Saturday, March 09, 2013

I am not afraid of hell

Sometimes I make the mistake of reading the comments on an article or blog post that's been published on a secular website.  Never read the comments.  Ever.

But sometimes I ignore my own excellent advice and do it anyway.  Inevitably one of the themes that pops up is an athiest, maybe former Christian, maybe not, who says something about how Christians live in fear and that's a stupid reason not to do stuff and what the hell (hah! stupid pun intended!) are we really afraid of anyway?  THEY are afraid of wasting their lives worshiping a Cloud God, or some...what do they all say?  Something about a magical cookie monster or something? I can't remember.  And you know what I say to that?  ME TOO.

Fear is a really stupid reason not to do stuff.

You know what's scary?  Interviewing for a job.  Giving birth to children.  Raising children.  Buying a house.  Driving a car for the first time.  Getting married.  Staying married.  Introducing yourself to a strangers when you move to a new town.  Moving to a new town.  Moving.

Can you imagine a life devoid of all the things that might scare us?  That's not the kind of life we're meant to live.  "Scary" is not the worst thing something can be.

A wonderful, joyful, fulfilling relationship with God can never be born out of fear in the same way that a wonderful, joyful, fulfilling childhood or marriage cannot be based on fear.  Oh sure, there might be some short term "success," the kind of marriage or parent/child relationship that fools the outside world for a little while, but there will never be the heart-bursting, soul-singing happiness that comes from a relationship born of true love.

I am not afraid of hell.

I yearn for heaven.

Not the heaven of sitting on clouds playing harps while observing somber games of saintly backgammon (although if that's what would be most fun for you, I feel that surely that could be arranged.  If God can make hummingbirds happen, pretty sure He could hook you up with a harp.), but the heaven of eternal happiness, peace, joy, and love.  God doesn't send us to hell.  You guys...we CHOOSE IT.  The things the Church calls "sins" are not "bad things we shouldn't do because they'll make God mad and you don't want to make God MAD do you?  So He smites you?  Better avoid all the sins so you can avoid the smiting!"

No, no, no.

The things that will harm our relationships, the things that will hurt us, the things that will make our lives miserable and lead us to choosing a hellish way of being- God does not want us to do because He loves us.  ALL of us.  Those things, those things that will turn us away from a heavenly way of living and being, the word for those things is "sin."  Things are not bad for us because they are sins.  They are called sins because they are bad for us.

I am not afraid of hell.

I don't want to waste my time wondering how right or wrong Dante was or whether or not devils have horns and cloven hooves.  This time, this energy, these moments of our lives need to be devoted to becoming the kind of people that will bring further joy to the party of eternity.  God wants us all there.  ALL.  But if we continually insist on being the angry uncle at the barbecue who makes everyone else's afternoon miserable, how can He let us stay?

If I am afraid of anything, it is of knowing that my grandmother and my babies are already spending eternity together and I may not be worthy, by my own actions, of spending that same time with them.  That I may choose, through selfishness and laziness, to be the kind of person that isn't heavenly.  

I may be afraid of losing heaven, but I do not live in fear of hell.  

post signature
Pin It

29 comments :

  1. You said it! I'm also not afraid of death, which I tend to find most atheists are (How could they not? If death truly means the end for you and your loved ones, it's pretty scary). They live life with a completely different set of fears.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love this. So much.

    Thank You.

    ReplyDelete
  4. You got me thinking because what I do is that I try to scare my kids into not doing bad stuff because of the consecuences they will have to face (which isn´t entirely bad because they should learn that too) but I haven´t focused in teaching them that they shouldn´t do bad things because it´s bad for them and our relationship. I am not afraid of God, I think of him as my Father trying to keep me away from what will make me feel bad (just like I try to do with my kids). Anyway, this comment is unorganized, I hope you understand what I mean :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I totally know what you mean, and I don't think, per se, that it's always bad for there to be "frightening" consequences for children so they don't suffer the EVEN WORSE natural consequences (of say, cutting their fingers off with a table saw or something). The difference, as I see it, is that developmentally they are not always capable of understanding relationship yet. On the other hand, as adults, there is no need for us to obey God out of fear because we are mature enough to comprehend natural consequences and the power of Love.

      Hope that makes sense!

      Delete
  5. This is wonderful. And timely too, as I was just sitting here trying to come up with a reason why I can't make it to reconciliation today: my baby is teething, it's raining outside, I want to take a nap...

    And then this post popped up and reminded me of the CS Lewis quote that the doors of hell are locked from the inside. Indeed.

    Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Was just about to comment and mention that same quote by CS Lewis! What a powerful image.

      Delete
  6. Amen, sister! Beautifully said.

    ReplyDelete
  7. And I'm totally sharing this!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I'm so glad you wrote about this. I posted about heaven today (nowhere near as profound as this) and totally second-guessed myself till I saw yours. Now I just feel shallow :) But honestly, thank you for the image of grandmothers meeting babies and for the advice I also give myself and forget: Never, ever read secular site comments. I wish you'd write more of this kind of stuff.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I'm not afraid either. In fact, the last time i remember being afraid of hell was when I was a child. It's a childish way to believe, for sure, and not what most Christians believe.

    And um, 1,000,000% agree on the "never read secular blog post comments." I would add avoid all the ones on Patheos and other big-draw Christian sites. They are sometimes worse.

    ReplyDelete
  10. You know, you make me laugh and then you come back and make me think. You deserve an Oscar for blogging or something :)

    Also, I had no idea you had babies in heaven. I am so glad that you get to see them someday!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Yep, this is a really great post. And I never thought of it that way before; 'they're not bad for us because they're sins, they're sins because they're bad for us' S'great :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Ah Dwija...you are such a good writer.

    ReplyDelete
  13. so true! I never understood why "they" think we believe in God because we are afraid of the other side or that we dont do things because we are afraid. I will say I have run into a CCD teacher or two that did teach that way (to fear) instead of to love God and it be about the positive and My Mom went running in to take me out of the classroom lol. Anyways, great post.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Thank you, thank you, thank you. You've explained it beautifully.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Dweej, that's a beautiful way of putting it! So glad I read this.
    I heard someone on Catholic radio say that fear of punishment/Hell/etc. is enough. It's enough to go to confession for those reasons, rather than to be sorry that you sinned -- God will accept that and forgive you. But it's only the beginning of wanting not to sin. It is, as you said, a very childish way to look at sin. Children often learn to follow rules, to be kind, to work hard, and so on because at the beginning they didn't want the consequences of not doing so. But they learn to value these things for their own sakes. Same with sin. This idea atheists have that Christians are all afraid of God is absurd. And isn't it funny that most of them also think Christianity is consoling? What's consoling about living in fear?

    ReplyDelete
  16. Well put, Dwija! I appreciate how your thoughtful insights into your spiritual journey and your relationship with God always jive with mine even though we follow different paths. I live my life in the same consciousness, with a yearning for heaven as opposed to a fear of hell. Though, like you said, I do fear that I may *choose* hell (and I sometimes do! Ack.). But a fear that a vengeful, angry God will thrust me there? Nope. I LOVE what you said about how enduring, fulfilling relationships are based on love, not fear.

    Your posts are a continual confirmation of what our founder said time and again... it's not the label of the path that matters, but the heart beneath it. Do we both long for and crave a connection to God? If so, our paths aren't really different. He loves us and craves our love in return regardless of whether we call ourselves Catholic or Vaishnava. His love is not limited by our labels. The key difference (as I see it) is who connected us to His love. In your case, Jesus Christ won your heart, whereas mine's been taken by Srila Prabhupada and the predecessors before him. Either way, a compassionate son of God has taken our hand. All we have to do is keeping holding on.

    If I may be so bold, however, I'm so very curious to know what heaven looks like to you. You mentioned that God can surely award a "cloud-dwelling, harp-playing" heaven to those who wish it. And I firmly believe that as well. He's not limited to one particular kind of heavenly experience. But, if it's not too private or personal, would you be willing to share what you expect to live and experience in heaven? I understand that your family will be there with you. Do you anticipate it to be very much like life here, only with *all* your family? How would it be the same as Earth life and how different?

    ReplyDelete
  17. I am quite certain that there are mountains in heaven. And they may still have to have seasons, because every season in the mountains is my favorite (I used to exclude mud season, but now I love the mud, because it means there is wetness and less fire risk). But I agree with the commenters that mention that fear of the fires of hell is a childish fear that we need to out grow. One day I suddenly realized that hell meant eternally being separated from God. THAT is not something that I'm okay with.

    Really just wanted to say, beautiful post, and I love it.

    ReplyDelete
  18. So brilliant, Dwija. Thank you so much.

    "'Scary' is not the worst thing something can be." Words to live by.

    ReplyDelete
  19. This is a beautiful and insightful post... I think fear motivates us all to some extent, whether religious or not, and I love the way you approach the topic - it is so true that we need to face scary things to a certain extent in order to have fulfilling lives.

    It's short-sighted for atheists to say that all believers believe out of fear. Everyone is different and faith runs much deeper... Many of the people who make those comments make them out of their own fears as well.

    ReplyDelete
  20. I agree with you absolutely. And you have no idea how much comfort it gives me to hear you say it. Because I've been debating with some other Catholics lately and sadly, it seems that some people really can only think of hell. They complain that we don't hear enough about hell from the pulpit anymore (I think there's a good reason for that!) and try to explain how, based on all kinds of theological reasons, a person could be damned forever on a technicality. Honestly just today I was thinking, what if these people are right? What if God's a jerk who would send someone to hell as soon as look at them? Do I really want to be Catholic if that's what we believe?

    And then I read something like what you just wrote and I heave a sigh of relief. Of COURSE that's not what we believe. Thanks for saying this.

    ReplyDelete
  21. I hope it's not creep-tastic to comment on old blog posts, but I'm a fairly new reader and I was getting caught up. I just wanted to say that this is so beautiful... Thanks for writing it!

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...