The final level of hell

It isn’t hard to find people who will tell you that you are going to hell. You’ll probably just assume they are mistaken rather than examine your own beliefs.

But odds are they are right. Baptists say Catholics are going to hell. Catholics aren’t sure. Jews won’t tell you that you are going to hell, but atheists might say that you have already been there and back. Muslims say all of the above are going to hell.

There is no majority opinion in this country on who is damned. The Christians have mixed views depending on denomination, and the denominations have mixed views depending on the sect, and the sects have mixed views depending on the church, and the church has mixed views depending on the individual. There is no consensus even within the one religion.

I have met Christians who don’t even believe that hell exists. That would put them more in the atheist and Jewish camps on this particular issue.

And the evidence, or lack thereof, is in their favor. There is absolutely no scientific, empirical evidence to establish the existence of a heaven, a hell, or a Batman.

This doesn’t mean that the hell deniers are correct. It just means that there is no way to know who is correct.

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The opposing voices cannot all be right. So one is pressured to make a choice based on folklore, but most don’t even take the first step towards a decision. A vast majority of people just go with what they have been told from birth, and assume that they were fortunate enough to be born into the correct religion. That is not a choice, it’s an indoctrination.

If a person is born into a family that only drives Hyundais, and instructs their children to only drive Hyundais, that person will likely decide that Hyundais are the only cars that are right for him. He will see other cars on the road, but he will never test drive one or consider trading in his Hyundai on one. He believes he just happened to be born into the seat of the ultimate automobile.

A Hyundai may actually be the perfect fit for that individual. But he cannot be certain until he shops around a little. Perhaps a ragtop Volkswagen Bug would liberate him. He might find his true self in the throaty V-8 of a Mustang. Maybe he is an asshole, and a Hummer would better fit his character. After he has tried out a few different vehicles, he can make an informed decision about Hyundai automobiles.

There is a wealth of religious philosophies to explore, many of which include nothing about a heaven or a hell.

Statistics suggest that you were not born into the only acceptable creed. Maybe God did decide to plant you in the correct one. But did he drop most other babies into the arms of the hellbound just to keep the population of heaven manageable?

There is no way to determine who is right. It all comes down to belief and faith. A lot of faithful believers think you are going to hell. Even more think I am going to hell. I’m okay with that. There is no evidence that they are right. There is also no evidence that they are wrong.

We must learn to live with some uncertainty. We must also learn to live with others. Until there is some real evidence to undeniably support any theology nobody will really know who is right. We haven’t found any such evidence thus far, and I’m skeptical that we will find it in the foreseeable future.

If uncertainty makes it difficult to push our own religious beliefs on others, then uncertainty is a good start. Perhaps if we can remove religion from the argument we can come up with some universal moral laws that we can all agree on, regardless of individual theism.
Beyond acknowledging uncertainty, we must also recognize that we just may be going to hell. And there isn’t a damn thing that we can do about it.

It’s actually very liberating to accept this.
Once this has been admitted, one is free to enjoy a few margaritas, study evolutionary biology, have sex with a consenting adult (or adults) in yoga positions, read Harry Potter, sleep in on Sundays, covet, draw cartoons of Muhammad, use foul language, question authority, masturbate, eat a BLT, watch South Park, try out one of those ribbed condoms, and whole bunch of other fun stuff.

Just don’t mess up anyone else’s pre-death experience. Even if there is no future state of rewards and punishments, harming others just makes you an asshole. No one in this life or the next likes an asshole.

All heaven and hell theories may be just a way to avoid the finality of death. People do not want to believe that their last breath, and the last breath of departed loved ones, is the end. The concept of an eternal soul is comforting.

People also like the idea of divine justice. Our world, for the most part, is not just.
For example, Justin Timberlake has nailed Britney Spears (when she was still hot), Cameron Diaz, Scarlett Johansson, and Jessica Biel. I have not had sex with even one of these women, although I would argue that I am much more deserving. I would like to see justice served at some point.

Whether there is an afterlife or not is undetermined. But we do know, without question, that we are going to die.