To Hell With Hell

[Originally published Saturday, July 22, 2006]

I’m going to tell you my thoughts about two of the most beloved and cherished institutions on the planet, heaven and hell.

Before I begin, I must plead ignorance. I don’t really know a thing about heaven or hell. I’ve never been to either as far as I know. If either exists, they will continue to do so regardless of what I believe and if neither exists, they will not be created by anyone’s insistence. For those readers who hold to them dearly, relax. My opinion is no threat to their existence.

Heaven and hell strike me as having similar characteristics to a children’s fairytale. There is a good place and a bad place. We want to go to the good place so we do good things. We don’t want to go to the bad place so we try not to do too many bad things. To a child’s mind, complexities and nuances and shades of color, do not exist. For lack of experience, or perhaps for lack of words, people are good people or bad people, nice or mean, rich or poor. As we grow up, we hopefully realize that life is richer and more complex.

In some of the more traditional Christian versions of heaven, there are streets of gold, huge beautiful buildings, mansions, endless joy and pleasure, no sickness or pain. In one popular hymn, the songwriter says, “I’ve got a mansion just over the hilltop, in that bright land where we’ll never grow old. And someday yonder we will never more wander, but walk on streets that are purest gold.” I don’t like the idea of walking on streets of gold. In fact, I try to not even walk on pavement when I can avoid it. If I have any say in the matter, I’m going to request dirt, old-fashioned dirt where plants grow and animals live.

Heaven is described as a place with no more sea. I like the sea and I find the idea of a heaven without an ocean, and of course without all the plants and animals that live there, dry and lacking something I’ve come to love. I personally have never found a place more relaxing and contemplative than an ocean shore. If there’s a heaven and there’s no sea, I will request one even if everyone thinks I’m stupid for wanting one. Being heaven, I should be able to get one, I would think.

Heaven is described as a place where the saints worship continuously throughout all eternity. They are sometimes described as wearing white robes and playing an instrument such as a harp. I’ve seen fellow Christians speak of this as something they are looking forward to, but I don’t see why. Although I enjoy worshipping God, I don’t do it all the time and I wouldn’t want to. I don’t want to sing for all eternity or worse yet, shout praises forever and ever. Don’t you think it might get a bit boring after a couple thousand years or so? We’re talking about eternity, forever and ever, never stopping. It sounds awful actually. Doing anything continuously without a break sounds monotonous. Part of the joy of life is its complexity, its richness, variety, and opportunities for learning and growing and changing, exploration. Also, I don’t intend on wearing anything in heaven. I don’t like clothes now. I’m not ashamed of my body here. Why would I feel the need to cover up there?

Again, it all just seems childish. Why would a loving God send people to a place to be tormented forever and ever with no hope of escape? What would be the point? As imperfect, self-centered, and angry as I often am, I wouldn’t send anyone to hell. Why would a loving Creator do such a thing? Heaven and hell are unworthy of such a Creator. They are just too simplistic. Anything as beautiful and complex as this universe, and this planet in particular, deserves a noble encore. To follow Niagara Falls or Yosemite National Park or a breaching whale with walking on streets of gold in a white robe while playing a harp would not be an improvement.

I would like to offer an alternative to heaven and hell. Again, I do so with humility knowing that whatever is does not need my approval to be. However, I must hold to the truth as I see it and in good conscience can believe it to be. It seems to me that for most people, heaven and hell serve the function of rewarding good deeds and punishing bad ones. In my perfect universe, to the exact extent that a person gives, he receives. When he raises his hand to attack another, he attacks himself. Whatever he does to another, he does in exact degree to himself, whether it is benevolent or destructive. His developing personality becomes his own reward or punishment. He is building the home in which he must live.

Being a loving, compassionate person is its own reward and being a hateful, bitter, evil person is its own punishment. What could be better or worse than living with one’s own character for eternity, not frozen in time in some eternal location of heaven or hell, but ever growing, changing, developing, responding, choosing to embrace the loving presence of one’s Creator or denying it, moving first this way, then that?

I believe that life continues after our earthly death. I think that if we die as a kind, compassionate person, we begin in the next realm as a kind, compassionate person and if we die a bitter, hateful person, we begin in the next realm as a bitter, hateful person. We lose nothing. We take everything with us because how we respond to each situation has become us.

Is the rest of creation obsessed with what happens after earthly death? Are other animals and plants looking forward to heaven or fearing hell? Which place would be appropriate for the overly zealous male rabbit, mating with every available female or worse yet, another male? Which place would be appropriate for the chimpanzee who hunts down, torments, and finally kills a fellow chimpanzee? I don’t believe that life is about perfection. I believe it’s about love, about growth, revealing the character of the Creator through our daily choices, being conformed to the Creator’s character through whatever circumstances we encounter. Our character, our identity, our experience of trust and gratitude or fear and anger, these become our daily and “eternal” heaven or hell, “places” of our own making and choosing, “places” that can be modified and changed as we grow in love with, or resist the love of, our marvelous Creator.

Dare I say, “To hell with hell?” I resent the notion of hell. I believe the looming threat of everlasting torment has done little good for human beings, but much harm. It hangs like a cloud over the heads of those who fear it, making death, and thus life, something to be dreaded rather than embraced. When I hike in the mountains each day, I see plants and animals in every stage of life. Death is a noble and necessary stage in one’s life. As far as I know, I didn’t do anything to get myself to this beautiful place and I doubt that I need to do anything to get myself to the next.

Some Christians will quote from the gospel of Matthew where Jesus spoke of “an everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” If there is such a place, according to Jesus it wasn’t created for mankind, but “for the devil and his angels.” So why would God consign people to a place not prepared for them? Did God say one day, “Well, since I’ve already got this place prepared for the devil and his angels, I might as well use of it for people who don’t want to have anything to do with me. I know I didn’t make it for them, but I don’t know where else to put them.” I doubt it.

I trust in a loving Creator who does all things wondrously. I cannot imagine going wrong in trusting such a Creator. In the final analysis, I would rather err on the side of mercy than judgment. I believe I would be doing a disservice to myself and to others by perpetuating a belief that I not only find disturbing, but repugnant. I’m confident that my thoughts regarding the hereafter are grossly inadequate and inaccurate, but if they are even slightly less inaccurate than a traditional view of heaven and hell, then I have been nudged by the Holy Spirit and guided into a deeper truth, a truth with which I can concur and rejoice, and for this, I am grateful.

With love,

Brian