In just about every culture and religion
that’s ever existed there seems to be at least one common
thread:
There must be something more to life than
what we experience on an everyday basis.
There seems to be a suspicion that:
- Death isn’t the end of our
existence.
- Even though our physical bodies die,
are consciousness and self-awareness do not.
- Dying is a necessary step to
something else.
- Hopefully, wherever we go, it’s better
than what we have now!
The ultimate question is what is that something
else? There certainly are many ideas and opinions of what
that might look like.
Some say it’s a paradise where no pain
exists. A state of infinite peace and incredible happiness.
A place with billowing white clouds where a bearded old man
called God sits
on a throne.
Perhaps it’s a place out of a sci-fi movie
where we simply exist as a higher level of consciousness and
wisdom. Or could it possibly be just a ghostly spirit world
where the dead wander around for all eternity?
It’s really impossible to know exactly
what happens after we die, but one religious source has quite
a bit to say about it:
The Bible basically states that there are
two places that we can end up: the first one is called Heaven
and as you probably suspected, the second is called Hell.
Here’s how the Bible
describes Heaven:
- It’s a place of perfect peace and joy.
- In heaven we are perfectly in tune with
God.
- Heaven is a place where fear, pain and
sickness do not exist.
- It’s a real place, an actual city with
streets paved out of Gold.
Whether these statements are metaphors
describing a place of indescribable beauty we are not sure.
But the Bible does make one point absolutely clear:
Here’s what the Bible has to say about
Hell:
- Hell is a place for those people that
have rejected God.
- The description of Hell is one of fire
and torment.
- You are eternally separated from the
love and presence of God!
The last point is really bad news. Just
in case you might not understand the word eternal, it means
forever. If it’s really true, imagine never being able to
have another chance to experience the love and presence of
God.
No matter what the stereotypical images
of Hell might be, whether it’s pointy-eared devils with pitchforks
or not, hell is definitely an awful place and one to avoid.
The Bible tells us that Heaven and Hell
really exist, and even though the Bible describes Heaven as
a place of unimaginable joy in the afterlife, it spends much
more time explaining:
To learn more about how to live this exciting
life please explore some of the following links: Discover,
Jesus, Gospel,
Choose.
Do visit us at Storyteller Church, a church in Irvine and be a part of our exciting and thought provoking "Discovery" meetings.
© Copyright 2009 Storyteller Church
