What happens to unbelievers when they die?

[Josephine2006]

Hi Josephine, You haven't offended me at all. It was an interesting question you posted and it caused me to seek answers. My answer however, has tended to cause others who hold different views, to quite strongly question my understandings, but that's what debate is all about. Sometimes debate can become somewhat heated, but once our understandings are voiced, we all have the opportunity to muse on one another's posts, and out of the confrontation, when all has calmed down, we all have the time to evaluate one another's points of view and possibly another's understanding might influence our own.

Oh good I'm glad.
I'm not a confrontational person so I tend to back off when things get heated.
So thank you brothers and sisters, for thrashing it out, so to speak!

 

[Enxu]

Hello brothers and sisters,
I have been compelled to put this question to the community..
What happens to unbelievers when they die?

Yes, like what Trevor said, if you ask the typical Christian they will give you a blanket answer and say those who don’t know Christ are lost upon death. But their answers are falsehoods and do a big disservice to the Gospel and make God seem like a tyrant.

The real clue to this answer is Paul’s epistles which talked about how God will judge the Jews according to the law they have and Gentiles apart from the law based on what their consciences say. In a nutshell, every soul will be judged according to their deeds based on the individual knowledge they have of God’s divine law of love, regardless of their professed religion. Even those without Bibles have consciences to guide their actions so their consciences will be the “law” that judges them.

One thing I disagree with mainstream Christianity is also the (false) doctrine that says sinners are tormented forever and ever in the lake of fire. That also turned away many people from God because they see God as a tyrant for tormenting people. The only consistent term I’ve seen in the Scriptures about the outcome of unrepentant wicked is eternal destruction. It means those wicked will no longer exist.

Psalm 37:10 NIV
A little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look for them, they will not be found.

Scriptures CANNOT contradict scriptures. If the wicked are declared as no longer existing in the world in Psalms they cannot be perpetually tormented in a lake of fire. They are completely and eternally destroyed IN the lake of fire and cease to be from then on.

God in His infinite wisdom have limited the lives of the wicked to this age only. Those who suffered for Him in this age will get a second life with Him in the coming age, something the wicked will never enjoy no matter how prosperous they are now.