It is believed that if one does all the right things, prays to the right God, and believes all the right things, then one will be granted an afterlife of eternal bliss in the gates of heaven. A place with no pain, no regrets, no sorrow, and an eternity of servitude to whichever God ends up being the right one. My whole family is Christian, and we all love each other a great deal. It’s no secret that I don’t believe in God, and something occurred to me the other day while talking to my mom. If she believes she is following the correct criteria required for admittance into heaven, and she also recognizes that I am certainly NOT. Worse still, I have persuaded others to abandon their faith. If there’s a hell, there is certainly a special section reserved for the likes of me. Anyway, I realized that my mom’s belief that she’s going to heaven coinciding with her belief that I am most certainly not, implies that my mom believes I am going to be tortured for eternity, and she’s okay with that idea! Holy shit! That, or she’s never considered it, and perhaps is trying her best not to think about it. Me having a son of my own, I pondered this very scenario. Could anyone be truly and purely happy in paradise knowing that their loved ones, perhaps their children, are simultaneously being tortured at each waking moment they spend in this Utopia? I find this to be a flaw in the promises of heaven. While we are alive, we would take a bullet for our children without hesitation, and after we die, we are cool with a God that tortures our kids because they weren’t as gullible? This doesn’t add up. The only way around this is to expect God to erase your memories of your loved ones that didn’t make the cut, and replace them with a new mind that only thinks about what God programs it to. Of course, the entire concept of a loving, caring God begins to crumble at the thought of this, and it’s quite obviously an absurd thing to think is true, nevertheless, while my mom is alive, and believing, this is a very real implication of her belief. Kinda fucked up. I think I will bring this up, and see what she says. When we come to things like this, I normally get something like “I know you don’t believe honey, but I pray for you all the time. I know God will eventually find His way into your heart.” Maybe this little hope will have to satisfy her until she dies expecting God to change my mind for me. For her sake, It’s a good thing that dead people can’t get disappointed.
I also started thinking that if this had occurred to her, she should also hope that it’s her God that does the sentencing, otherwise, she’ll be joining me for our eternal fire-bath! At which point, I think I’d be the only one capable of seeing the humor in such cruel irony.
I also started thinking that if this had occurred to her, she should also hope that it’s her God that does the sentencing, otherwise, she’ll be joining me for our eternal fire-bath! At which point, I think I’d be the only one capable of seeing the humor in such cruel irony.
