Heaven and Hell

Heaven and Hell are familiar concepts, but I feel like they can be easily misunderstood by looking at popular depictions. When I was younger, I would probably describe them as: “that place with all the fire and demons” and “the place where everyone sits on a cloud and plays the harp.” Not exactly the most compelling description, but it is what came to my mind. To my credit I didn’t have much to go off other than the occasional R.E class or YouTube videos. But most of all what bothered me was how cruel it all seemed, to me it was unexplainable. So, how would I explain Heaven and Hell?

Hell

So, here’s a question: “how can a loving God send people to hell for eternity? Would he not want them to just go to Heaven?” This is a question that I know a lot of us have asked. It is rather confusing to think of God being so cruel. However, it is because of two things we know about God and humanity, namely that God is love and that people are free.  

The first is God is love. Isn’t that an odd sentence? Because I am not saying that ‘love’ is something God does from time to time, nor am I saying that God could ‘love’ one moment then hate the next. Rather, what I am saying is that love is the essence of God's being, God's very nature is love. 

Secondly, we are free. By ‘free’ I mean that we have the free will to do whatever we chose to. This includes our freedom to reject or accept God and reject God's love for us. As well as our freedom to harm others and to harm ourselves.  

So, God is love, and we are free to reject God. But what is hell? What is with all the fire and torment that people talk about? Hell is our final and definitive ‘No’ to God – the full and unambiguous rejection of God. As C.S. Lewis said, “the doors of hell are locked from the inside.” Which is to say that it is through our own actions we lock God and his love out of our lives.

What then must that be like to separate yourself from the source of all love? Really think about what the absence of love itself would be like. Simply put it would be what the Bible describes as a fire and darkness, or in other words it would be hell.

Heaven

We now know a bit about hell, so what about heaven? Like I mentioned in the beginning there are some common ideas about heaven that get it very wrong. Heaven is not a load of people on clouds wearing neat and tidy white robes. In fact, it is not even a place that is separated from Earth where we will be disembodied souls. If hell is the absence of God, then heaven is where we are in God's presence - infinite in all measures.

Heaven can be described through the lens of creation and restoration. God created the heavens and the earth perfectly, but because of sin, our union with God was damaged leaving us separated from Him. However, the Bible tells us that there will be a New Heaven and a New Earth restoring the full unity of creation to its God. And this isn’t just something that’ll happen sometime in the far future. We see this through Jesus’ life on earth. The restoration of the world began when God became human, entering into His creation to heal the wounds of sin. He did this so that we can be restored to who we are meant to be as humans – a part of heaven. 

This may be surprising to hear that we will be on Earth ‘in heaven’, and probably raises more questions than it answers. I can’t answer each one in this article, but I would like to show you a snippet of what this will be like. The story of the transfiguration can be easily missed. Only 9 short verses and it’s done. But what we find is Jesus revealing to Peter, James, and John a glimpse of heavenly life: “His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light.” 

Here’s one more thought from C.S. Lewis, to paraphrase: “When you die and look back on your days you will recognise them. For those in hell as hell on earth, or for those in heaven as heaven on earth.” In our lives right now we get a foretaste of what heaven is. In our friendships, our families, our loves, virtues, passions, and everything else that points to heaven; this is where we get that little glimpse of the transfigured world to come.

Closing thoughts

Hell is what we experience when we push God away from our lives – leaving us in our sin and detached from God’s love. The way the Bible describes the result of this choice is unsettling to say the least, and I don’t want to take away from that reality. But what I want you to take away from this article is that I don’t live my life in reference to hell. Hell doesn’t often cross my mind; honestly, I even find it quite boring. Instead, what I live for is Heaven. I don’t look back in fear of hell but forward to being with God in heaven and the life we hope to share in - the constant contentment of loving God and God loving you.