Hell

I recently read a blogger complaining of how he thought it was unconscionable for God to send an atheist to hell for the mere sin of skepticism. Although his commenters pointed out that he probably has other sins besides skepticism for which he's being condemned, I feel like this line of thought isn't quite accurate. I believe the problem may be that people feel that heaven is the default destination, and then God plucks people out of line to send them to the lake of fire for being bad. In realty, hell is for everyone the ultimate destiny, and it is God, through the sacrifice of his son Jesus, who saves us from our fate.

Some might argue that this is just semantics; difference is only that of throwing someone in a lake to drown, and coming across a drowning person and willfully letting them go under. In both cases, one would be responsible for murder.

What we don't realize is that we're already drowning. For whatever reason, we chose to go into that murky lake and now we're going under. God is offering the lifeline, but we have to chose to grab it. Salvation is there for the taking, but we still have to make the choice to accept it.

As for hell itself, I personally don't believe that it is a place of fire and brimstone with little devils poking the condemned with pitchforks. Rather, I think it's the fullfillment of the choices you've made in your life. You wanted to live without God? Well, now you are finally in a place where he doesn't dwell. And yes, it does suck, but I don't think this condition is eternal. Whenever Jesus spoke of eternal life, it was for those who chose to follow him. Those who didn't are warned they'll suffer the second death. Because an eternity in torment would still be eternal life, this would indicate to me that eventually the spark of life will be extinguished. In the end, atheisits will get exactly what they expect - a complete abscence from existance.