Age-old question about 'heaven or hell' yields different answers dependent on views, faith


I have had many questions I cannot answer. That happened to me again recently. It's a question about which I have read a lot and still do not have a definitive answer; I doubt that anyone does, even though the question has been repeated for centuries.

What happens at the moment of death? (No, not the biological answer.)

It is a theme addressed by diverse religious beliefs with equally diverse answers. Native Americans speak of the "happy hunting ground." Other indigenous groups wear masks to avoid recognition by the gods on the way to an underworld. Others believe in reincarnation in another form — human or otherwise. Christians profess the immortality of the soul, which leaves the physical body for heaven or hell.

Personally, I believe life is a journey that leads to a destination or door; death that leads to heaven or hell.

As we face death or even its possibility, we are encouraged to prepare a health care directive and may have to have it on file before any surgical procedure. Because many opt for less-than-heroic efforts to sustain life in a vegetative state, palliative and hospice programs for symptom relief and pain management are more widely available.

How does one react when placed into hospice care? What do people do when they hear from the physician, "You have only six months to live"? Many don't want to face the inevitable and ignore the question; others continue the daily routine because that is "life" for them. Some may plan a special trip. Some will plan and pay for their own funeral to "spare the family."

Even then, we avoid conversations about heaven and hell. Are we afraid they don't exist or that they do?

Will how we live those last six months make the difference in our final destination? No. Our beliefs, not our acts, determine our eternal abode, according to Christian teachings. The soul leaves the body and goes either to the joys of heaven or the fury of hell.

In Luke's Gospel, we read of an unrepentant rich man and a beggar, Lazarus, whom he had maltreated. They both died; Lazarus ascended to Heaven, and the young man descended to Hell. The tormented man saw Lazarus in the arms of Abraham and begged he be sent to place drops of water on the suffering man's tongue or he be allowed to warn the young man's family so they could avoid the horrors of hell. His plea was not granted; no one passes through the great chasm between heaven and hell. The choice is made before, not after, death.

Each must choose the life that will lead to the selected eternal abode. Yes, we choose — to worship the creator or creation. We choose to accept the redemptive power of Christ's sacrificial death in our stead, or we deny that he is part of the Holy Trinity.

I appreciate each day the Lord extends my earthly life, but I anticipate the glory, grandeur, majesty and perfection of heaven — not earned by me, rather a gift from God.

I know the agony of the "bad days" with intense feelings of regret, remorse and despair. I cannot conceive of enduring that existence separated from the love of God for eternity.

God granted mankind the ability to choose. In the words of Joshua 24:15, "But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord." I would rather fear (revere) God than to fear (cower) man.

The Rev. Billy Graham helps us savor our mortality with a focus on our immortality, saying, "My home is in heaven. I am just traveling through this world."

After a day at work, at the end of a conference or a vacation, or a visit with friends, I anticipate going home to my mortal family when I get there. I will go home to my immortal family when I die. A partial answer.


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