WHERE IS HEAVEN & HELL?
Is heaven “up” beyond the clouds? Is hell “down” someplace in the molten lava and fire of earth? When I was a kid, I was told heaven was up in the sky and hell was down in the deep earth someplace. At least I perceived heaven as up and hell as down. Supposedly, heaven was a place of great music and a peaceful co-existence where the “lions lay down with the lambs”. I was also taught hell was a place of torment and never ending fire and brimstone where sinners and bad people go. Of course, I know both concepts are theoretical today, but the subject matter still makes for a good philosophical debate. Where is heaven? Where is hell?
The Bible and other spiritual books teach us that heaven is a place where the Kingdom of God, Spirit, and Son reside. In my humble opinion, I still believe hell “must” be the direct opposite of heaven. Similar to my childhood stories of “up” and “down”, but with a little twist. The Kingdom of God must have “many mansions”. Heaven must be the ultimate in perfection and spiritual awareness, and heaven must have an actual physical place of residence.
Hell must be completely devoid of . . . and completely unaware of the Holy Trinity of goodness. Hell “must” consist of nothingness. Hell must be a place where goodness simply doesn’t exist. Hell must be devoid of anything remotely spiritual, and in fact, must be devoid of any matter or spiritual presence. It made no sense to me as a child (or as an adult for that matter) why there would be a physical place called hell where all the bad people could be given the opportunity to plan more evil doings. Choosing “nothingness” or “hell” must be a choice decided upon by an individual human in a lifetime. All teachings point to the fact that we have a choice to embrace either heaven or hell. So if heaven is eternal and hell is a non-existence of matter, (in my opinion) just what are the choices we must make to gain this heaven or hell?
I believe there’s only one way to be rewarded with entrance through heaven’s gates and the many schools of higher learning. I believe we get through heaven’s gates by seeking to do good deeds and by seeking to know God. We must make a conscious choice to find and acknowledge spirituality in our everyday lives. It seems to me the most important choice we can make as human beings is to “seek” the heaven that exists within each of us. (The potential goodness or spirit within us all.) In the end, we are the choices we make in our lifetime. Those small and large choices we make each and every day in recognizing we’re all brothers and sisters on this planet, and that God exists above us all. Those choices apparently lead to heaven’s gates at our death, or to a nothingness existence. A nothingness forever would be the ultimate hell.
Imagine “knowing” we have made it to heaven’s gates, only to be judged unworthy of existing for eternity and sent into a devoid of nothingness. Now that’s hell! Now, imagine getting to heaven’s gates and finding those small little choices we made every day as a human being, added up to a “pass” for eternity and for continued spiritual learning. Now that’s heaven! Where do you think heaven and hell is? How do you get there? I’d love to hear your opinion.