Do you believe in retribution in the afterlife?

[~StarBright~]

i also think that we are not always here for ourselves to learn things, but for others lessons instead. i believe we choose this before coming back each time.

As I was pondering more.... I was thinking just that.. sometimes what we do or see or face in life has repercussions for others to see and learn from. And strangely I started thinking of Hitler too... the idea that yes, what he did was wrong and horrible, but what if he isnt in a "hell" for someone to later have mercy on him.. what if he was being used a tool for others to learn from... a great big lesson for mankind to learn what NOT to do..... ????? Hmmmmmm... pondering......

[Phteven]

And strangely I started thinking of Hitler too... the idea that yes, what he did was wrong and horrible, but what if he isnt in a "hell" for someone to later have mercy on him.. what if he was being used a tool for others to learn from... a great big lesson for mankind to learn what NOT to do..... ????? Hmmmmmm... pondering......

I don't see that the 2 things are mutually exclusive. In my reality we can learn and he can go to hell. I believe in a merciful God and I also believe that he is non-interventionalist so I find it very difficult to conceive of a reality in which millions of innocent people are killed in the most horrific ways just to help us learn a lesson. I can't reconcile that much cruelty with my view of a merciful God.

[LionsandBears]

I believe we have free will. Hitler made his choices through his free will. Those who followed him had free will. The only people without free will are the mentally incapacitated including the insane. One of the best books I've ever read was written by Victor Frankl, a psychotherapist who survived Auswitz, called Man's Search for Meaning. One of the most profound passages are about how, when a person is naked and starving, when all their friends and family have been murdered, no matter what happens to them, in the end they have free will. Whatever happens in life, the meaning that a person subscibes to that event is what matters.

Nelson Mandela was incarcerated for 27 years. He was tortured and abused. Yet he choose the meaning of that suffering for him.

As to retribution. I believe a soul who commits evil in a life will review that life in the Afterlife. They may need time apart for cleansing or something. Then, at some stage, they will choose to be reborn into a life or lives where they will balance out their actions. Not as punishment but as a lesson, as part of their evolution. This will involve suffering until they learn to ivercome suffering. Maybe this is part of God's mercy. Not hell, but a chance to pay back for previous mistakes.

[STARRYSKY]

I resonate with Lime and Lions and bears on this... I don't believe in God as such but a higher energy, group conciousness, source, what have you...we are all like little Gods (I will use the term as its probably easiest to get) who will eventually evolve into a higher state and re join the main GOd (does that even make sense?) lol

So no retribution in the afterlife as there is no "after life " as such, we are all on a "journey" (I hate that term but it fits here) of personal enlightenment...