In this understanding, hellfire is the natural consequence of sin—an intensified form of the suffering already experienced through separation from God. Humanity’s present condition represents the first death: the limitations that arise when we are disconnected from God, the source of life. Yet God freely offers His grace and guidance, allowing us to walk in His counsel and avoid the deeper consequences of life apart from Him.

Rejecting that offer contributes to the suffering associated with sin. Ultimately, however, I believe humanity will be brought back into alignment with God. In the Solar System analogy, the inner planets represent the Church as God’s firstfruits—the priesthood of His eschatological family. Like the Aaronic priesthood, they are set apart for holy service through their response to the Gospel. The outer planets represent the rest of humanity, who are ultimately included in God’s larger work of reconciliation.

Punishment, then, is understood here primarily as the consequence of freely chosen separation from God rather than as suffering arbitrarily imposed by Him. Christ’s message of salvation offers humanity release from this self-inflicted condition. Each person is given a choice: to receive God’s offer of life or to continue apart from Him.

Adam faced this choice first but chose disobedience, introducing humanity to the experience of death through self-will rather than unity with God. Through the Gospel, humanity receives another opportunity to avoid a deeper separation from God—the second death. The present life reflects the first death; the second death represents an intensified experience of sin’s consequences. In this view, such suffering results from increased distance from the source of divine life rather than from God acting as its direct cause.

The Solar System provides an illustration of this idea. As the outer planets lie farther from the Sun, they receive less of its light. In the analogy, the Sun represents God’s life-giving presence, while a person’s distance from it reflects the degree of separation produced by choices concerning righteousness and faith. The concentric arrangement therefore symbolizes different relationships to God’s presence. The CW website develops this comparison further through its teaching on the Jubilee and the eventual reconciliation of all things to God.

Thus, what is commonly called punishment is presented here as the consequence of choosing greater separation from God and thereby entering a more severe phase of sin’s suffering. Even so, at every stage of judgment, God provides a way toward reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18), because His mercy endures forever. Death and its suffering are therefore understood as consequences of human choice, not deliberate cruelty from a God who is love. Through grace and the Jubilee, God continues to make restoration possible while preserving human free will—the freedom to choose faith and return to Him during the school of life. Continue here…