Some folks seem to think of it as just the opposite, which is quite a sad outlook if you really think about it. Brian McLaren once challenged this view with an analogy that goes something like this: If folks are being tortured in your basement, how much of a party can you really have upstairs in your living room?
I believe the point of heaven and hell is that this world matters. How we live matters. What we do with what God has given us matters.
Here's a thought: The point about heaven and hell is not the afterlife but this life. It's to motivate us for this life here and now!
Prayer: Loving and Gracious God, help me to live this day as a Citizen of Heaven. In Your Name. Amen.
Somewhere in his writings C.S. Lewis wonders aloud if hell is eternal. Maybe it's a temporary place until something essential is learned?
Maybe in the end, it's as author Rob Bell suggests, "Love Wins." This view is called "Christian Universalism." It's the belief that Jesus Christ is indeed the Savior of the world and that everyone is saved because of him, regardless if they believe in him or not. His love and grace will have the last word. "As all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ" (I Cor. 15:21-22)
Let me give the last word at the moment however to Brian McLaren:
"It's none of your business who does and does not go to hell. It is your business to be warned by it and to run, not walk, in the opposite direction! It is your business to love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, to love your neighbor as yourself, to have confidence in Jesus Christ and live as Jesus lived. Let the imagery of hell remind you that life is serious business, that there are real consequences to how we live and believe, that justice and injustice ultimately matter more than most of what people worry about. Now stop speculating about hell and start living for heaven!"
From A New Kind of Christian, p. 126
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