Heaven Can't Be All That Great; Hell Can't Be All That Bad

First, a preface...

I'm an atheist, I don't believe there's a god. I don't believe that there's an invisible entity that controls our daily lives. I don't believe there is a devil, I don't believe there are demons, or angels. I believe that man can be evil. I am afraid of people who think that the only reason they don't do bad things is because they are afraid of punishment from an omnipotent being, instead of they don't do bad things because it's the wrong thing to do. I don't put my faith into evolution, or creation. I don't really care where we came from. I don't need science to disprove religion. I know that religion is wrong, I don't need the right answer to know that another answer is wrong.

Last night, Kridz and I went to see Paranormal Activity. This movie scared the bejesus out of (or was it into) me. It kind of reminded me of a movie I saw as a child on TJ and the ANT. Where a kid gets possed by a demon that he saw in a tree as his family was moving into a new house (can't seem to figure out what movie that was).

Possession stories have always scared me. It's due to the fundamental (more mental than fun) baptist upbringing. As a kid, I didn't believe in vampires, frankenstein, wolfmen... but demon possession, that's totally believable (it goes with God worship; the anti-god).

But when you start to analyze demon possession, it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever and it actually destroys the credibility of all aspects of religion.

Ok, so what does this have to do with the title? Heaven can't be all that great; hell can't be all that bad. That's something I've thought for a long time. If you believe in heaven and hell, you probably believe it's something like this:

Heaven is awesome. Everyone is happy. There is no strife. Everyone gets along. God walks around and answers your questions about stuff. You get to see all your family members. It lasts forever.

Hell is horrible. You are tortured by demons for all eternity. There is no escape. You may see your relatives, but they are there being tortured with you. It lasts forever.

Here's the problem. If you believe in heaven and hell, then you probably believe in the god of the bible. That's the guy who made the earth 6000 years ago. He did it all in 6 days, then his all powerfulness took a day off to rest. Why does an all powerful god need to rest?

So, you probably believe in that god. Perfect, all knowing, can see the future, lives outside of time, resides in heaven, is personally involved in the day to day activities of the world.

Additionally, you probably believe in the devil. Almost as powerful as god, lives outside of time, resides in hell, is personally involved in the day to day activities of the world, except he's out to get you.

If you believe in these 2 beings, and worship one and fear the other, then you haven't read your bible *tsk tsk*.

According to Revelation 20:2, Jesus locked the Devil into the bottomless pit. So either the devil is in the bottomless pit (hell) or he's out running around free. Which is it? If he's not in the pit, then your god has released the devil to go torment humanity... does your God deserve worship for that? The other way the devil is out, would mean that he has escaped the pit... does your God deserve worship for that?

Where did the devil come from?

Most people believe that the devil used to be an angel and he rebelled with about 1/3 of the angels; because he wanted more power or something. Angels were created by god to do one thing, PRAISE GOD. They sat around in heaven and praised god. They did god's bidding, they did god's work. This wasn't good enough for them. They wanted more. God couldn't make angels right.

Where did people come from?

God made people to tend his garden. He made them to praise him. Shortly after god made Adam and Eve, they ate the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. God then punished them... even though THEY HAD NO KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL. He didn't just punish them, he punished everyone from that point on... which would be everyone... ever! God put them into a perfect place, Eden. They wanted more. God couldn't make people right.

(Remember, this god is a creature who knows everything that's going to happen, and yet, for some reason, he put things into place that would cause people to rebel and cause angels to rebel.)

So far, we've seen that god made angels, and he messed that up; he's made people, and he messed that up. What else has he made?

Heaven: well, that wasn't good enough for the angels, so how great can it be? Well, when we get to heaven, we'll all be perfect beings, who love one another. We'll all get along, there will be no more strife; everything will be perfect.

Wait a second; what people is this? We can't get along on earth for the 70+ years that we live on it, how the hell are we going to make it an eternity without killing one another? If we all get mansions up there, someone is going to be jealous that his mansion is smaller than the next guys. Heaven can't be great, because it's going to be filled with the same people who live here on earth. Unless all the petty grievances that we have as humans, somehow get taken away, there is no way that heaven can be... well, heaven. It will be just as crappy as here. If, somehow, all our petty grievances get taken away, well, then me and you just aren't the same things, so what's the joy of getting to heaven, if I'm not the same as what I was before?

Hell: Everyone thinks of hell as a place where bad people (and we "god haters") will spend eternity getting anally raped by demons. Who are these demons? Most people think they are led by the devil (the guy who was kicked out of heaven). Why would the devil torture people? That would be doing god's work (of torturing those not in heaven). The devil already decided he wasn't going to do god's work, which got him kicked out in the first place; so now he's decided that he's going to pick on men for all eternity... that makes absolutely no sense. Supposedly the demons are the angels that went with him; so they are torturing people for the rest of time... again, doing god's work. This still makes no sense.

The other option, is that the demons in hell are creatures specifically made by god to punish people. So, god made people who rebelled, angels who rebelled, and possibly demons... how come these haven't rebelled? Are the demons in hell the only thing god made that was perfect?

This is the same god we are talking about. There's no way that hell can be as bad as it's made out to be. Why, because HE made it.

So, when you put everything together, you see heaven can't be great; and hell can't be that bad.

It'd be nice if heaven was great; but it just can't be; why? Because people will be there.

So, back to the movie...

It made me jump; it brought back all my possession fears from being a kid; it was ok; it's total bullshit.

V