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"God...............breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul" [Gen. 2:7] The soul is that which will exist for ever in one place or the other. Man is a soul and has a body and spirit.
That soul will never die, except in separation from God who is the life. When a soul is lost it is lost to God.
3. Spirit gives man God-consciousness; the ability to communicate with God.
When God created man He gave him a free will to be able to choose. God wanted man to be obedient to him and follow Him because he wanted to. God did not create a robot but a man with a free will. That was the reason God had to give man the opportunity to choose. "And the Lord God commanded man saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it: for the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die" [Gen. 2:16, 17]
The results of that wrong choice in Gen.3:6: Separation from God the life, is being dead to God! Eph. 2:1 Because of this all men and women are sinners at birth. Rom 5:12. Eph. 2:3.
God hates and must punish sin but loves the sinner and wants fellowship with man and woman.
Now let us look again at the perfect [holy ]character of God.
THE JUSTICE AND RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD DEMANDS JUDGMENT OF SIN, BUT THE LOVE, MERCY AND GRACE OF GOD DEMANDS FORGIVENESS.
The answer. SUBSTITUTION! Sin involves judgment. Someone must bear the punishment, either the sinner or a suitable substitute. John 10:11. One taking the place of another.
"Christ in His death fully satisfied the demands of a righteous God for judgment upon sinners, as their infinite sacrifice, provided a ground not only for the believer's forgiveness, but for his justification and sanctification."
God's plan of reconciliation [Rom. 5:10] was to give His perfect, sinless Son as a sacrifice for sin
[ Isa 53:6.. 53:10. Acts 2:23.]
HAVING SAID ALL THIS AS A INTRODUCTION I HOPE THE ANSWERS WILL NOT BE TOO LONG.
The subjects that you are asking about I will answer as I see them and will endeavour to back them up with Scripture references.
1. Hell's torments symbolic or literal, annihilation.
a. Hell was prepared for the devil and his rebellious angels Jesus said, "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels" [Mat. 25:41]
b. Regarding whether on not it is symbolic or literal and regarding annihilation. Jesus told about two men one died and went to hell. Luke 16.
l. He could feel the torments. [v 23]
ll. He still had desires, water to drink, a missionary to go to his family. [vss 24-27]
lll. He could still recognise others [v 23]
llll. He had the ability to pray but his prayer was denied. [v 27]
c. Hell is simply to be cut off from God. The Bible uses many pictures about hell, but the important thing to remember that hell is a place and life without God. Many people say that they don't want God to interfere with the way they run their lives. Well it seems that hell is the place where this wish comes dreadfully true. Luke 16:26 "great gulf fixed"
People are in hell not to be punished for their sin but simply because they refused God's offer of forgiveness and a new life. In other words they prefer their own way to God's way. Calvary and all the anguish, pain, agony, and the judgment of a righteous God punishing His beloved Son for every sin of every person shows how much God values every person, and maybe a lot more that people value them selves.
"For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his own soul" [Mark 8:36,37]
Many people value money, possessions , position, prestige, pleasure more than their own soul. God gave the best of heaven for the worst of earth. What more could He do? So every one has a choice. Those in heaven know that those who are lost had the same opportunity to enjoy the free grace of God but refused it. [Maybe we Christians should make sure that everyone we come in contact with should be told of God's love through Calvary., then there will be no regrets.] May I be so simple as to give an illustration. If I ignore the instructions on a prescription and take what dose I think is right, how can the chemist be blamed if I take an overdose. If I choose to ignore the advice given by those who know better than I, then the consequences of taking too much will rest solely upon me.
People say that a loving God would not send people to hell. That is right God does not send people to hell. Men and women choose to go away from God. That is their own decision "And these shall go away into everlasting punishment but the righteous into life eternal" [Matt. 25:46] The ungodly don't want holy lives and are relieved to get away from the presence of a righteous and holy God. God has provided, and paid for through the death of His Son on the cross a great salvation.
A way of escape!
How does one go to hell? "How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation" [Heb. 2:3] Just neglect God's provision. the word "neglect" means "just make light of." No one in hell can blame God!
Regarding infants and I must say I know of no Scripture that would tell me that infants should be "baptised". [This of course is another large subject] All children under the age of understanding are sheltered under the shed blood of Jesus Christ. So that there is no dispute as to where they are going. The same would apply to those who can never discern God's salvation. But because I am only human I do not understand fully how God will decide all this but "Shall not the judge of all the earth do right?" [Gen.18:25]
2. Predestination.
As Christians we need to know what the Word of God says and to rightly divide the truth. Some men have leaned heavily one way and some the other, but it is the Word of God that explains itself when we read it and meditate upon it.
There are many differing thoughts on the subjects of foreknowledge, predestination and election. Some think that if foreknowledge is involved, then the game is fixed and it isn't fun playing a game that is fixed, even if you are the winner.
Probably there are many strong Calvinists that would follow a similar line of thinking, however those that read the Word and understand it as simply written, feel that since God tells us foreknowledge is involved, then we must include it in our study, thinking and doctrine.
From God's view everything was set in place and decreed before the foundation of the world. From man's view we have a free choice to accept, or reject God. To this point is there any conflict? No there is no real link between the two statements as yet.
Man has a choice. God has given man a witness of Himself. All of mankind has opportunity to respond to God. This witness comes in four forms. Creation, Rom. 1:2023;
Inner witness, Rom. 1:19;
The written Word; and the spoken Word.
Man has the choice to respond to his inner consciousness and to nature. If he does not respond to this information then he is lost of his own choice. If he does respond then God will see to it that he has all the revelation he needs to find Jesus Christ as his Saviour and bring about His eternal design.
This final revelation must include all information needed for salvation. This includes knowledge of the gap that sin has caused, that he is a sinner by nature, that Christ died on the cross for his sins, and that Christ died in his place, if he will accept Christ' s work on the cross.
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