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To: kosta50; annalex; Forest Keeper; Kolokotronis

Your point about the unnatural state of the separation of the soul from the body is an important one.

The experience of those in an incomplete state of bliss is fundamentally and qualitatively different from the experience of those who hvae rejected God -- whose self-inflicted torment is likewise incomplete because of being separated from the body.

The one is in an unnatural state, but one that anticipates fullness of joy, and which experiences love from God and from the prayers of the Church, and hope as a result of the faith which which he died, etc.

The other is not only in the unnatural state of separation from the body, but is also experiencing, albeit incompletely, self-imposed separation from God and man alike and the presence of the demons...

This is what I was talking about, perhaps not as precisely as I could.


6,786 posted on 05/16/2006 4:24:27 PM PDT by Agrarian
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To: Agrarian; annalex; Forest Keeper; Kolokotronis
The unrepentant are tormented by the anticipation of the permanent separation from God, where they will join the fallen angels for eternity. Unable to repent after death, they know what is coming, yet they cannot change it.

The repentant know they died in sin even if they repented. They are tormented by their ingratitude to God, knowing how unworthy they are of being saved. No saint will ever consider himself or herself worthy of being with God. The story of Job ilustrates that perfectly: Job, who was a "perfect man" in God's eyes confessed his own iniquities, and in his humility never even entertains the idea that he, of all people, would be worthy.

You are right, these are two different types of torment, but it all comes down to the fact that they can no longer repent.

6,791 posted on 05/16/2006 4:44:13 PM PDT by kosta50 (Eastern Orthodoxy is pure Christianity)
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