God ultimately judges man by what's in his heart. Indeed, a man cannot be saved or damned in ignorance. Peter says that while Jesus' body lay in the tomb, his spirit went to teach the "spirits in prison," which once were disobedient in the days of Noah. Despite the wickedness that existed in Noah's day, it stands to reason that some were ignorant. There also were women and children who may have had good souls, but were trapped by circumstance. Nevertheless, Jesus opened the prison gates for the preaching of the Gospel to the spirits therein.
Origen, which many consider the greatest of Christian theologians, wrote: "After death, I think the saints go to Paradise, a place of teaching, a school of the spirits in which everything they saw on earth will be made clear to them. Those who were pure in heart will progress more rapidly, reaching the kingdom of heaven by definite steps or degrees." This was written before Origen joined the doctors, so it reflected the earliest Christian traditions.
One scholar writes: "Clement of Alexandria and Origen, those two earliest fathers, each having one foot in the old church and one in the new, characteristically accepted the doctrine of eternal progression at first, then rejected it when the schoolmen finally talked them out of it. In Origen's universe there are more exalted beings who leave the less exalted beings further and further behind. He compares their advancements to a series of examinations and makes much of the three degrees of glory -- 'three celestial levels, like the sun, the moon, and the stars.' According to him, the visible world is only a small fraction of the invisible world, which in turn is only a small fraction of the potential world that is to become reality in the aeons ahead."
Just because a man dies, it does not mean that judgment follows immediately. The scripture simply says that after death comes the judgment. If one believes that a person ceases to exist at death, then there can be no time to be taught. You simply get judged for what you did or didn't do during life. To me, that would be unjust. Those who have near death experiences frequently report that they have "life reviews," where they vividly recall parts of their lives where they had hurt others, or done wickedly. They report that they aren't judgments, but ways of teaching, or learning, and that a spirit of love permeated it all. These experiences come from all cultures and religious backgrounds. By repeatedly doing life reviews, spirits progress to higher levels.
The Jehovah's Witnesses believe that during Armageddon, all will be resurrected and then will be judged by which side they take in the great battle. All will have the opportunity of going either with Jehovah's forces or Satan's. This ignores man's obligations to accept Christ and be baptized, and it makes no sense to me. Armageddon will actually be fought in the Middle East, and involve the forces of a European or Asian dictator which John calls "the beast." The target of the battle will be Jerusalem, and the beast will attack the holy city. When Jehovah returns, he will destroy the forces of the beast so that only a sixth of them will be left. Why a sixth? Because some of those forces will be innocent -- some will have been inducted into the military and others will have been forced into serving the beast. In any event, they will be spared. Jerusalem, too, will have been ravaged, and many of the inhabitants killed. So only a small number of Jews will be left to greet the returning Messiah.
Bottom line: Yes, there will be, in my view, chances to progress and grow after this life. To simply draw a line and say, "That's it!" -- is not just, and God, by nature, is Just.
