subject: Are Heaven and Hell Real? [print this page] Are Heaven and Hell Real? Are Heaven and Hell Real?
My favorite documentaries on the History Channel are those that deal with biblical history. Recently some have dealt with Heaven and Hell.
The obvious question for Christians is "are they real places". If we believe Jesus and the Bible, we have to answer "of course". This is accepted on faith. However, an unbeliever may question such a statement and ask "How are they possible"? It has only been within the last 20 years that a serious answer has become plausible, through, of all things, science.
The atheists' most frequent argument against the existence of God is that they cannot find Him in any of their science experiments or anywhere else in the universe. This is another nave view that God is a physical being that inhabits his own physical creation. You don't look for Rembrandt in one of his paintings, why do the same for God?
If God doesn't exist in the physical universe and his "Kingdom" is what we call Heaven, where is He? He will never be found in anything that is physical because he is spiritual and created physics and its laws. Heaven, however can possibly be a real place, but not in our universe.
A popular recent topic in science circles is the possible existence of "external universes". Is it possible that two such universes are actual places described in the Bible as Heaven and Hell? Our concept of heaven has always been a place with different physical laws and properties. Jesus said to Nicodemus "If you don't understand Earthly things such as the wind, how would you understand Heavenly things if I told you about them".
According to "String Theory" in physics, scientists now think that there are external universes with different physical laws and higher numbers of dimensions than the one we live in and study. Perhaps one of those has a different law of "gravity" in which a person would not be bound by gravity and could literally "fly". My concept of "heaven" has always been of a place with fewer physical restrictions than this one.
There could also exist a universe that has physical properties with such a restricted environment that a spiritual being in that place would experience eternal anguish and remorse for being trapped in such a confining place.
One of the prerequisites for "heaven" is that we would be eternally satisfied and joyful there. What kind of joy is eternal and lasting, that would satisfy that requirement. I believe we have come to define "joy" on earth differently from what it would be in heaven because the joys we experience here depend on physical needs that won't exist in Heaven. We can only speculate what that Joy would be. Perhaps it would be as simple as "being where you belong", or just being close to God.
What about "the other place"? What kind of suffering would also be so enduring as to be eternal, and even worse than the tradition "fiery" kind of place for sinners. It would have the opposite properties of heaven. It would be highly restrictive of all movement, whereas heaven would permit complete freedom of movement. The "pit" described for Satan in Revelation is highly restrictive and very binding. Interestingly, Black Holes in space fill that description perfectly. No one yet knows where they lead to. Combine that property with the loss of any hope for ever leaving such a place and you have the perfect "hell". The idea of being trapped "where you don't belong", away from God, for eternity is a very consuming kind of existence for anyone.
Do such places really exist? We accept it on faith for now, but for the first time in history we have science telling us that they CAN exist. Science really is catching up with the Bible.
