I am very sympathetic to the universalist position which says that at the end of the day all human beings will enter heaven, even if only after aeons of purgation (whether this view is compatible with Catholicism is another story). But at the same time empirically I know some people who don't change their wicked ways, no matter what happens to them or how much loving help they receive. I know some people who have had really traumatic things happen to them, things which should have changed them for the better, but they still continue on in their wickedness and show no inclination to change for the better. I am not confident that for such people extending their existence for aeons will incline them to change for the better, rather than for the worse. The disturbing fact is that there are some truly devilish people out there who simply don't seem like they'll ever change. But at the same time I know that God's capacity to change even the most darkened of hearts is not bound by my concievability. In the end, it seems to me that since God is a maximally great being, his love will pursue us forever. And who can run away from the love of God forever?
