Hell
OK, so here it is. The long awaited essay on hell. What can I say about hell, other than it's hot? I guess it's hot, anyway. Wait. Maybe I'm confusing hell with the Lake O' Fire (as one poster likes to call it). Now
that is
hot. After all, it's a lake
of fire, for crying out loud! I bet it's going to be like 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit. At least!
Hell or a lake, either way, there will be a final destination for unbelievers and other such evil people. Some say it will be a place of eternal torment. Flames -- burning but never consuming. Extreme pain, for a long, long time.
The hottest part of a candle flame, I've heard, is about 2,500°F. Now, I can pass my finger through a candle flame quickly. Or somewhat slowly, for a more impressive feat. But hold it there, even for a second or two? Ugh, no thank you! Or punish my son for, say, disobeying me by holding his hand over it for 10 seconds? Wouldn't even consider it. If I did, I should go to jail! It would be a horrible, evil thing to do, no matter
what the boy did.
Of course, I'm not God. He's got to do what He's got to do, if He likes it or not. He's just. And justice requires punishment. Forever, apparently. And I tell ya, after mere
seconds of such torture, we'll be really sorry. Really,
really sorry. But this repentance will do us no good. It's too late. We should have chosen what to believe more carefully. Either that or wish our parents had killed us when we were too young to decide. (
If the age of accountability doctrine is true!)
Others believe it's more of a mental torture -- eternal separation from God. In their minds, this is a terrible enough fate. Still others foresee a place where we evil ones will be purified. Our evil will be extracted from us, so we will become just as good (via imputed righteousness) as you. Then we can join you for a big ole party! Sure hope they're right. Or I'm right.
So, what
do I believe? You won't like it. You might want to stop reading. No? Still want to know? Don't say I didn't warn you.
Here it is: I happen to believe that there is no after-life, whether you are a believer (in whatever your religion is) or not. What some call a soul or a spirit is our awareness. Our consciousness. Our memories. Our minds. All these things are tied in to our brains. Organic material with lots of neurons and synapses, with lots of electric and chemical activity. Awareness, perception, thoughts, memories, etc. all can be affected by many things. Sleep, drugs, sickness, hormones, etc. Some of these things can, in effect, halt our awareness, temporarily (usually). We become unconscious. Neurons fire less often. Brain activity slows down, or changes in subtle ways, and these changes are reflected in our thinking and awareness. Except while we are dreaming, sleep, for all practical purposes,
stops our awareness and our (conscious) thinking. Why should death be any different? If the brain dies, with no more electric or chemical activity, why should our consciousness continue on? Why shouldn't we simply enter into eternal
unconsciousness?
The point I am making here, of course, is that I don't believe hell exists. Nor does Heaven. Not as any kind of physical or spiritual destinations that everyone goes to after death, depending on which religion they chose to follow, or how good or bad they were in this life, or on anything else.
What are the ramifications of my belief, in this area? Some would say, if there is nothing after this, what's the point to life? I say: life is its
own point! If this is all there is, then
this life -- the here and now -- is all the
more precious!
If you are expecting some kind of reward after this, and if you need such a promise in order to "be good", I'm not stopping you (and I hope you got the instructions on how to get a
good afterlife all correct). As for me, I think
being good is the best way to have a good
life, here and now. And that's true whether I'm right or wrong about an afterlife.
I still haven't quite figured it out... 
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