On Hell

Here's an interesting what-if...

What if Hell is a choice? Like, we stay there if we continue to embrace our sin, but then jet out of there as soon as we get over it?

This has some interesting parallels with life here. It's generally believed that doing good stuff is ultimately rewarding, whereas being bad might seem fun but ends up sucking. Yet people continue to do bad. Obviously, we've got some learning issues to contend with as a species. Or, all of us goody-goodies really need to get out more and see what it's really about.

But, there are some really elegant things about this viewpoint. It resolves why some people end up there - they just won't leave! We don't have to blame God for that. And as well, the unpleasantness they're dealing with is just part of the package.

Also, if it sounds absurd, there are a million examples of people choosing misery over and over, when freedom is right across the hall. Abuse victims, addicts, and Cubs fans just for starters.

There's a well-known technique for catching raccoons (which also works on monkeys and small children I'm told) where you place something shiny in a hole with an opening just large enough to get your hand in. The victim grabs the bauble and, because the full fist is larger than the unladen appendage, the hand becomes trapped. Being unwilling to let go, the unfortunate creature remains in this state indefinitely.

There's also a depressingly cruel experiment from back when such things were fashionable where a small, cuddly animal was placed in a cage with an electrified floor. When it was turned on, the experimentee would try to escape for some time, but would eventually accept the hopeless fate it was given and just accept the pain. Where it gets really heinous is when the researchers opened the cage - after learning once that escape was impossible, the test subject wouldn't try any more even with easy escape possible.

So, I didn't include that anecdote just because I was too happy and really needed a downer, but instead to make the point that we often choose the more painful way, because it's familiar, because we think we deserve it, because we think we can't do any better, or because we think there's a perk that makes it worth it. Maybe if we don't go to heaven, it isn't because we can't, but because we won't.