Why doesn't God forgive people in hell?

[RedRaven]

I ask questions for the same reasons that most people ask questions. I wanted to understand something that I did not understand.

All I want to do is maybe help provide you with a direction, but if your not looking for one, and you are content with what you have found outside of Jesus, then I also believe I have assumed too much, and if that is the case I am sorry for waisting your time.

At what point did I say you were wasting my time? Good grief. Because I wasn't seeking a path to Jesus doesn't mean that my question wasn't valid or for good reason. It wasn't something I understood clearly (obviously) and your postings helped make that doctrine more clear. Time was not wasted (for me anyway, I learned) unless you feel that your time was wasted on someone not seeking what you have found to be truth.

 

[seashale76]

Why does God forgive people only now, while we are alive, if we believe in him? Why don't he forgive people who are in hell? What if someone used to mock God but repents of his sins when he went to hell, will God forgive that person? If not, why?
Also, if Satan and 1/3 of the angels who rebeled had repented after they were chased out of the garden of Eden, will God have forgiven them?

Regarding hell: God is Love and His presence is like fire. How one endures this fire has everything to do with how they were tempered in this life, just like the three righteous youths in the fiery furnace were able to joyfully walk around unharmed in the fire, so did others who didn't love God perish just being near the fire. The fire didn't change.

Here is a quote from an old Wikipedia article on the topic (that doesn’t seem to be around anymore) that I thought explained it pretty well: "For many ancient Christians, Hell was the same "place" as Heaven: living in the presence of God and directly experiencing God's love. Whether this was experienced as pleasure or torment depended on one's disposition towards God. St. Isaac of Syria wrote in Mystic Treatises: "... those who find themselves in Hell will be chastised by the scourge of love. How cruel and bitter this torment of love will be! For those who understand that they have sinned against love, undergo greater suffering than those produced by the most fearful tortures. The sorrow which takes hold of the heart, which has sinned against love, is more piercing than any other pain. It is not right to say that the sinners in Hell are deprived of the love of God ... But love acts in two ways, as suffering of the reproved, and as joy in the blessed!" This ancient view is still the doctrine of the Eastern Orthodox Church."