The World’s Largest Coalition of Nontheists and Nontheist Communities!

The Farce of Heaven

Why is it that religionists accept the concept of heaven without thinking it through to its logical conclusions? To them, that is what this world is all about. Live your life within the guidelines of morality, as dictated by a book that could not be more irrelevant to the modern world, so that you may enter the kingdom of heaven …. otherwise ye shall be condemned to the firey pits of hell. Oh yeah – it’s for eternity, by the way. Eternity. As in forever and ever and ever and ever.

Maybe it’s just me, but when you add that “eternity” caveat, doesn’t that make both versions of the afterlife seem like nothing to look forward to? Of all the vacations that I have ever taken, and of all the vacations that I would like to take but can’t afford to, I cannot imagine one that I wouldn’t eventually be sick of. You could send me to my own private island in the most beautiful Caribbean waters on earth, with all the free amenities, servants, delicious food and drink that I can partake in – it may take a year, it may take 5 years, but eventually it will get old and I will want to get the hell out of there. Maybe I’m off a bit, and it would take 20 years to become painfully tired of such an environment – but what is 20 years in comparison to eternity? Maybe it will take 1,000 years to get sick of it, but again - what is 1,000 years in comparison to eternity?

There is virtually nothing that a billionaire cannot afford to buy, and consequently I imagine that not much of anything falls into the category of a luxury at that point. If heaven is a land of milk and honey where you are richly rewarded with anything you desire, what would you have a desire for that would last an eternity?

If hell is eternal, wouldn’t you get used to that burning sensation pretty quickly? What is torture if you cannot eventually die from it? How do trillions of souls, who cannot die again, not stand up to one devil and change their environment? How does that devil manage to control all those souls and still find time to mess with mortals on earth?

If doing things like gambling, partying, having sex, cursing, telling lewd jokes, not going to church, working on a Sunday, etc. is what lands you in hell, and doing things like singing religious hymns, proselytizing, going to church, and living a quiet, sanitized life of utter mediocrity is what gets you into heaven, which kind of souls would you rather be surrounded by for ETERNITY? Once you get beyond the paradise surroundings, and you are sick to death of being waited on hand and foot, and tired of playing golf every single day with gold plated clubs and diamond tipped golf balls, and don’t want to ever see another luxury item again – the only thing you will have left to suffer through eternity with will be the trillions of other souls who you are surrounded by. It sickens me to think of myself ever being that position.

Once you think it through, the fact is that the only just reward that a god could ever grant would be the opportunity to come back to earth, or some other non-eternal place, and do it all over again. If I can’t have that, then leave me to disintegrate into the earth and become a part of whatever else happens to absorb me. The heaven concept sounds grand, but thanks to that eternity clause it will eventually be as maddening as hell.

3 members like this

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by roland707 on February 28, 2013 at 11:45pm

"What if you woke up and you were in heaven? And you had these big wings on you...... wouldn't you feel stupid?" - Steve Martin

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by booklover on March 1, 2013 at 8:19am

ha ha ha roland707, LOVE the Steve Martin quote! :)

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Grinning Cat on March 1, 2013 at 8:58am

The big wings made me think of DarkMatter2525's video "God's God", which Loren shared a few days ago:

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by booklover on January 11, 2013 at 8:19am

Oh, that's right dr kellie! I wasn't raised with religion, so I forgot! lol. I guess it's "til death do we part." I would also rather have my pets than their gawd. :)

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by GOD'aye on January 12, 2013 at 3:39am

Okay, so you would be expected to have a sexual relationship with God as well as feed it doggy chow and pat it. LOL!

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Loren Miller on January 11, 2013 at 7:39am

If you want to read about a "heaven" from a rather different perspective, I heartily recommend Robert Heinlein's Job: A Comedy of Justice. His heaven is a bureaucratic nightmare where the left hand rarely knows what the right is doing and where R. H. I. P. seems to be among the primary rules of the road, yet somehow the dictum of the bible still manages to maintain ... and it is worth at least a chuckle in places. Of course, hell comes into the equation as well, and Heinlein gives us his own unique take on that.

Heinlein has taken on religion in at least a couple of his novels, but nowhere quite so head-on as with Job.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Future on January 11, 2013 at 8:21am

Sounds right up my alley. I'll look for it when I return my current load of library books.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by GOD'aye on January 11, 2013 at 8:19am

I find the biggest problem with the concept of Heaven and all theists wishful thinking that they will meet their departed love ones there is that considering the difficulty of gaining a spot in Heaven and human nature, there is very little chance any of them will ever meet any of their love ones there.

They have a 99.9% better chance of meeting all of them in Hell.

So, I find the entire concept extremely idiotic indeed.ROFL! :D Theists are funny!

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Future on January 11, 2013 at 8:34am

Good thing the afterlife is eternal, since it would take you an eternity to find anyone in sea of infinite souls. What's so enjoyable about that?

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Lillie on January 17, 2013 at 3:14pm

One of the main reasons I am opposed to Heaven is that I have no desire whatsoever to see my relatives again.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Pat on January 11, 2013 at 8:23am

This discussion reminds me of the musings of the late Christopher Hitchens. In commenting about his impending death, he stated that unlike the old adage about how the party's about to be over, it's more like the party's going to continue, but without you. You must leave while everyone else gets to stay. An eternal afterlife, on the other hand, is the never ending party. No matter how much you may want to leave and call it quits, you can't.

In the words of Theodore Cleaver (Leave It To Beaver) to his older brother, "That's really creepy, Wally."