Afterlife: Heaven and Hell

Afterlife 2

Heaven and Hell

by Daniel Carandang

written by Ana Andres

(Listen to the podcast as you read! Just click here!)

 One of the most mysterious ideologies from the bible is probably the concept of Heaven and Hell.  It’s a popular notion but each one perceives it differently; different religions saying differently from the other, Hollywood romanticizing it, several people speaking about different testimonies on Heaven and Hell and it either leaves us seeking or not believing.

 

 Truth is, regardless of how diversely it is perceived by different people, HEAVEN AND HELL IS VERY MUCH FOR REAL(Yes, it is real!). Having established this fact, it still poses several questions no one can seem to answer. 

Questions such as; what happens to aborted babies?  What about those people with mental defects? While we are here on earth, we will probably not be able to answer all these but that’s because there are things that remains a mystery. That does not mean however that we are to disregard of this truth. God has revealed enough for us to believe and hold on to His truth. As it says in Deuteronomy 29:29 “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.”

 

So, what are the things that God has revealed about the afterlife?

 

In Luke Chapter 16, Jesus tells a parable about a rich man and Lazarus. The rich man lived in luxury while Lazarus who was poor and laid at the rich man’s gate. They both died and went to two different places. One was suffered and one was comforted. Here, the truth that there is an afterlife is affirmed. A person does not become nothing after death and more so, that there is a stop over. He either goes to Heaven or Hell.

 

What does Heaven and Hell look like though?

 

Let’s start with Hell. Oftentimes, people have a very romanticized picture of Hell. It’s not surprising that people conceive it as the “fun” and the “better” place to go to after death as opposed to Heaven. The Evil one wants to convince us that we are able to bring to Hell the worldly pleasures. He wants us to think that there is where thrill is and that Heaven is plain and boring. But let me tell you what the Bible says about Hell; in Mark 9:43-44 it says, “if your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life crippled, than, having your two hands, to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched”.  

The Greek word used for hell refers to the valley of Hinnom near Jerusalem, which was a garbage dump where fire constantly burned furnishing a graphic symbol of eternal torment. I don’t know about you but this does not sound fun at all. Imagine every single part of your body being burnt. You will feel the pain every second of it and what’s worse is that, it never ends. It goes on for eternity. 

But it doesn’t end there, the worst part is, there’s no escape! Just like the story of Lazarus in Luke 16:24-26, “So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’” And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us”. 

This isn’t a joke and if God were really really serious, can we really afford to risk our eternity? Some argue that if God were really a loving God, why would he send us to a place of eternal suffering? He does not want to and that is why despite our sins and wickedness, He did whatever it took to save us from the fiery lakes of hell but if despite this, we remain to be stubborn and reject His gift of eternal life in Heaven, we will be bound to where we deserve to be. Yes, God is loving but He is also just.

 

Now on the other hand, Heaven is a place of paradise beyond our wildest fascinations. This is where all our earthly suffering will end and where eternal joy will begin. It says in Revelation 21:4-5, “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true”. 

All that we have, all of our possessions, wealth and what we go through today are temporary. NO MORE PAIN. NO MORE SUFFERING. We will be living in a God-filled place!

 

However, Heaven seems too good to be true for sinners and no matter what we do, it just seems like it’s out of our reach.  But the good news is, Jesus already paid the price! He paved the way so we may have eternal life in Heaven. If you have received this gift and believed in your heart that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior, that’s great see you in Heaven! 

If you haven’t, it is not yet too late. Salvation is for everyone because truth is, everyone will fall short of the standards of God. No matter how little you think your sins are. Sin is sin and the standard of God is perfection. That’s the thing, right? Nobody is perfect and the bible says, our good works, charity, and sacrifice wont save us. Only Jesus can. And because God the Father saw how doomed we were, out of immense love, He sent His One and Only Son to come down from His throne in order to share in our humanity so that He may suffer death and break the power of the devil that holds death. And because he became fully human having to experience temptations and suffering but overcoming these all without flaw, He is the only one qualified and He will qualify us through His blood if only we accept Him as our Lord and Savior.