Heaven & Hell

Dear Victorious,

With all the religious tradition, what are we to make of heaven and hell? I mean, how should we think about heaven and hell?

Heaven Bound

Dear Heaven,

You ask an interesting question. There are many metaphors and much symbolism. I imagine if you ask even the most advanced theologians such a question - they would answer with more metaphors and imagery.

The thing about God is that He asks us to believe that which isn't seen. And so it is with heaven and hell. The truth is that nobody has ever seen either place - and lived to tell about it. Moreover, God hasn't given anyone any specific visions of either place. We have Bible verses that give us clues, but again they come in the form of metaphors and imagery.

Concepts like "streets of gold" or "fiery pit of burning sulphur" aren't exactly helpful to thinking about heaven or hell. But they paint a picture of a glorious or horrible place. Often Christians must get comfortable with ambiguity. God just doesn't find it necessary to give us the details. He asks us to live with the unanswered questions. I believe this is the case with heaven and hell.

What we've been told about both places leads us to two conclusions:

1. Heaven is a place where we will exist that will be more enjoyable than the human mind is even capable of imagining or beginning to comprehend.

2. Hell is a place where we will exist that will be more wretched and miserable than the human mind is even capable of imagining or beginning to comprehend.

And so it is that we will never really comprehend either heaven or hell until we get there.

And that is how we should think about it.

We have to take God at His word. Jesus said He would go and prepare a place for us. It will be heavenly. It will be good. We have to trust Jesus that it will be worth the wait and worth the effort.