Three is the magic number. Me, myself, and I. Body, Soul, and Spirit.
'Me' is the body, which is carnal only. We say 'ouch, that hurt me', when we're pinched. It hurt our body, 'me'.
'Myself' is the soul, which is our ego. The ego is our individuality, it is what makes us a 'self'. It is not possible without free will to have an ego. That is why souled beings are the only ones with free will. Because as an individual, we decide which master we will serve. We either serve body or soul. We cannot serve both. We must be concerned with both, of course, but which is priority?
'I' is the spirit, and 'I am' is the source of the spirit. It is the collective mind that has come from the Father. It is the holy spirit, the spirit of truth. That is why we are able to discern all things after we have received the holy spirit. Because the mind of The Father is the holy spirit, and of course, knows how to perfectly discern.
We all know the carnal body, composed of matter, is finite. Briefly finite. The soul lasts somewhat longer, but it only survives the 'first death.' When we are instructed to release our egos and give ourselves up to the Father, through Jesus Christ, we are not being asked to give up our individuality. What we are doing is giving up our own feeble wills as fallible, not worthy to rule, and in taking our ego of off our personal throne, there is room for the representative of the Father, which is the holy spirit. That is being baptized in the spirit.
The ego has been usurped as sovreign, but not exiled. It just becomes a humble and willing servant to the spirit.
This produces the desired end product which The Father had in mind for us, which is as companions. Interesting companions. The angels are utterly loyal and obedient, but they can't bring up any new conversation with the Father, as they only echo his mind. That's just an simplified illustration to show what I mean. The Father needs individuals who have no physical bodies and who are eternal, for company.
This is how it happens: We are born to woman, and are carnal. We then accept Christ with water baptism, acknowledging our soul, which is the key to instruction. The spirit can't instruct the carnal being. There's no common ground for communication. Water baptism is our enrollment in school, so to speak. We're saying 'I am ready to learn'. Now we have become a souled being, but we are not born again into the spirit until that time that the spirit, in divine knowledge, sees that we are ready. It's not up to us, this time. It is up to us how long it takes by how receptive and compliant we are to following the spirit's instruction. It is guaranteed, however, at some point. When this happens, we are baptized in the spirit, and we are 'saved'. We are no longer subject to the second death.
Baptism of the spirit joins the soul and spirit, and so our 'self', our individuality and humbled ego, is joined permanently to that force that is the 'I am' and is eternal. We have become an individual who is of the eternal seed.
Our carnal bodies only temporarily house our soul and, potentially, our part of the spirit. The body is owner of the soul only if the soul allows it. The spirit will not, and that's how the life everlasting is realized. Our bodies are enclosures, and their death exists even while living. All physical matter is eventually bound for annhilation. We can't escape annhilation if we attach ourselves to the material world. We must hate the world, in other words.
It's not that we are given eternal life in it's raw form, it comes within the spirit, which is the source of countless benefits and blessings. It's almost a detail that it lives forever. But for humans, it's the prime incentive, and it works for me. But death resides in our physical enclosure, and once we realize it's limited power and authority, and recognize the ineffable power of the spirit, we shed this 'garment' of mortality, and release the being that is within, which wears a new, snow white garment that won't be discarded.
Let's look at the other side of the coin. If we do not accept Jesus Christ, the dead end is already given as done. Our entire persona resides within our carnal enclosure, which, actually isn't an enclosure at all in this case. When the carnal being dies, so does the persona. Fire burns our bodies, and if we are thrown into a lake of fire, how can our persona survive if it's host is fried into ashes?
Another way to see this logically is by realizing that the spirit is the mind of the Father, and just as someone once said 'I think, therefore I am'. Now all animals can reason cause and effect to some degree, and most of it is instinct. The same goes for humans, because without any knowledge of the soul or acceptance of the spirit, a person is quite bestial, and has no limits or conscience as related to behavior. The acknowledgement of our soul gives us the ability to reason and think on a higher level than bestial. In the case of carnal life only, confusion is king when reason (soul) and truth (spirit) are not recognized. As well, the spirit is a higher plane of consciousness which elevates our thinking, and that is why we have heard of the 'rise to consciousness'.
The 'fall' of Adam and Eve was a fall from consiousness, and the rise to consciousness is the spiritual journey I outlined above. Therefore it follows, that if one does not acknowledge soul and subsequently accept the spirit, one is also void of consciousness.
There is no eternal suffering. There is only the snuffing out of the individual, as to their memory and record of being. The opposite of eternal consciousness is temporary unconsciousness. The opposite of light is dark. The opposite of knowledge is ignorance. If the opposite of 'heaven' is 'hell', and hell is fiery eternal torture, what is heaven? Temporary bliss in a walk-in refrigerator where it rains all the time?
To say the Father won't tolerate sinners, by which is meant those who follow matter and not the spirit and divine will, doesn't mean he doesn't still love the sinners. He doesn't love what is 'evil' in them, but that is the part that gets cast into the fiery second death, and the raw materials are conserved. The law of conservation of matter is applicable to all things of substance, and soul has substance. The soul part is retained, and will have further opportunities, but it won't have any memory of previous existence or of any prior egos. Although the soul does not automatically include the spirit, it does have a spark of spirit in it's composition, which is the defining factor. This spark is integrated to the individual, and so cannot be applied as the pure spirit of the holy spirit. But it will not perish, either. The eternal spark remains, the ego identity is lost in such a way to 'be as if it had never been', but no conscious and 'knowing' portion of a human will be subject to eternal torture.
Let's get real--would you actually want to aspire to a kingdom ruled by a merciful and loving King who will also give others up to the eternal insanity of conscious experiences of torment? How can we all be loved, up until a certain point, if that love is unconditional? How can we be loved if we're exiled into torment and pain? There's no way you can resolve the answers to those questions to a place where a fiery eternal torture is possible, and still retain the Truth aspect of the Father. And the Truth part is, in no way, negotiable.