One thing that is very important in religion is the after life. Earth is a journey to something better and an eternity with God. This is a relief to all that is worried about death. The idea that we will spend eternity with God is overwhelming. Of course its scientifically hard to prove. There is no proof of heaven and there is no proof that we will go there. I believe in Heaven and I believe that we will all be with God. I do not need science to prove this. To me it just makes common sense, when we die, we go to heaven. It is a question about faith.
One thing that does annoy me is that people are threatened about heaven. If we do not do 600 hundred things, we will go to hell. The whole threat of hell, where we will burn for eternity conflicts with the God I know and love. The use of hell is a threat by the Church (not just the Catholic Church) to keep us in line. To show us that sin has consequences. I know that this could be extreme, and I respect that many believes in hell. But then we would have to define what hell is. Is it a fiery place, where we are tormented for eternity, or is it a state of mind, where we realise the sins that we have committed and regret them. I believe that hell is a state of mind, where we realise our weak sides and repent and are very sorry about them.
Hell should be here on earth. Madonna once said that she was raised as a Catholic, and even though she is now something else, she will always be a catholic. The Catholic church has taught her to have a conscience. This is very true. I believe that all humans, religious or not realise what they have done something wrong. The problem is when we have the Victorian mentality, that it is only wrong when we are caught. Which is of course wrong. Hell is here on earth. What do I mean by that? When I realise I committed a sin, I should reflect on why it was a sin. A sin to me is where I have hurt God, others or myself. The hell is realising that we have hurt someone. Who really wants to hurt someone? So to me, we should start thinking that hell is here on earth.
It is not only ourselves. There is sin everywhere. Look around you. I do not have to list them here. The problem is that the Victorian mentality that I have spoken about is still popular. People do not have time to reflect on where they sin. They do not have time to ask for forgiveness. We think more about time than we do about our actions. For these people, they will experience their hell when time catches up to them. It can be when have a life crises, go on pension or even sit on the toilet. The Hell is how did we waste our lives on things that do not matter? How can we have hurt ourselves and others? This has happened to me. I was hit by a life crises, and then asked myself how could I have been such a lousy husband, father and friend. How have I sinned so much, that so many people have been hurt? This was a hell on earth for me and forced me to evaluate my life.
This is the positive thing with the concept of hell. It is not a threat of fire and whatever, It is a personal hell, that forced us to evaluate or lives, and repent. The most important thing here is that we learn by our mistakes and improve. We become better people. A personal hell leads to repentance, improvement and more love. Imagine what the world would look like if we all believed this?
The bottom line for me is that God is not a sadist, that wants us to suffer. He wants us to be responsible enough to take responsibility for our sins, and work at becoming better people. This means that Hell is here on earth. Earth is a travel to something better. The "hell" is the work and pain that it involves
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