Claim. God does not decide whether a spirit enters heaven or hell — the spirit decides for itself, based on its own capacity to breathe the love of God. Sinful spirits become “crippled” and find it agonizing to stand before God, the center of true love. They choose hell of their own will, removing themselves from the love they cannot bear.
Elaboration. Per 6.3.2. The Structure and Functions of the Spirit Self: “It is not God who decides whether a person’s spirit enters heaven or hell upon his death; it is decided by the spirit himself. Humans are created so that once they reach perfection they will fully breathe the love of God. Those who committed sinful deeds while on earth become crippled spirits who are incapable of fully breathing in the love of God. They find it agonizing to stand before God, the center of true love. Of their own will, they choose to dwell in hell, far removed from the love of God.”
This is DP’s account of hell: not divine punishment imposed from above but voluntary withdrawal driven by the spirit’s own incapacity. The analogy is physiological — sin produces a spiritual condition like impaired breathing; God’s love is the spiritual atmosphere; sinful spirits cannot survive saturation in it and remove themselves to thinner air.
Doctrinal implications: DP rejects God-as-judge sentencing souls. Hell is real but self-elected; its torment is the spirit’s own inability, not divine retribution. This dissolves the classical theodicy problem — God does not condemn; the unrepentant condemn themselves by failing to develop capacity for divine love.
Salvation is not rescue-from-punishment but development-of-capacity — building the love-capacity that lets spirits live in God’s presence after death.