I have been asked many time, by teachers, fellow students, and other people, what my stance on Heaven and Hell is. Well, here’s what I think.

I once heard a priest say heaven is like being in the light of a candle. The radiant warmth and light make all within happy and content, warm and cozy, this is how I believe in Heaven. I believe that Heaven isn’t a specific place tangible or intangible or anything in between. Heaven is simply closeness to God in his eternal glory. Once we have achieved the glory of Heaven, we finally enter God’s presence as we did in Eden. We come as close to God as we possibly can without being part of him as The Holy Spirit, and His Son are, we enter into His radiant Love for us for all eternity, the simple presence and closeness of God the ultimate, most exquisite pleasure. As we enter God’s eternal Kingdom, however, we pass through what I like to think of as “God’s Waiting Room”, Limbo. Even a righteous man is not without sin, as only The Holy Trinity and the Virgin Mary are, and must atone for his sinful ways. This means being so close to God that, for lack of a better phrase, you can taste it. We are on the very, wavering edge of the radiance from the aforementioned “candle”. This “so close, yet so far” feeling is torture enough, though not the extreme torture of Hell, to ensure that we have atoned for what we have done.

As for Hell, I firmly believe in it, but I also believe that God would never turn his back on any being that he created “In his own Image”. Why should we call him “Merciful” and “Loving”. If, because of our inherent nature, we do something wrong enough to land us a sentence in Hell. We are imperfect beings and are bound to turn our backs on God from time to time, but would God, the supreme, perfect, loving creator, really stoop to our level and turn his back on us for eternity? I do not believe he would. My belief in Hell also utilizes the “candle” theme. When one is in Hell, they are complete separated from God. The small connection we have with Him on earth is completely severed, cutting us off from Him. Awareness of a total and complete abandonment from The Supreme Being, is the ultimate torture. Now some might say,  “If they turned their backs in life why would they care after death?”. God made our souls, and our souls strive to return to the creator. When the humans turn their backs on God, they are turning their backs on their own soul, their connection to God. After death however, the Human imperfections are gone and only the soul remains. The connection it had to The Father severed, it languishes in total, all-consuming agony, Its goal was to return to The Father and share in His eternal Glory, but it cannot, in fact, it is no longer in any contact with God at all. Like I said before I do not believe God turns His back on us for eternity. Eventually after suffering in all-consuming pain for a time, it is deemed to have been atoned for its major sins and from there proceeds to Limbo, and eventually, to Heaven.