First of all: Whoa, way to avoid controversial topics, hm? But that’s the advantage of having a blog no one reads (well, apparently some people do, or so my stats tell me, but so far no comments, which also means no flaming, so that’s good), even conflict-phobic folk like me might feel emboldened and share potentially incendiary thoughts… 🙂

Anyway, the Thing about hell is connected to the Thing about God how I see Him/Her/Them (let’s stick with ‘Him’ for now, shall we – I grew up with the ‘holy father’ and I suspect that’s how I’ll keep addressing Him). Namely: I believe that God is love. I believe that He loves us like a parent, one of the good ones, whose love is unconditional. I mean, I might disagree with my parents (hello, abortion and homosexuality!) but I know that, when it comes down to it, they love me and will never turn me away. So, since my 100% human parents are like this, how much more does that apply to God? In my mind, there is no way that God would reject His children. After all, two thirds of the world’s population aren’t Christian (and even the third that is consists of many ‘non-believers’ as well as any number of movements/churches claiming to know the One True Way) – if God is love, He will not abandon so many, just because they happen not to follow a book that contains a lot of undeniable wisdom and beauty but also a lot of problematic content.

Talking parents, mine had a somewhat unconventional view as well: They explained the concept of ‘hell’ not as fire-and-brimstone and eternal torment, but as not being allowed into heaven. This sounds pretty plausible to me already – but really, if you truly believe in an all-loving God, wouldn’t He want all His children, good and bad, with him in the end, making hell superfluous (except maybe as a waiting room of sorts)?

The concept of Christian Unversalism, of the idea that God’s grace extends to every last person, is very appealing. However, this beautiful theory collides with gut instinct when it comes to Evil: For all my fancy ideas, I have trouble seeing how Hitler, to choose the most obvious example, could ever end up in heaven. But then, I’m only human. I am willing to accept that God might find a way to save even the most depraved, the most horrible people. Even if he doesn’t, I agree with my parents that the worst punishment in the afterlife would be to be cut off from God’s grace. Why would God play at torture or have room for a fiery pit in his plan for us? After all, He sent Jesus as a gift to us, an undeniable sign that God loves us and is willing to give everything for us. He knows us, worst flaws and questioning brains and all, and loves us all the same (or because of them) – I don’t think that he will abandon us once we are dead.

So, to cut all the wishy-washy feel-goody rambling short, if you ask me whether I believe in hell, I’m pretty certain (most of the time) that my answer is NO.