How do you envision Heaven? Is it a place where you can do whatever you want? When you picture it, what do you do all day? If you’re to be honest with yourself, can you possibly imagine how you wouldn’t be bored???

The whole “harp and sitting on a cloud” image doesn’t sound like a reward for a life well lived.

And there’s the punch line. Heaven isn’t simply a reward for a life well lived, any more than birth is simply a reward for being in your mother’s womb for 9 months.

Heaven is justice. So is Hell.

If your ideal vision of Heaven is being with friends, eating at luxurious banquets, listening to music, not having pressures or dependencies, then God is not going to punish you by sending you someplace that does not meet your vision. To you, the real Heaven might seem like Hell.

Just imagine, what if our earthly visions of Heaven and Hell are wrong? What if Heaven is an eternal drudgery, and Hell is daily pleasures?

Where would you want to go?

What if Heaven is eternal obligations spent with God and Hell is daily pleasures spent with all your friends? Now where do you want to go?

God loves us far too much to eternally send us where we wouldn’t be fulfilled. That is justice.

Our eternal life is not a reward for living life, it is the fulfillment of how we lived life.

Heaven is a place where your kids chew with their mouths closed

Heaven may really be an eternal bond with God, but to those who want to be there, that is exactly how they wish to spend eternity – with God. They want to be with Him, not because He promises them happiness, but because being with Him IS happiness. It defines happiness. More than that, it defines the pure joy and peace for which they spent their lives in pursuit.

Heaven may indeed be a glorious banquet filled with delightful fatty goodies. It may have an exclusive guest list of your favorite authors and celebrities, a dress code of those fancy clothes you’ve been looking for an excuse to wear and certain table manners may indeed be required of those dining on luxurious food. The other guests and host are the very people with whom I wish to spend eternity, in a room filled with peace and joy.

The room is so incredibly peaceful and joyful because everyone there:

• appreciates the exclusivity of the event
• savors the delicious flavor of every bite of the meal
• and is eating in harmony

Indeed, following the “rules” (dress code and table manners) of the banquet has resulted in a meal in which none of my children fight at the table. They all desire to be at the meal on time, dressed in their best suit and tie. Even the itchiest fancy Christmas dress is no longer itchy. They are assured that there will be enough food and seats for all who attend, and wish to please their Host in both their dress and their ability to chew with their mouth closed. Even better, they don’t talk with their mouths full because they want to relish every morsel.

In my vision of Heaven, everyone wishes to follow the rules because they are pleasing both to themselves and their heavenly host. They are then “rewarded” with pleasures even better than we can possibly imagine on Earth.

For people who choose Hell, they would be eternally bored in Heaven. God’s presence is an afterthought while on earth, and would be an eternal annoyance in the afterlife. Why would you want to spend an eternity with someone you ignored during your life?

If justice demands not sending someone to Heaven who would not be fulfilled there, why would someone choose Hell?

Hell is wanting to eat spoiled food with someone else’s bratty kids

On the rare occasions that I get to go out for an indulgent meal, I tend to REALLY  enjoy my food. After a delicious appetizer, I look forward to the next course expecting to wallow in bacon fat of some sort. After the main course, while my tummy may be full, and even hurting a bit, the dessert menu is usually filled with tempting decadent chocolate goodies. I know my lumpy areas don’t need a flourless chocolate torte, and I will regret the indigestion from eating more, I just can’t resist.

At that point, if my husband says “are you really going to eat that???” I will likely shoot him daggers. While his intention is to inspire me to keep to my goals of being healthy and fit, his reminder to lay low on the sweets makes me annoyed by his presence. The last thing I want is to be around someone who reminds me I’m failing at a goal.

Even though I know each delicious bite is causing pain (and a bigger butt), I keep going in for more. That’s my vision of Hell. You push away those you love and cause yourself more pain.

That is the Hell we may choose upon death. It may feel good, while it slowly burns and eternally consumes you. Our very definition of pleasure is pain.

Let’s take a step further. What if your definition of pleasure becomes warped due to your addictions of food? So, while you may have been a foodie at one point, in Hell you now find animal feed and spoiled milk delectable. Or worse, you become so addicted that, while your taste buds and mind may know this Hell-banquet is disgusting, you find yourself not only unable but unwilling to stop eating. Your personal Hell becomes a never ending banquet in which you want to devour endless foul food that makes you sick with each bite.

Everyone around you is yelling with food in their mouths. It sprays on your face and you lick it off. You just can’t get enough of this stuff. Your kids may be in Heaven, peacefully, but you are mad at them, both for not being with you and not understanding that your experience in Hell is the right choice. You convince yourself that you don’t want to be with them for an eternity anyway. They would just spoil all your fun.

If you really dig deep, how do you want to live each day, not just now, but for an eternity? If you consider the joy and harmony that could be brought about by living now the way God suggests, would you be willing to try it for a day? A week?

Heaven may indeed have banquets and friends, but if that’s the only reason you want to go, then it really has nothing to do with God. You’re not fooling Him, although perhaps you’re fooling yourself.