Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Heaven and Hell

Heaven is home. Who has not felt, at one time or another, in one situation or another, the desire for something to which they cannot give a name? Who has not experienced something which, rather than satisfying, produced a greater desire? For me, one such thing is a clear mountain morning with no sounds but birds and the wind. It stirs in me such longing that I know the only place, the only experience which could satisfy my desire is heaven. Earth is not enough. We live here for a time, but we are only strangers in the land.

What greater punishment, then, could one conceive other than eternal separation from our home and from God, from all that makes us who we are? Anyone who has experienced the desire of which I speak knows the poignant strength that it has. Who could bear knowing this desire far better than he ever knew it on earth, yet with a more certain knowledge that it can never be attained for all eternity? This is the everlasting despair of hell, the eternal punishment. Though there may be more than this knowledge only, nothing more needs to be added to make it hell.