A Practical Look at HEAVEN & HELL

Part 2: our Final Breath
(the “eternal instant” between life & death)

Especially when it comes to Heaven & Hell, the Bible is – to say the least — a most intriguing tome; sometimes contradictory, often confusing … and yet always insightful.

As a prime example, let’s take a quick glance at three verses from the Gospel of John:

*“He who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” ~ Jesus in John 3:36

*“For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son.” ~ Jesus in John 5:22

*“I pass judgment on no one.” ~ Jesus in John 8:15

How can we reconcile these passages? They are all written by the same author, are all found in the same book, and are all supposedly uttered by the same man, and yet they seem quite clearly to contradict one another.  When we add in Jesus’ brilliant treatise on God’s perfect LOVE being given to all without blemish or condition – that we too are to forgive and care for others without exception (see specifically Matthew 5:40-48), then things get even more puzzling.

After all, a God who judges no one cannot also send anyone His wrath. And just as clearly, a God would not give all judgment to a Son who then refuses to do that judging (maybe “the Son” in this verse doesn’t refer to Jesus … hmmm).

And on top of that, if all of these teachings are indeed authentic, what are we to make of Jesus’ (albeit sparse) Biblical warnings about Hell & damnation & the torment due to “sinners” (mostly found in the book of Matthew)?

Some Christians attempt to reconcile this conundrum by stating that it is somehow the “sinners” themselves who openly abandon God’s grace and thereby consciously choose to burn for eternity in the “unquenchable fire”, and yet such a position is simply not tenable, as even the most radical of masochists would never willingly choose such a fate.

Besides, if such a God truly is all-potent and truly did create the entire Universe, then He also created the system of deliverance that by its very nature mandates that billions of fallible humans continue to make such an ill-informed choice. As such, at the very least by indirect omission – at the very least by knowing that these poor choices will be made and doing nothing to stop them (much less dampen their consequences once they are chosen), such a God is directly implicated as a deity who does indeed judge & condemn.

So what are we to make of all this?

Well, for Christians & non-Christians alike, we are essentially left with two primary alternatives: either the Bible contradicts itself (leaving us to choose which interpretation we each like best) OR …

Maybe Jesus was talking about something else.  Maybe he was warning us about a very real psychological phenomenon that visits every single sentient being in the final moments of their lives.

Considering the gravity of the consequences if this proves to be the case, it will be worthwhile for each of you to earnestly ponder the explanation that follows …

*For starters, realize that time is not an objective essence that can be perceived consistently, but rather is repeatedly reconstructed by the brain perceiving it. In essence, time doesn’t make us, we make time — literally.

*It has also been established that different conscious beings perceive the passage of time differently, and even that a single conscious being will often perceive the same span of time very differently as well. Albert Einstein summed this Truth up well when he jokingly noted that, “When you sit with a nice girl for two hours, you think it’s only a minute. But when you sit on a hot stove for a minute, you think it’s two hours.”

*Well, and here’s the rub, it is quite probable that this “time stretching” phenomenon becomes acutely crystallized during a person’s last moment of consciousness.

You see, in the moment that the body-mind ceases to function, there is nothing left for us humans to use to measure the passage of time. This “final breath” moment may seem like but a split second to those witnessing that transition, and yet for the one doing the transitioning, this final moment of consciousness stretches smoothly yet steadily into eternity.

Now I’m not saying that it becomes eternity, of course, and yet I am postulating that this last moment literally FEELS like forever.

And this dramatic slowing of time is important, for it allows all those experiencing it to “reap what they have sown” most vividly.  For those who have lived lives primarily in self-sacrificial LOVE for others, such an “eternal moment” is perceived as raw Bliss – a soft & steady shower of Gratitude & Joy.

And for those who have chosen to primarily live lives of satisfying their desires, rationalizing their aggressions, justifying their condemnations &/or cowering from their fears, then this moment truly becomes “the wrath of God” … this final moment truly becomes Hell. For these folks will realize in that moment what the priceless Gift of Life was truly all about — that we are here to Give and not to receive; that we are here to serve and not to be served. And they realize that they have squandered this Gift — & they realize that there is nothing more that they can do about it.

AND YET, how fortunate it is for us all that none of us are required to suffer such an awful fate!

How brilliant it is that we can choose today to turn our lives around, and begin to live for others as opposed to for ourselves!

How wonderful it is that we can choose to be inspired by the admonishments of Jesus (indeed, by the teachings of all the saintly founders of all the world’s religions) – that we can be inCouraged to first awaken to our pure interconnection with others, and then to fully “repent”* thereafter.

Jesus, along with many other great saints & prophets, emphasized repeatedly that our time is short, that our own personal Day of Judgment will come unexpectedly “like a thief in the night”; that we must prepare for such a coming as though it were coming tomorrow; and that we must live consciously as if it is coming today.

Amen … Let it be so.

“And come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment. ” ~ Jesus in John 5:29

“Fear not, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom. ” ~ Jesus in Luke 12:32

*(Please note:  the Biblical word translated into English as “repent” comes from the Greek word “metanoia”, which means “a shift in mind & heart” — a radical shift in one’s inner being that comes from a radical shift in one’s outer behaviors.)

Filed under: A few favorite Religionators by Scaughdt