Only A Relatively Few Will Suffer Eternal Punishment

Orthodox / Protestant Christianity indicates that when someone dies and is not saved, that person suffers eternal damnation. However, a number of Biblical and non-Biblical scriptures indicate that that is simply not the case. E.g. the following scripture indicates that it is only those who have had legitimate faith, and rejected it, and those who blasphemed against the Holy Spirit, will suffer eternal punishment.

The Apocryphon of John 

23 I said to the Savior, "Lord, will all the souls be delivered into the pure light"?

He replied, saying to me, "These are great things that have arisen in your thinking. For it is difficult to disclose these things to any others except those who are from the immovable generation. Those upon whom the Spirit of the Life will descend and (with whom) it will be powerfully present, they will be saved and will become perfect. And they will become worthy of the great realms. And they will be purified in that place from all evil and the concerns of wickedness. Then they will not take care for anything except the imperishability alone, attending to it from this point on without anger or envy or jealousy or desire or greed of anything at all. For they are not re­strained by anything except the reality of the flesh alone, which they bear while fervently awaiting the time when they will be visited by those who will receive (them). For such as these are worthy of the imperishable eternal life and the calling, enduring everything, bear­ing everything so that they might complete the contest and inherit eternal life."

I said to him, "Lord, will the souls of those upon whom the power of the Spirit of Life descended but who did not do these works be e[xcluded]?"

He repli[ed, s]aying to me, "If [the] Spirit descends [up]on them, they will be saved in any case, and they will migrate. For the power will descend upon every human being—for without it, no one is able to stand upright. After they are born, then if the Spirit of Life in­creases and the power comes to strengthen that soul, it is not possi­ble to lead it astray into the works of wickedness. But those upon whom the counterfeit spirit descends are drawn by it and they are led astray."

I said, "Lord, then when the souls of those leave their flesh, where will they got'

He laughed and said to me, "The soul in which the power will be­come stronger than the despicable spirit— for this one (the soul) is powerful and it flees from evil— it will be saved by the visitation of the Incorruptible and it will be admitted into the repose of the aeons.

I said, "Lord, then where will the souls be who do not know to whom their souls belong?"

He said to me, "In those, the despicable spirit has proliferated by leading them astray. He burdens the soul and draws it into works of wickedness, and he casts it down into forgetfulness. After it comes forth, they hand it over to the authorities who came into being through the Ruler. And they bind it in chains and cast it into prison. And they consort with it until it awakens from forgetfulness and receives knowledge. And in this way, it is perfected and saved."

I said, "Lord, how does the soul become smaller and return back into the nature of its mother or the human?"

Then he rejoiced when I asked this, and he said to me, "Truly you are blessed, for you have understood! That soul is made to follow another who has the Spirit of Life in it. It is saved by that (other) one. Then it is not cast into another flesh."

And I said, "Lord, what about those who understood and yet turned away? Where will their souls go?"

Then he said to me, "They will be admitted into that place where the angels of poverty go, the place where repentance does not occur. And they will guard them until that day when those who have blasphemed against the Spirit will be tortured. And they will be pun­ished with an eternal punishment."

Therefore per the scripture above, the majority of mankind will actually be saved in the end.

Now many non-Biblical scriptures (e.g. Gnostic, and those from the Kabbalah)  indicate that men and women are recycled through the world, through the process called reincarnation - after being judged, punished for a while, and then purified.

Pistis Sophia

Chapter 111

The State Of The Sinful Soul After Death

"Now, therefore, if the time of that man is completed, first cometh forth the destiny and leadeth the man unto death through the rulers and their bonds with which they are bound through the Fate. "And thereafter the retributive receivers come and lead that soul out of the body. And thereafter the. retributive receivers spend three days circling round with that soul in all the regions and dispatch it to all the æons of the world. And the counterfeiting spirit and the destiny follow that soul; and the power returneth to the Virgin of Light.

"And after three days the retributive receivers lead down that soul to the Amente of the chaos; and when they bring it down to the chaos, they hand it over to those who chastize. And the retributive receivers return unto their own regions according to the economy of the works of the rulers concerning the coming-forth of the souls.

"And the counterfeiting spirit becometh the receiver of the soul, being assigned unto it and transferring it according to the chastisement because of the sins which it hath made it commit, and is in great enmity to the soul.

"And when the soul hath finished the chastisements in the chaos according to the sins which it hath committed, the counterfeiting spirit leadeth it forth out of the chaos, being assigned unto it and transferring it to every region because of the sins which it hath committed; and it leadeth it forth on the way of the rulers of the midst. And when it reacheth them, [the rulers] question it on the mysteries of the destiny; and if it hath not found them, they question their destiny. And those rulers chastize that soul according to the sins of which it is guilty. I will tell you the type of their chastisements at the expansion of the universe.

How A Sinful Soul Is Brought Back To Birth

"When, therefore, the time of the chastisements of that soul in the judgments of the rulers of the midst shall be completed, the counterfeiting spirit leadeth the soul up out of all the regions of the rulers of the midst and bringeth it before the light of the sun according to the commandment of the First Man, Yew, and bringeth it before the judge, the Virgin of Light. And she proveth that soul and findeth that it is a sinning soul, and ceaseth her light-power into it for its standing-upright and because of the body and the community of sense,--the type of which I will tell you at the expansion of the universe. And the Virgin of Light sealeth that soul and handeth it over to one of her receivers and will have it cast into a body which is suitable to the sins which it hath committed.

"And amēn, I say unto you: They will not discharge that soul from the changes of the body until it hath yielded its last circuit according to its merit. Of all these then will I tell you their type and the type of the bodies into which it will be cast according to the sins of each soul. All this will I tell you when I shall have told you the expansion of the universe."

Therefore, per the above, most everyone who sins, will be: judged; temporarily punished; recycled into the world, and the process will be repeated many times for many people, until a final judgment. (Note: those who have legitimate faith, will escape the process.)

Now the question is, does the Bible actually back up the above scriptures? Consider the case of Elijah. Elijah was reincarnated in the form of John the Baptist (Matthew 11:11-14, Matthew 17:10-13). This proves that reincarnation is consistent with the teachings of the Bible. Also consider Jesus’ claim in Matthew 12:30-32 that the only sin that will not be forgiven mankind, is the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Now if a person pays for his sins through punishments in Hell (similar to the way a prisoner pays his debts to society through incarceration), and the person’s sins are forgiven at the end of his sufferings, doesn’t this mean that unless the person blasphemed against the Holy Spirit, all his sins will be forgiven after the time he spends in Hell? Therefore while the Bible does not back up the above scriptures in detail, it does support the existence of the mechanism reincarnation, and it does allude to the fact that most people will not endure eternal punishments – referred to in the Bible as the second death (Revelation 2:11, Revelation 20:11-15).

Some people refer to the following scripture (and others) as evidence that reincarnation does not occur.

Hebrews 9

23 It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
24 For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God's presence.
25 Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own.
26 Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.
27 Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment,
28 so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

Let’s consider the above scripture. Those who offer the above scripture as evidence that reincarnation does not occur, do not understand what the scripture means. The above scripture means that it has been appointed for every perfect man to face this world (at least once), with all its tests, difficulties, etc., and finally mortal death (all as a sacrifice [Romans 8:36]), in order to be found worthy to be called the son of God. Christ, who is the first among perfect men, followed the same course, as was required of him. Some people might ask, why is the above interpretation of the preceding scripture correct where some others are not? Because the above interpretation is the most Biblically harmonious explanation there is. Contradicting explanations about the above (and other scriptures) all contradict scriptures throughout the Bible.