Heaven and Hell

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This is the hardest page for me to write at the start of this website.   I don't think a lot about these concepts, but know that a lot of people care about them so it seemed right to address the issue.  

Let's just start with some quick assertions.

Jesus Christ believed in heaven and hell.  He speaks about hell 23 times, more than any other person in the Bible.  Some people assert He even talks about it more than heaven, but that depends on how you count the heaven references.  The key point is I don't know how you can make Jesus your Lord without assuming an afterlife with both a place of goodness and a place of punishment.

The understanding of the two places has been greatly corrupted by modern media.  The descriptions of the two locations are minimal in the Bible.  There are multiple theories of what they are going to be like.  My goal in this section is to not explore the locations in detail.

Instead let's try to provide a theory to the question, "How can a Loving God have a hell?"

The first issue that comes up is are we all eternal beings.  The fact that there is a hell seems to assume this point.  After all, if our spirits could be destroyed, why wouldn't a loving God destroy us instead of sending us to hell?  

After all, if our spirits can't be destroyed, that would explain why the devil and his angels are allowed to exist.  

OK, so we are all living for eternally.  We are assuming that our memories and personalities are somehow retained in the spirit or maybe in our new bodies.  This seems like an easy thing to happen, given the software/hardware computer analogy from the early webpages, where even though a computer dies, what happens when you load its software on a new computer.  

How do we live with each other for eternity?  In the section about the meaning of death, there was the discussion that given humans nature proclivity, we would move apart to protect our own mental constructs of life.  So we have a real problem.  We might be in a perfect universe, but we won't want to be living with each other!

One solution is we might grow out of our prejudices given the perfect world.  If we didn't do this on earth, would a different environment change us?

 Or maybe, humans live all the time with people they don't like, but there are many things in life that bring us together.  If those boundaries no longer exist how would this impact our ability to live with others?

Beyond all of this, have you ever been unjustly treated?  If you have, you understands how deep that emotion feels and your desire for justice.  Doesn't hell provide a way that justice can be found?

In the salvation section, we talked about two necessary steps to be saved.  In general, the two things were a belief that God resurrected Jesus and then being humble enough to say "Jesus is Lord".   In the assumptions section, I reemphasized the need for humbleness in the human condition paragraphs.  

This is the thing about heaven.  If people are humble, primarily to God, but to other humans, too, then all of the objections, injustices, and ability to live with others can go away.  And when this goes away, intradependence can thrive and great partnerships will occur with God.  But if that base humbleness is not there, the interpersonal conflicts will never be resolved.

God/Jesus becomes the third party that makes interpersonal connections work.  My theory says that God knows all of this.  Because of this, he is forced to create both heaven and hell.  This is the final consequence of creating a being that has both a self-will and the knowledge of good and evil.  There are marvelous, incredible creations.  But as a consequence, some will overcome their own limited mental constructs while others will never be able to develop beyond them.  The ones that can't have limited themselves to a lesser position in the eternal framework of the new universe.  

I am not saying this is what reality truly is.  The Bible with the Holy Spirit is reliable, I am fallible.  All I am trying to do is create a mental understanding that makes sense so that you would not think that Christians are all nuts.  

The basic instruction of the Bible is to humbly seek God.  He is infallible.  He will find a way to make himself real to you if you are willing to give him a chance.  And until He does, read the Bible.  Find people who care for you and will tell you the truth which you can share what you are reading with.  

Things may get hairy in the future between climate change, moral decay, and political extremism we are experiencing.  I believe the God's harvest might be coming soon, but you can make it trough everything with God through Jesus Christ.