Yesterday I read “A Soul in Hell: The Story of Annette” , and it got me thinking about the existence of hell, which is something I normally try to avoid doing. Anyway, some thoughts came up.
Hell’s eternity is something that I find I would like to doubt, hoping that at the end of all time, we find that it actually had some merciful limit. But this may not be the case, and it would be because people truly are capable of wanting to suffer for ever. By way of analogy, we can consider people with no faith in the afterlife – so for them this life is all there is – and don’t many of them occupy all their time with thoughts of hatred and revenge? Do they treasure very moment? After all, isn’t this life itself all they have? In the same way, it would be easy to see that if we have enough hatred or self-love or pride, we would carry on treasuring these negative feelings for ever.
The nature of hell – how bad can it be? And why does God allow it to be so bad? One explanation I though of is that hell is simply where hateful souls can do what they like, and where they are all-powerful as they are in their own fantasies and dreams. I use the word “they” but I too am sometimes (often) like the hateful character in Dostoevsky’s “Notes from the Underground“, dreaming of exacting revenge for the slightest offences caused by strangers in the street. Imagine a place where everyone had the power to get back at everyone else, non-stop, always wanting to have the last word and always going one up in their efforts to hurt their enemies. The film “Changing Lanes” is a great illustration of this attitude – and there is NO reason to think that just because we die and are born to eternal life, that we suddenly grow up and change into loving people, willing to let go of grudges and our own sense of right.
Also, when I think about the reality of hell, I suppose it could be the start of some wisdom. After all, if we truly do believe in hell, we must see it as an immensely terrible thing that we should use ALL our resources to avoid, and with this attitude, all the passing problems of this life take on a secondary importance. If we then go on to truly try and get to know God and see Him for what He is, the Father Who makes Himself poor to come close to us, to see the immensity of His love, then also detachment from the world would be the logical result.
Can my faith be measured simply by my detachment?
ROSARY and LECTIO DIVINA, Michael127 