Sunday, October 31, 2010

My take on Heaven & Hell

Let me just go ahead and say before I start that no words and no phrasing in English or any other language can ever even begin to describe the joy found in Heaven and the suffering found in Hell. I capitalize both of them because I completely believe that they both exist as real places. Alright, so, here we go, Heaven, then Hell.
Heaven
Heaven blatantly is eternal togetherness with God. The subsequent infinite amount of happiness and joy that go along with that cannot even be imagined. The faithful few in the Bible, like Moses, who actually got a chance to see God in all His glory were forever changed, they could do nothing but fall flat on their faces before Him in complete surrender of how broken and in need of Him that they were. Moses had to cover his face with a veil after being in the Lord's presence because his face literally glowed. In a similar way, this is how it will feel in heaven. As Trip Lee puts it "A million years later, the joy is the same". But that just really cannot do it justice, because a million years in heaven is nothing compared to ETERNITY, a literal never ending amount of time, or, to some, a place where time simply has no meaning at all. I will not go into the theology of the passage of time in regards to the after life one way or another, believe what you will. I agree with Wesley in that once you die, you are immediately at the end of time, after everyone and everything in the universe has ceased to exist, because time has no meaning and part of your eternal joy is being with your loved ones forever. I also believe that everyone will have a job so to speak. The job that you have will be determined by determined by how you spent your time here on Earth. I am not saying that if you did nothing useful as a Christian on Earth that you will be a toilet cleaner, although that is completely possible. I am saying that if you spend your time on Earth preaching the Gospel to everyone you meet and living your life by the example that Jesus set that you will have a really, really awesome job like God's golf buddy or something. That is the best way that I can put, and that is how I see it being.
Hell
First off, I just want to quote Paul, the pastor at Summit Crossing here in Huntsville, "We should not try to scare people of hell, partially because there is no words or way to relate the horror of it...we should use God's living and active Word to show His love to the world, to bring real truth to people" That is probably not word for word what he said, but pretty close. Do not get me wrong, people should be afraid of Hell, but we should not use the idea of Hell to try to scare people into Heaven, it just does not work that way. For more insight into this, watch Nooma with Rob Bell (youtube "Bullhorn Guy", you will find it), he puts it better than I can. Anyway, the Bible defines Hell as eternal separation from God. Here on Earth we have open communication with God through His Holy Spirit within us, but imagine a place where, even if you want to, you cannot communicate with God, Jesus, or the Holy Spirit in any way. Directly, I picture Hell as an eternal blackness, so expansive that you cannot reach out and touch anything and you cannot see anything, you cannot walk or anything, you are just suspended in an eternal darkness. To accompany this, there is unbearable pain that cannot be compared to any form of torture imaginable on this Earth. The Bible puts it as "where there is gnashing of teeth, and the fire is never quenched". So, there is unimaginable pain and suffering both externally and internally in the form of just pure pain, probably in the form of fire, but on top of that, you will never know God's love again, nor love of any kind. You will never be able to see your loved ones or anyone. And this suffering never gets any less, unlike electricity and other forms of torture here on Earth that the body can become used to and lessen the pain of, through endorphins or some other form of adaptation. No, this suffering never gets to be any less, and it lasts for ETERNITY. Utter unimaginable torment and loneliness forever with no hope of it ever stopping. That is how I picture hell.
Conclusion
I also believe that every single person that does not get to hear about God and anyone who rejects God will be sent to Hell, no exceptions. Think about it, if everyone who did not hear about God got a "get out of Hell free card", then telling them about God and his Gospel would be the worst thing that we could possibly ever do to them, and we know that this is not true because the Bible is absolutely filled from cover to cover with messages that it is our job as Christians to "go forth and make disciples of all nations". For this reason, it is our RESPONSIBILITY as Christians and followers of Jesus Christ to go forth and tell the "Good News" to all nations so that no person goes to hell. There is no "I am just not called to do that" or "only some people are called to do that", ALL of God's children who have been blessed with the knowledge of Him and His Son owe it to the world to tell everyone about Him. David Platt manages to summarize this into a single line in his book Radical (which everyone should be required to read, Page 74:) "Every saved person this side of heaven owes the gospel to every lost person this side of hell." SERIOUSLY, not a joke, God calls all of us to Radical abandonment to His purpose, which is bringing the Good News to everyone. Worried about what you will wear, eat, drink, where you will sleep? Read the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), they are completely filled with images of how, if God clothes, shelters, and feeds birds, grass, and flowers so well, how much more will he provide for His children who are doing His will? Think about it...

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