ThePainefulTruth
Romantic-Cynic
A likelihood and then a question.
My belief is that if there is a God and thus an afterlife, that we will sit in the undeniable light of Truth, where we can't even lie to ourselves, and judge our selves. For the evil, that will be a crushing light causing them anguish at their wasted life and the pain they caused others being exposed for all to see and with no ability to deny it. The thought of going another second that way, much less eternity, will cause them to merciful oblivion over the pain and darkness.
But I'm not putting that up for debate. The question I'm asking is about those who make it through: Will there be rank in Heaven? Would an unsung/unknown hero who sacrificed his life to say, stop WWIII, shine brighter there than a hermit who spent his whole life in quiet desperation? Is there a tally sheet or a degree to your luminosity. In print that looks pretty absurd. On the other hand the hermit rubbing elbows with the hero would mean that there's no celebrity or degree of reward, which sounds absurd as well.
This is thought experiment for which I have no answer, but I don't think it's a meaningless exercise either. We could, after thinking about it, come up with a different way of looking at ourselves in this world. After all, dispensing with the idea of hell would downplay the likes of those who invented the idea of such sadistic revenge for all eternity in the first place, as well as those who relish the thought. Those who get pleasure out of the pain of others, or animals, worry me greatly.
My belief is that if there is a God and thus an afterlife, that we will sit in the undeniable light of Truth, where we can't even lie to ourselves, and judge our selves. For the evil, that will be a crushing light causing them anguish at their wasted life and the pain they caused others being exposed for all to see and with no ability to deny it. The thought of going another second that way, much less eternity, will cause them to merciful oblivion over the pain and darkness.
But I'm not putting that up for debate. The question I'm asking is about those who make it through: Will there be rank in Heaven? Would an unsung/unknown hero who sacrificed his life to say, stop WWIII, shine brighter there than a hermit who spent his whole life in quiet desperation? Is there a tally sheet or a degree to your luminosity. In print that looks pretty absurd. On the other hand the hermit rubbing elbows with the hero would mean that there's no celebrity or degree of reward, which sounds absurd as well.
This is thought experiment for which I have no answer, but I don't think it's a meaningless exercise either. We could, after thinking about it, come up with a different way of looking at ourselves in this world. After all, dispensing with the idea of hell would downplay the likes of those who invented the idea of such sadistic revenge for all eternity in the first place, as well as those who relish the thought. Those who get pleasure out of the pain of others, or animals, worry me greatly.