Introduction: Reconsidering the Traditional Understanding of Hell
For centuries, Christians have wrestled with the doctrine of hell, trying to reconcile the concept of eternal punishment with the loving nature of God revealed in Jesus Christ. The traditional Western view of hell as a place of eternal conscious torment, separated from God’s presence, has created significant theological tensions. How can a God who is love condemn the majority of humanity to endless suffering? How can divine justice require infinite punishment for finite sins? These questions have troubled believers throughout church history.
The Divine Presence model offers a radically different understanding of hell that addresses these concerns while remaining faithful to Scripture and church tradition. Rather than viewing hell as separation from God, this model understands hell as the experience of God’s presence by those who have rejected Him. This theological framework, developed comprehensively by philosopher R. Zachary Manis and theologian Sharon Baker, draws heavily from Eastern Orthodox theology while incorporating insights from across the Christian tradition.
This report will explore the Divine Presence model in depth, examining its theological foundations, its relationship to concepts of divine justice and love, and particularly focusing on the possibility of postmortem salvation and conditional immortality as articulated by Baker and others. We will see how this model resolves many of the traditional problems associated with hell while maintaining the seriousness of sin and the reality of judgment.
Part I: Understanding the Divine Presence Model
The Core Concept: One Reality, Two Experiences
The Divine Presence model begins with a fundamental reconceptualization of what heaven and hell actually are. Rather than being two separate locations or states of being, they are understood as two radically different ways of experiencing the same reality: the unveiled presence of God. As Orthodox theologian Thomas Hopko explains in his work on the spiritual life:
“The final coming of Christ will be the judgment of all men. His very presence will be the judgment… For those who love the Lord, His Presence will be infinite joy, paradise and eternal life. For those who hate the Lord, the same Presence will be infinite torture, hell and eternal death.”
This understanding transforms our entire conception of the afterlife. Heaven is not a reward given to the righteous, nor is hell a punishment inflicted upon the wicked in the traditional sense. Instead, both are natural consequences of how a person’s spiritual state interacts with the divine presence. Those who have been transformed by God’s grace and love experience His presence as light, warmth, and joy. Those who have hardened their hearts against God experience that same presence as fire, torment, and anguish.
The biblical image of God as a “consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:29, Deuteronomy 4:24) takes on new meaning in this framework. Fire has dual properties – it can warm and give light, or it can burn and destroy. The difference lies not in the fire itself but in what comes into contact with it. Gold is purified by fire, while wood is consumed. Similarly, the presence of God, who is Love itself, is experienced differently depending on the spiritual state of the one encountering it.
The River of Fire: An Orthodox Perspective
The Eastern Orthodox tradition has long maintained this understanding through the image of the “river of fire” that flows from God’s throne. Alexandre Kalomiros, in his influential 1980 address “The River of Fire,” explains this powerful metaphor found in Orthodox iconography:
“In the icon of the Last Judgment we see Our Lord Jesus Christ seated on a throne. On His right we see His friends, the blessed men and women who lived by His love. On His left we see His enemies, all those who passed their life hating Him, even if they appeared to be pious and reverent. And there, in the midst of the two, springing from Christ’s throne, we see a river of fire coming toward us.”
This river of fire is not something separate from God used as an instrument of punishment. Rather, it represents the very love and energy of God flowing out to all creation. Those who have aligned themselves with divine love experience this river as refreshing water and radiant light. Those who have set themselves against love experience it as burning fire. The difference is not in God’s attitude toward them – He loves all equally – but in their capacity to receive and participate in that love.
This perspective fundamentally challenges the Western notion that God’s justice and love are in tension when it comes to hell. In the Divine Presence model, it is precisely God’s unchanging love that constitutes both heaven and hell. As Manis argues, this resolves the theological double-mindedness that has plagued traditional accounts, which try to explain heaven purely through divine love while explaining hell purely through divine justice.
Divine Omnipresence and the Problem of Separation
One of the strongest theological arguments for the Divine Presence model comes from the doctrine of divine omnipresence. Traditional Christianity affirms that God is everywhere present – there is no place where God is not. The Psalmist declares, “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there” (Psalm 139:7-8).
This creates an immediate problem for traditional views of hell as separation from God. How can anyone be separated from an omnipresent God? The standard answer has been to distinguish between different modes of God’s presence – His presence to sustain existence versus His presence in relationship. But this solution seems ad hoc and unsatisfying. The Divine Presence model offers a more elegant solution: the damned are not separated from God’s presence but rather experience that presence as torment due to their spiritual condition.
Furthermore, the doctrine of divine conservation teaches that God must actively sustain all things in existence moment by moment. Nothing can exist apart from God’s sustaining power. This means that even those in hell cannot be utterly separated from God, or they would cease to exist entirely. The Divine Presence model acknowledges this theological reality while explaining how God’s sustaining presence can be experienced as suffering by those who have rejected Him.
Part II: The Soul-Making Theodicy and Spiritual Development
Understanding the Purpose of Human Existence
The Divine Presence model is built upon a soul-making theodicy, which understands human life as a process of spiritual development and character formation. God created human beings not as finished products but as creatures capable of growth, development, and transformation. The purpose of human existence is to develop the capacity for eternal communion with God and others in love.
This process involves the development of various human capacities – cognitive, emotional, moral, and spiritual. Through the choices we make and the habits we form, we either grow toward God (theosis in Orthodox terminology) or away from Him. This is not merely about following rules or believing correct doctrines, but about the fundamental orientation and transformation of our entire being.
As Manis explains, this soul-making process can have two possible endpoints. Those who cooperate with God’s grace develop virtues and grow in their capacity to love. They become increasingly capable of participating in the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). Those who persistently resist God’s grace develop vices and become increasingly incapable of genuine love. Their hearts become hardened, their consciences seared, and their ability to perceive and respond to goodness diminished.
The Role of Free Will and Self-Deception
Central to this process is human freedom. God respects human free will absolutely, even when it leads to our destruction. The capacity for genuine love requires genuine freedom – love cannot be coerced or programmed. This means that God allows us to reject Him, to choose selfishness over love, pride over humility, hatred over compassion.
But this freedom operates within a context of spiritual momentum. Each choice we make shapes our character and influences our future choices. Virtuous choices make future virtuous choices easier; vicious choices make future vicious choices more likely. Over time, our characters can become so fixed in either virtue or vice that change becomes increasingly difficult, and eventually, psychologically impossible.
Self-deception plays a crucial role in this process. As we persist in sin, we increasingly deceive ourselves about the nature of our actions and their consequences. We rationalize, justify, and excuse our behavior. We suppress the truth about ourselves and about God. This self-deception can become so complete that we lose the ability to recognize truth even when confronted with it directly. This explains how someone could experience God’s love as torment – they have so distorted their perception that they can no longer recognize love for what it is.
The Natural Consequences of Sin
In the Divine Presence model, hell is understood primarily as a natural consequence rather than an imposed punishment. Sin is not merely breaking rules that God has arbitrarily established. Rather, sin is inherently destructive to human nature and human relationships. It disorders our loves, corrupts our character, and alienates us from God and others.
Consider how this works in practice. Pride isolates us from others and from God. It makes us incapable of genuine relationship because we cannot acknowledge our need or accept help. Greed makes us see others as competitors or resources to be exploited rather than persons to be loved. Hatred poisons our own souls even more than it harms its objects. These are not punishments God imposes for sin; they are what sin inherently does to us.
When a person who has been shaped by these vices encounters pure Love – which is what God is – that encounter is naturally painful. Love demands vulnerability, which pride cannot bear. Love requires self-giving, which greed cannot comprehend. Love calls for forgiveness and reconciliation, which hatred rejects. The very presence of Love becomes a torment to those who have made themselves incapable of love.
Part III: Postmortem Salvation and the Hope Beyond Death
The Traditional Limitation and Its Problems
Traditional Western Christianity has generally insisted that salvation is only possible during earthly life. Once a person dies, their eternal fate is sealed. This teaching, while motivating evangelism and serious spiritual effort, creates significant theological and pastoral problems. What about those who never heard the gospel? What about those who heard only distorted versions of Christianity? What about those whose psychological or social circumstances made faith nearly impossible?
The Divine Presence model, particularly as developed by Sharon Baker and others, opens the possibility for postmortem salvation – the opportunity for repentance and transformation after death. This is not a second chance given arbitrarily, but rather a recognition that the encounter with the unveiled presence of God at judgment provides a uniquely clarifying moment when all illusions are stripped away and reality is seen clearly.
Biblical Support for Postmortem Opportunity
Several biblical passages suggest the possibility of salvation after death. First Peter 3:19-20 speaks of Christ preaching to “the spirits in prison” who disobeyed in the days of Noah. First Peter 4:6 states that “the gospel was proclaimed even to the dead.” These passages have long puzzled interpreters who assume salvation is impossible after death.
More broadly, Scripture consistently portrays God as one who desires all to be saved (1 Timothy 2:4, 2 Peter 3:9). God’s love and mercy are described as enduring forever (Psalm 136). The biblical narrative emphasizes God’s relentless pursuit of the lost, His joy over one sinner who repents, His willingness to forgive “seventy times seven” times. Why would this divine disposition suddenly cease at the moment of death?
The parable of the workers in the vineyard (Matthew 20:1-16) suggests that God’s grace operates on different timescales than human expectation. Some receive the same reward for one hour’s work that others receive for a full day’s labor. While this parable is typically interpreted as referring to different points in earthly life, its principle – that God’s generosity exceeds human concepts of fairness – could extend beyond death.
The Moment of Judgment as Opportunity
In the Divine Presence model, the final judgment is understood not merely as a sentencing but as an unveiling. When Christ returns in glory, all illusions are stripped away. People see themselves as they truly are, see others as they truly are, and see God as He truly is. This moment of absolute clarity could provide a unique opportunity for repentance.
Sharon Baker describes this powerfully in her account of “Otto,” an imaginary wicked person who stands before God at judgment. Otto expects wrath and condemnation but instead encounters love and forgiveness. The fire of God’s presence burns away his pretenses and self-deceptions. He sees clearly, perhaps for the first time, both the horror of his sins and the beauty of God’s love. In this moment, genuine repentance becomes possible in a way it never was during earthly life when clouded by ignorance and deception.
This is not universalism – the view that all will necessarily be saved. The Divine Presence model maintains that human freedom remains intact even in the face of God’s unveiled presence. Some may still choose to reject God, preferring their own pride and autonomy to divine love. But the opportunity for salvation remains open as long as repentance remains possible.
Implications for Evangelism and Christian Life
Some worry that belief in postmortem salvation will undermine evangelism and Christian commitment. If people can be saved after death, why bother sharing the gospel now? Why live a Christian life if one can repent later?
These concerns misunderstand both the nature of salvation and the purpose of Christian life. Salvation is not merely about avoiding hell or gaining heaven – it is about being transformed into the likeness of Christ, developing the capacity for divine love, and participating in God’s kingdom work. Every moment we delay this transformation is a moment lost to sin’s destructive effects on ourselves and others.
Furthermore, the habits and character we develop in this life shape our capacity to respond to God’s presence in the next. Someone who has spent a lifetime hardening their heart against God may find it extremely difficult, even with the clarity of divine judgment, to suddenly embrace what they have so long rejected. The possibility of postmortem salvation offers hope without providing an excuse for spiritual laziness.
Part IV: Sharon Baker’s Conditional Immortality View
The Integration of Divine Presence and Annihilation
Sharon Baker’s contribution to the Divine Presence model is particularly significant in her integration of conditional immortality with the understanding of God’s presence as fire. In her book “Razing Hell,” Baker argues that the encounter with God’s fiery presence at judgment does not necessarily result in eternal conscious torment for the wicked. Instead, she proposes three possible outcomes: restoration, purification, or annihilation.
Baker’s view begins with the recognition that fire in Scripture has multiple functions – it tests, purifies, and consumes. When the wicked encounter the fire of God’s presence, this fire tests the quality of their being. For those with some good remaining, the fire purifies, burning away the dross while preserving what is valuable. But for those completely given over to evil, the fire finds nothing worth preserving and consumes them entirely.
This annihilation is not an arbitrary punishment imposed by God but a natural consequence of what sin has done to the person. Sin is inherently destructive, eating away at the image of God within us. When someone has allowed sin to completely corrupt their being, leaving nothing good or redeemable, the encounter with absolute Goodness and Truth results in their complete dissolution.
The Biblical Basis for Conditional Immortality
Baker grounds her view in careful biblical exegesis. She notes that the Bible frequently uses language of destruction, perishing, and death to describe the fate of the wicked. Jesus speaks of the wide road that leads to “destruction” (Matthew 7:13). Paul writes that “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). John’s Revelation speaks of the “second death” (Revelation 21:8).
The traditional interpretation has understood these as metaphors for eternal conscious torment, but Baker argues this reads into the text something that isn’t there. Death means cessation of existence, not continued existence in torment. Destruction means being destroyed, not being preserved in a state of suffering. The biblical language, taken at face value, supports annihilation rather than eternal torment.
Furthermore, Baker points out that immortality in Scripture is consistently presented as God’s gift to the righteous, not as a natural property of all human souls. Paul writes that God “alone has immortality” (1 Timothy 6:16) and that believers “seek for glory and honor and immortality” (Romans 2:7). This suggests that immortality is conditional – granted to those who are united with Christ but not possessed by those who reject Him.
The Justice and Mercy of Annihilation
Baker’s conditional immortality view addresses one of the most pressing objections to the traditional doctrine of hell: the apparent injustice of infinite punishment for finite sins. Even the worst human crimes, committed over a limited lifetime, seem to pale in comparison to eternal conscious torment. How can this be just?
Annihilation provides a resolution that maintains the seriousness of sin while avoiding the problem of disproportionate punishment. The wicked suffer loss – the ultimate loss of existence itself – but they do not suffer endlessly. God’s justice is satisfied without requiring eternal torment. God’s mercy is displayed in that He does not preserve the wicked in eternal suffering but allows them the mercy of non-existence.
This view also addresses the problem of evil’s eternal existence. In traditional views of hell, evil and suffering continue forever, never ultimately defeated or eliminated. But in Baker’s view, evil is finally and completely destroyed. God’s ultimate victory over evil is total – evil ceases to exist entirely, unable to mar God’s good creation for eternity.
The Process of Testing and Purification
Baker provides a vivid illustration of how this might work in her story of Otto, a thoroughly wicked person who dies and faces judgment. As Otto encounters the fire of God’s presence, he expects punishment and wrath. Instead, he experiences something far more profound – the burning away of all his pretenses, self-deceptions, and false self-images.
The fire tests Otto, revealing what, if anything, remains of the image of God within him. If there is some good, some capacity for love and truth still present, the fire purifies him, burning away the evil while preserving and restoring the good. This process is painful – the destruction of the false self always is – but it leads to restoration and redemption.
But if Otto has become completely corrupted, if sin has so thoroughly destroyed his capacity for good that nothing of God’s image remains, then the fire finds nothing to preserve. In this case, Otto is annihilated – not as an act of divine vengeance, but as the inevitable result of what he has become. A being that has made itself completely antithetical to the Source of all being cannot continue to exist in the presence of that Source.
Part V: The Theological Implications of Divine Presence
Reconceiving Divine Justice
The Divine Presence model requires us to fundamentally reconceive what we mean by divine justice. Traditional retributive justice sees justice as requiring punishment for wrongdoing – an eye for an eye, suffering inflicted to balance the scales. But this understanding, inherited more from Roman law than from biblical revelation, creates serious theological problems when applied to God.
In the Divine Presence model, divine justice is not retributive but restorative. God’s justice is His commitment to setting things right, to restoring creation to its intended harmony and beauty. This includes dealing with sin and evil, not by inflicting suffering as payment, but by either healing what sin has damaged or removing what cannot be healed.
The biblical concept of justice, especially in the Hebrew Bible, is closely connected to righteousness and faithfulness. God’s justice is His faithfulness to His creation and His covenant. It is expressed not primarily in punishment but in His tireless efforts to redeem, restore, and reconcile. When punishment does occur, it is not for its own sake but always aimed at correction and restoration.
This understanding aligns with the biblical portrayal of God as Father. A good father disciplines his children not to hurt them but to help them grow. The suffering that may come from discipline is not the goal but a sometimes necessary means to the goal of the child’s flourishing. Similarly, whatever suffering occurs in the encounter with God’s presence is not inflicted as punishment but arises naturally from the meeting between holiness and sin, with the ultimate aim being restoration where possible.
The Unity of Divine Attributes
One of the great strengths of the Divine Presence model is how it unified the divine attributes that traditional theology has often seen as being in tension. God’s love and justice, mercy and holiness, grace and truth – all these are unified in the single reality of God’s presence.
God’s love is not opposed to His justice; rather, His justice is an expression of His love. Because God loves His creation, He is committed to setting right what has gone wrong. Because He loves even the wicked, He offers them opportunity for repentance and restoration. But also because He loves, He respects human freedom even when it leads to self-destruction.
God’s holiness is not separate from His mercy. The same holy presence that causes the wicked to suffer is the presence that offers healing and transformation. God does not have to choose between being holy and being merciful – His holiness is merciful and His mercy is holy. They are different facets of the same divine reality.
This unification resolves many theological puzzles. We no longer have to wonder how God can be simultaneously loving and wrathful, merciful and just. These are not contradictory attributes that God must balance, but complementary aspects of His singular nature. The difference is not in God but in how His nature is experienced by creatures in different spiritual states.
The Problem of Divine Hiddenness Resolved
The Divine Presence model also offers a compelling resolution to the problem of divine hiddenness. Many have wondered why, if God desires relationship with humanity, He remains hidden. Why doesn’t God make His existence and nature obvious to all? Why does He allow honest seekers to struggle with doubt?
The answer, according to this model, is that God’s hiddenness in this life is actually an expression of His mercy. Given our current spiritual state, full exposure to God’s presence would be overwhelming and potentially destructive. Like the sun, which gives life when experienced at the proper distance but would incinerate us if we got too close, God’s presence must be veiled for our protection.
This understanding is supported by numerous biblical passages. When Moses asks to see God’s glory, God responds that no one can see His face and live (Exodus 33:20). When Isaiah sees a vision of God’s throne, he cries out “Woe is me! I am lost!” (Isaiah 6:5). The consistent biblical witness is that sinful humans cannot endure direct encounter with God’s holiness.
God’s partial hiddenness in this life, then, is not absence but merciful restraint. He reveals enough of Himself for those who seek Him to find Him, but not so much that human freedom is overwhelmed or that the unprepared are destroyed. This hiddenness creates space for faith, growth, and genuine relationship rather than coerced submission.
Part VI: Key Biblical Passages Supporting the Divine Presence Model
The following table examines crucial biblical passages that support the Divine Presence model, showing how they reveal God’s presence as both judgment and salvation, and how they relate to postmortem opportunity for redemption:
| Biblical Reference | Verse (NKJV), Divine Presence Explanation, and Postmortem Context |
|---|---|
| Hebrews 12:28-29 |
Divine Presence Explanation: This passage directly identifies God Himself as a consuming fire, not hell as a separate place of fire. The same God who offers grace and an unshakeable kingdom is also consuming fire. This dual nature isn’t contradiction but reveals how the same divine presence can be experienced differently. Those who receive grace serve God with reverence; those who reject grace experience Him as consuming fire. Postmortem Opportunity Context: The consuming fire of God’s presence at judgment could serve as a final purifying opportunity. Just as fire tests gold and burns dross, God’s fiery presence could burn away pretense and self-deception, potentially enabling genuine repentance even after death when all illusions are stripped away. |
| 1 Corinthians 3:11-15 |
Divine Presence Explanation: The fire that tests our works is the presence of Christ Himself on “the Day” of judgment. This fire doesn’t arbitrarily destroy but reveals truth – testing the quality of what each person has built in their life. Some works endure (gold, silver, precious stones) while others are consumed (wood, hay, straw). The person themselves passes through this same fire. Postmortem Opportunity Context: Remarkably, Paul says even those whose works are entirely burned up “will be saved, yet so as through fire.” This suggests salvation remains possible even for those who built nothing of lasting value, though they suffer the loss of their false constructions. The fire of God’s presence destroys what is worthless but can still save the person. |
| Isaiah 33:14-17 |
Divine Presence Explanation: Isaiah explicitly asks who can dwell with “devouring fire” and “everlasting burnings” – and the answer is the righteous! This completely inverts the traditional understanding. The fire is not hell for the wicked but God’s presence. The righteous can dwell safely in this fire, even seeing “the King in His beauty,” while sinners and hypocrites are terrified of it. Postmortem Opportunity Context: The passage implies that the issue isn’t the fire itself but one’s spiritual condition when encountering it. If spiritual transformation remains possible after death, then those who are afraid of the devouring fire could potentially be changed to become those who can dwell safely within it. |
| Psalm 139:7-12 |
Divine Presence Explanation: This psalm definitively states that God’s presence extends even to Sheol/hell. There is nowhere one can flee from God’s presence. This directly contradicts views of hell as separation from God. Even in the depths, God is there. The difference must be in how His presence is experienced, not in His absence. Postmortem Opportunity Context: If God’s presence extends even to hell, then His mercy and opportunity for redemption could also extend there. The psalmist finds comfort in God’s inescapable presence, suggesting it remains fundamentally good and potentially redemptive even in the depths. |
| Daniel 7:9-10 |
Divine Presence Explanation: Daniel’s vision shows a river of fire flowing directly from God’s throne – from God Himself. This river of fire is not separate from God but proceeds from His very presence. This is the source of the Orthodox understanding of the “river of fire” that all must pass through at judgment. Postmortem Opportunity Context: The opening of the books suggests full disclosure and truth being revealed. In the light of complete truth, with all deceptions removed, genuine repentance becomes possible for those capable of it. The river of fire could purify rather than simply punish. |
| Revelation 20:11-15 |
Divine Presence Explanation: Notice that heaven and earth flee from God’s face – His presence is so powerful that creation itself cannot stand before it. The lake of fire, rather than being a separate place of punishment, could be understood as this same overwhelming divine presence. Death and Hades themselves are destroyed in this fire, showing it is not a created place but God’s consuming presence that destroys everything opposed to life. Postmortem Opportunity Context: The dead are judged “according to their works,” but this judgment happens in God’s immediate presence where truth is fully revealed. This moment of absolute clarity could provide opportunity for repentance. The Book of Life may not be a fixed list but could potentially have names added even at this final moment. |
| Malachi 3:1-3 |
Divine Presence Explanation: The Lord Himself is compared to refiner’s fire. His coming is something to be endured, His appearance something difficult to stand. Yet the purpose is explicitly purification, not destruction. The fire refines and purifies, removing impurities while preserving what is valuable. Postmortem Opportunity Context: The refining process suggests transformation remains possible when encountering God’s fiery presence. The question “who can endure?” implies some can and will, after being purified. This purification could extend beyond death for those who haven’t yet been refined. |
| 1 Peter 3:18-20; 4:6 |
Divine Presence Explanation: Christ’s presence extended even to the realm of the dead, bringing the gospel to spirits in prison. This shows God’s presence and redemptive activity are not limited to earthly life. The divine presence reaches even into the depths of Hades/Sheol. Postmortem Opportunity Context: This passage explicitly describes preaching the gospel to the dead. The purpose was “that they might…live according to God in the spirit.” This directly supports the possibility of postmortem evangelism and salvation. If it happened once, why not at the final judgment? |
| Philippians 2:9-11 |
Divine Presence Explanation: Every knee will bow and every tongue confess – not just in heaven and earth, but also “under the earth” (the realm of the dead). This universal acknowledgment happens in Christ’s presence. The question is whether this confession can be genuine and lead to salvation, or only forced acknowledgment. Postmortem Opportunity Context: If confession that “Jesus Christ is Lord” is salvific (Romans 10:9), and if this confession comes from those “under the earth,” this suggests salvation extends beyond death. The phrase “to the glory of God the Father” implies willing worship rather than mere forced admission. |
| 1 Timothy 2:3-6 |
Divine Presence Explanation: God desires ALL to be saved and come to knowledge of truth. This divine desire doesn’t cease at death. When people encounter God’s presence directly at judgment, they finally have full knowledge of the truth. God’s desire for their salvation continues. Postmortem Opportunity Context: The phrase “in due time” suggests God’s saving work operates on His timeline, not ours. If God truly desires all to be saved, why would He close the door at physical death? The encounter with divine presence at judgment could be the “due time” for many to finally come to knowledge of truth. |
| Romans 14:10-11 |
Divine Presence Explanation: All will stand before Christ’s judgment seat – His presence. There, every knee bows and every tongue confesses. This universal response to Christ’s presence shows its overwhelming power and reality that none can deny or resist. Postmortem Opportunity Context: Standing before Christ removes all pretense and self-deception. In that moment of absolute clarity, genuine confession and repentance become possible. The bowing and confession could be salvific rather than merely acknowledgment of defeat. |
| Colossians 1:19-20 |
Divine Presence Explanation: God’s intention is to reconcile ALL things to Himself through Christ. This cosmic reconciliation happens through Christ’s presence and work. The scope is universal – “all things” whether on earth or in heaven. Postmortem Opportunity Context: If God intends to reconcile all things, this reconciliation work could continue beyond death. The peace made through the cross doesn’t have an expiration date. God’s reconciling presence continues working until all who will be reconciled are reconciled. |
| 2 Peter 3:9 |
Divine Presence Explanation: God’s patient character and desire that none perish reflects His fundamental disposition toward all creation. This divine will doesn’t change when someone dies. When they encounter His presence at judgment, His desire for their repentance remains. Postmortem Opportunity Context: God’s longsuffering and unwillingness that any perish suggests He would extend opportunity for repentance as long as possible – potentially even at the final judgment. Why would God, who doesn’t will anyone’s perishing, suddenly will it at death? |
| John 12:32 |
Divine Presence Explanation: Christ draws ALL people to Himself. This drawing power of His presence affects everyone, not just some. The question is how people respond to this drawing, not whether they experience it. Postmortem Opportunity Context: If Christ draws all to Himself, this drawing could continue and even intensify after death. At the judgment, when Christ is fully revealed in glory, His drawing power would be at its maximum, potentially enabling even the resistant to finally yield. |
| Revelation 22:1-2, 17 |
Divine Presence Explanation: From God’s throne flows both a river of fire (Daniel 7:10) and a river of life. These may be the same river, experienced differently based on one’s spiritual state. The leaves are for healing nations – suggesting ongoing restoration even in the age to come. Postmortem Opportunity Context: The invitation to “come” and take the water of life freely continues. The healing of the nations suggests ongoing redemptive work. Those who finally thirst for righteousness when confronted with ultimate reality may still be able to drink from the water of life. |
Part VII: Theological Dialogue with Traditional Views
Engaging the Calvinist Perspective
The Divine Presence model stands in marked contrast to Calvinist theology, which emphasizes God’s absolute sovereignty and the doctrine of unconditional election. Calvinists typically argue that God, in His sovereign wisdom, has chosen some for salvation and passed over others, leaving them in their sins to face eternal punishment. This punishment is seen as glorifying God’s justice just as salvation glorifies His mercy.
However, the Divine Presence model raises serious questions about this framework. If hell is simply the experience of God’s presence by those who reject Him, then God doesn’t need to actively decree anyone’s damnation. People damn themselves by their response to God’s universal presence and love. This preserves God’s genuine desire for all to be saved while respecting human freedom.
Furthermore, the Calvinist view struggles to explain why God would create beings He knows are destined for eternal torment. The Divine Presence model offers a more coherent theodicy: God creates all beings for communion with Himself, offers all genuine opportunity for salvation (whether in this life or the next), and those who ultimately reject this offer experience His presence as torment not because God desires their suffering but because of what they have made of themselves.
Responding to Arminian Concerns
Arminians, who emphasize human free will and God’s universal salvific will, might find much to appreciate in the Divine Presence model. However, they might worry that postmortem salvation undermines the urgency of evangelism and the importance of earthly decisions. If people can repent after death, why stress the importance of deciding for Christ now?
The response is threefold. First, every moment spent in sin causes real damage to ourselves and others. Delaying repentance means continuing in destructive patterns that harm everyone involved. Second, the habits and character we form in this life shape our capacity to respond to God in the next. Someone who spends decades hardening their heart may find it extremely difficult to repent even when confronted with ultimate reality. Third, the purpose of Christian life is not merely to avoid hell but to participate in God’s kingdom work now, bringing healing and redemption to a broken world.
Addressing Catholic and Protestant Objections
Both Catholic and Protestant traditions have generally insisted that one’s eternal fate is sealed at death, based partly on Hebrews 9:27: “It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.” However, this verse doesn’t necessarily preclude postmortem repentance. It simply states that death is followed by judgment, not that judgment offers no opportunity for mercy.
Catholics might actually find the Divine Presence model compatible with their doctrine of purgatory, which already acknowledges postmortem purification. Baker’s understanding of the fire of God’s presence as purifying aligns well with purgatorial theology. The main difference is that the Divine Presence model extends this possibility to all, not just those who die in a state of grace.
Protestants who emphasize salvation by faith alone might worry that the Divine Presence model introduces works-righteousness. But the model maintains that salvation is entirely by grace – it’s just that God’s grace continues to operate beyond death. The encounter with Christ at judgment is itself a gracious opportunity, not something earned by good works.
Part VIII: The Question of Universal Salvation
Why Not Universalism?
Given that the Divine Presence model affirms God’s universal salvific will and the possibility of postmortem salvation, some might wonder why it doesn’t simply embrace universalism – the belief that all will eventually be saved. The answer lies in the model’s deep respect for human freedom.
While God desires all to be saved and provides genuine opportunity for all, He does not and will not override human freedom to guarantee this outcome. Love, by its very nature, must be freely chosen. Forced love is not love at all. Some may persist in their rejection of God even when confronted with the full reality of His love. Their pride, self-deception, or attachment to sin may be so deep that they prefer their own misery to divine joy.
C.S. Lewis captured this possibility memorably in “The Great Divorce” when he wrote, “There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done.'” The Divine Presence model takes seriously this possibility of final rejection while maintaining hope for the salvation of many who traditional theology would consign to eternal torment.
The Hope of Conditional Immortality
This is where Baker’s conditional immortality view provides a crucial contribution. If some souls become so corrupted by sin that they lose all capacity for good, their annihilation might be the most merciful outcome. They would not suffer eternally, nor would evil mar God’s creation forever. The cosmic victory over evil would be complete.
This view maintains the seriousness of sin – it can literally destroy a soul – while avoiding the moral problems of eternal conscious torment. It also aligns with the biblical language of the “second death” and destruction. Those who reject Life itself ultimately receive what they have chosen: non-existence rather than existence in relationship with the Source of all being.
Some might object that annihilation is incompatible with human dignity or with being made in God’s image. But if the image of God in a person has been completely effaced by sin, what remains to preserve? And isn’t it more dignified to cease to exist than to continue forever in a state of self-imposed torment?
Part IX: Pastoral and Practical Implications
Transforming Our Understanding of Evangelism
The Divine Presence model radically transforms how we understand and practice evangelism. Rather than using fear of hell as the primary motivator – “Turn or burn!” – evangelism becomes an invitation to begin experiencing the joy of God’s presence now. We’re not saving people from an angry God but inviting them to embrace the God who already loves them infinitely.
This doesn’t diminish evangelism’s urgency but changes its character. Every day someone continues without God is a day lost to sin’s destructive effects. Every day they could be experiencing the beginning of transformation, the joy of relationship with their Creator, the purpose of participating in God’s redemptive work. Why would we want anyone to delay such blessing?
Furthermore, evangelism becomes more about demonstration than argumentation. If heaven and hell are ultimately about relationship with God, then showing others what that relationship looks like becomes paramount. Christians should be living examples of what it means to dwell in God’s presence with joy rather than torment.
Dealing with Grief and Loss
One of the most pastorally significant aspects of the Divine Presence model is how it addresses grief over loved ones who died without explicit Christian faith. Traditional theology often leaves believers in agony, believing their non-Christian family members and friends are suffering eternal torment with no hope of redemption.
The Divine Presence model offers genuine hope without false assurance. We can trust that God, who loves our loved ones more than we do, will give them every opportunity for salvation that divine love and wisdom can provide. The encounter with Christ at judgment, stripping away cultural misunderstandings and false religious teachings, might enable many to recognize and embrace the Truth they were unknowingly seeking all along.
This doesn’t mean we should be complacent about others’ spiritual states, but it does mean we can entrust them to God’s mercy with genuine hope rather than despair. We can pray for the dead, as Christians have done throughout history, trusting that God’s redemptive work continues beyond the grave.
Living in Light of Eternity
If the Divine Presence model is correct, it has profound implications for how we live. We are, moment by moment, either preparing ourselves to experience God’s presence as joy or as torment. Every choice we make, every habit we form, every relationship we nurture or neglect shapes our capacity to receive divine love.
This understanding should inspire both holy fear and confident hope. Holy fear because we see how sin progressively damages our ability to experience God’s love as love. Confident hope because we know that God is working to heal and transform us, that His mercy endures forever, and that He will never give up on anyone who shows even the slightest openness to His grace.
The spiritual disciplines – prayer, meditation, worship, service, confession – take on new significance. They’re not arbitrary religious exercises but practices that attune us to God’s presence, teaching us to experience it as light rather than fire, as joy rather than torment. They prepare us for that ultimate encounter when we will see God face to face.
Part X: Contemporary Theological Dialogue
Engaging Modern Orthodox Theologians
Contemporary Orthodox theologians have continued to develop and articulate the understanding of hell as the experience of God’s presence. Theologians like Metropolitan Kallistos Ware, Father Thomas Hopko, and others have made this teaching more accessible to Western Christians while maintaining its biblical and patristic roots.
Metropolitan Kallistos Ware writes:
“It is not God who hates sinners, but sinners who hate God. Heaven and hell are not so much places as relationships. The torture of hell is nothing other than the agony of a soul that has deliberately turned away from love.”
This relational understanding moves us away from mechanical or juridical concepts of salvation and damnation toward a more personal and dynamic understanding.
These Orthodox voices emphasize that God’s love remains constant and universal. What changes is our capacity to receive it. Through sin, we damage our spiritual senses, making us increasingly unable to perceive and respond to divine love appropriately. The work of salvation is the healing of these spiritual faculties, restoring our ability to see God as He truly is.
Philosophical Support from Contemporary Thinkers
Contemporary philosophers of religion have increasingly recognized the problems with traditional formulations of hell and the promise of alternatives like the Divine Presence model. The work of scholars like Marilyn McCord Adams, who argues that traditional hell makes the problem of evil insurmountable, has pushed theologians to reconsider their positions.
Thomas Talbott’s philosophical arguments for the incoherence of eternal hell have been particularly influential. He argues that a perfectly loving God who desires all to be saved and has the power to save all would necessarily save all. The Divine Presence model provides a response that maintains both divine love and human freedom: God does everything possible to save all while respecting the freedom that makes love possible.
Jerry Walls, defending a modified traditional view, has nevertheless acknowledged the force of the Divine Presence model’s arguments and has incorporated some of its insights into his own position. This shows the model’s ability to influence even those who don’t fully embrace it.
Scientific and Psychological Insights
Modern psychology provides interesting support for aspects of the Divine Presence model. Research on cognitive dissonance, self-deception, and moral psychology helps us understand how people can perceive the same reality in radically different ways based on their prior commitments and character.
Studies on near-death experiences, while not providing definitive evidence, often describe encounters with a loving presence or light that is experienced as either comforting or terrifying depending on the person’s life and character. While we must be cautious about drawing theological conclusions from such reports, they do suggest that the idea of the same presence being experienced differently is psychologically plausible.
Neuroscience’s discovery of neuroplasticity – the brain’s ability to rewire itself based on repeated behaviors and thoughts – provides a biological correlate to the spiritual principle that our choices shape our character and capacity for relationship. This suggests that the habits we form really do have lasting consequences for how we experience reality.
Part XI: Responding to Common Objections
Objection: Doesn’t This Minimize Sin?
Some worry that the Divine Presence model, especially with its affirmation of postmortem salvation, minimizes the seriousness of sin. If people can repent after death, why worry about sin now? This objection misunderstands both sin’s nature and the model’s claims.
Sin in this model is incredibly serious precisely because of what it does to us. It’s not about breaking arbitrary rules but about damaging our capacity for love, truth, and beauty. Every sin leaves us less capable of experiencing God’s presence as joy. The possibility of postmortem repentance doesn’t change this reality – it may even make it more serious, as we might have to face the full truth about what we’ve become.
Moreover, the model suggests that persistent sin can lead to a state where repentance becomes psychologically impossible or where the soul becomes so corrupted that annihilation results. Far from minimizing sin, this shows its ultimately destructive power.
Objection: Doesn’t Scripture Teach Eternal Punishment?
The Divine Presence model doesn’t deny eternal punishment but reinterprets what it means. The Greek word often translated “eternal” (aionios) can mean “age-lasting” or “pertaining to the age to come” rather than necessarily meaning endless duration. But even if we accept that the punishment is eternal, the model affirms this – those who reject God experience His presence as eternal torment.
What the model questions is whether this torment is retributive punishment imposed by God or the natural consequence of a soul’s condition when exposed to divine love. The biblical images of fire, as we’ve seen, support the latter interpretation. God Himself is the consuming fire, and how we experience that fire depends on what we’ve become.
Objection: Doesn’t This Contradict Church Tradition?
Actually, the Divine Presence model has deep roots in church tradition, particularly in the Eastern Orthodox tradition that maintains continuity with the early church. Many church fathers, including Origen, Gregory of Nyssa, Isaac the Syrian, and others, taught variations of this view. While the Western church developed in a different direction, largely due to Augustine’s influence, this doesn’t make the Western view more traditional – just more familiar to Western Christians.
Even within Western Christianity, mystics and theologians throughout history have expressed ideas consonant with the Divine Presence model. The medieval mystic Julian of Norwich, for instance, had visions suggesting a much more expansive divine mercy than traditional theology allowed.
Objection: Why Evangelize If People Can Be Saved After Death?
This objection assumes that the only reason to evangelize is to save people from hell. But evangelism is about so much more. It’s about inviting people into relationship with God now, enabling them to experience abundant life, to find purpose and meaning, to be transformed into Christ’s likeness, and to participate in God’s redemptive work in the world.
Every day someone lives without God is a day lost to sin’s destructive effects – on themselves and others. Every day they could be growing in love, joy, peace, and all the fruits of the Spirit. Why would we want to delay such blessings? Furthermore, the choices and habits formed in this life shape one’s capacity to respond to God in the next. Evangelism helps people begin the transformation that makes them capable of experiencing God’s presence as heaven rather than hell.
Part XII: The Final Outcome – Manis versus Baker
Two Visions of Ultimate Destiny
Within the Divine Presence model, there remains disagreement about the ultimate fate of those who persistently reject God. Zachary Manis maintains a more traditional view that some will exist eternally in a state of torment, experiencing God’s presence as suffering due to their fixed rejection of divine love. Sharon Baker, on the other hand, argues for conditional immortality – that those who completely reject God will ultimately be annihilated.
Manis’s position maintains that human beings, created in God’s image with immortal souls, cannot simply cease to exist. The encounter with God’s presence causes suffering for the wicked, but it doesn’t destroy them. They continue forever in a state of self-imposed isolation, experiencing the presence of Love as torment because they have made themselves incapable of love. This preserves the traditional teaching about the eternal nature of the soul while reinterpreting the cause of suffering.
Baker’s conditional immortality view argues that immortality is God’s gift to those who accept Him, not a natural property of all souls. Those who persistently reject the Source of life ultimately forfeit life itself. The fire of God’s presence doesn’t preserve them in suffering but consumes whatever has become irredeemably corrupted. This view sees annihilation not as divine punishment but as the natural consequence of rejecting Life itself.
Biblical Arguments for Each Position
Manis can point to passages that speak of eternal punishment (Matthew 25:46), the smoke of torment rising forever (Revelation 14:11), and the undying worm and unquenchable fire (Mark 9:48). These passages seem to indicate continued conscious existence rather than annihilation. The imagery of “weeping and gnashing of teeth” suggests ongoing conscious experience of loss and regret.
Baker counters with passages about the “second death” (Revelation 20:14), destruction of body and soul (Matthew 10:28), and perishing (John 3:16). The consistent biblical metaphor of death as the wages of sin (Romans 6:23) suggests cessation of existence rather than continued existence in torment. The Old Testament frequently uses language of the wicked being “cut off” or “destroyed” or being “no more.”
Both scholars agree that biblical language about the afterlife is highly metaphorical and must be interpreted carefully. The question is which interpretation better fits the overall biblical witness about God’s character and purposes.
Theological Implications of Each View
Manis’s view preserves human dignity in a certain sense – even the wicked retain the divine image sufficiently to continue existing. It also maintains the absolute seriousness of rejecting God – the consequences truly are eternal. However, it raises questions about the eternal existence of evil and suffering in God’s creation. Can God’s purposes be fully accomplished if some creatures remain forever in rebellion?
Baker’s view offers a cleaner resolution to the problem of evil – ultimately, evil is completely destroyed and eliminated from creation. God’s victory is total and final. It also seems more merciful – annihilation could be seen as a kindness compared to eternal conscious torment. However, some argue it diminishes human significance if we can simply cease to exist, and it might seem to make our choices less ultimately meaningful.
A Possible Synthesis
Perhaps these positions aren’t as incompatible as they initially appear. Both affirm that the encounter with God’s presence is determinative for human destiny. Both reject the idea of hell as retributive punishment. Both maintain human freedom and responsibility. The difference may be more about the final outcome for specific individuals rather than about the fundamental nature of judgment.
It’s possible that some who reject God retain enough of the divine image to continue existing (Manis’s view), while others become so corrupted that annihilation results (Baker’s view). The encounter with divine fire might preserve some while consuming others, depending on whether anything of value remains to preserve. This would align with Paul’s image in 1 Corinthians 3 of the fire testing each one’s work – some lose everything but are saved “as through fire,” while presumably others might have nothing left at all.
Conclusion: The Transformative Power of This Vision
A God We Can Truly Love
The Divine Presence model fundamentally transforms our vision of God. Rather than a deity who must balance love with wrath, mercy with justice, we see a God whose very nature is love, whose justice is restorative rather than retributive, whose presence is offered to all as blessing even if experienced by some as judgment. This is a God we can love without reservation, without the cognitive dissonance of trying to worship One who consigns billions to eternal torment.
This model helps resolve the ancient problem of how a good God can permit evil and suffering. God permits free will because love requires freedom, but He never stops working to redeem and restore. Even judgment is ultimately about truth and revelation rather than vengeance. The God revealed in the Divine Presence model is genuinely good in ways that resonate with our deepest moral intuitions while transcending them.
A Hope Worth Sharing
This understanding provides a gospel that is genuinely good news for everyone. We can tell people about a God who loves them unconditionally, who will never give up on them, who offers every possible opportunity for redemption. We don’t have to threaten people with hell to motivate conversion but can invite them into relationship with the Source of all beauty, truth, and goodness.
For those grieving loved ones who died outside explicit Christian faith, this model offers real hope. For those struggling with the exclusive claims of Christianity in a pluralistic world, it provides a way to maintain Christian distinctiveness while acknowledging God’s universal love and justice. For those wounded by harsh religious teaching about hell, it offers healing and a way back to faith.
A Call to Transformation
Most importantly, the Divine Presence model calls us to take seriously the work of spiritual transformation. If heaven and hell are about our capacity to experience God’s presence, then every moment matters. Every choice either increases our capacity for love or diminishes it. Every spiritual discipline either attunes us to divine presence or we risk becoming tone-deaf to it.
This model eliminates any notion of cheap grace or easy believism. It’s not enough to mentally assent to certain doctrines or pray a prayer of salvation. We must be transformed, renewed, made capable of dwelling in the consuming fire of God’s love. This is serious work requiring genuine commitment, but it’s work empowered by grace and aimed at our ultimate joy.
The Divine Presence model also calls us to be agents of reconciliation in the world. If God’s fundamental purpose is restoration and reconciliation, then we as His image-bearers should be engaged in the same work. This means working for justice, peace, and healing in our communities. It means extending forgiveness and seeking reconciliation in our relationships. It means seeing even our enemies as potential recipients of divine grace.
Final Reflections
The Divine Presence model represents a significant theological development that addresses longstanding problems with traditional formulations of hell while remaining faithful to Scripture and drawing on the deep wells of Christian tradition. It offers a coherent, biblically grounded, and pastorally sensitive understanding of judgment and human destiny.
Whether one fully embraces Baker’s conditional immortality view or maintains with Manis that some form of eternal conscious experience remains for the wicked, the core insight remains powerful: heaven and hell are not separate places but different experiences of the same divine reality. God does not arbitrarily assign people to eternal destinations but allows them to experience the natural consequences of what they have become.
This model affirms both divine sovereignty and human freedom, both God’s justice and His love, both the seriousness of sin and the wideness of mercy. It provides hope without undermining moral seriousness, maintains human dignity while acknowledging sin’s destructive power, and presents a God who is consistently good, loving, and just in all His dealings with creation.
As we continue to wrestle with these profound theological questions, the Divine Presence model offers a framework that honors the mystery while providing practical wisdom for Christian life and ministry. It reminds us that our ultimate destiny is not about passing a theological exam or meeting a behavioral standard, but about what we become through our response to divine love. It calls us to focus not on avoiding hell but on becoming the kind of people who can experience God’s presence as the joy for which we were created.
In the end, the Divine Presence model presents us with a profound truth: God is not our problem; our condition is our problem. God is not the threat; our sin is the threat. God is not the one from whom we need to be saved; He is the one who saves. The fire we fear is the very love that could transform us if we would only stop resisting it. Heaven and hell are not destinations imposed upon us but realities we create through our response to the Love that will not let us go.
May this theological understanding inspire us to seek that transformation now, to open ourselves to divine love, and to share with others the truly good news that God’s presence is offered to all as blessing, and that even in judgment, mercy triumphs over judgment for all who will receive it.
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