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.
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...
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