesus.  Some people are converted on their deathbed. Some of those are then healed and go on to live a Christian life.

I think the worst enemy of God is what people say about Him without checking the Bible.  Read HOSEA for instance. God uses the example of a man redeeming his adulterous wife and saving her. He likens that to how He has wooed us while we still were rebellious and hateful to Him.  He chose one of the stubbornest tribes on the face of the earth to be His chosen people- to show that He doesn't give up on anyone. <3  God is love. Sin is the breaking of His laws (which are about selflessness).  Fortunately, God's grace (unearned favour) abounds. Also He pours out wisdom to those who ask.

God rewards those who seek Him - it shows they have faith that He exists and waits to bless us. Give thanks and blessings always follow.

Free will is why some are lost. They choose to believe the devil's lie that God doesn't want the best for them and that His life is exciting.