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Life After Death and Taxes

(The title is a Relient K song. They're awesome.)

Recently, I went to an amazing youth conference called Districts. I learned and grew a whole lot. The speaker there was talking about heaven on the last day, and how many people imagine it so wrongly.

For example: when I was little, I was afraid of dying simply because I thought heaven would be boring. Some days I still feel that way.

But let me remind you, heaven is not white robes and sitting on clouds. It's not playing a harp or becoming an angel. (You don't become an angel when you die, they're a whole separate thing.) And, as the antithesis, hell is also pictured as flat and one-dimensional. Sometimes even fun. Do you honestly think eternal pain, suffering, and "crying and gnashing of teeth" will be fun? 

Hell was made specifically for Satan, and he's not gonna go down without dragging as many poor souls as he can with him. But, it's your choice where you go.

God loves everyone. He doesn't want anyone to go to hell. If you accept that he's real, accept that you're not perfect, and accept that you don't actually deserve heaven, Jesus can and will change your sentence. He died as a sacrifice for you, so that you don't have to worry about hell. But if you deny him, he has no choice but to deny you. Again; your choice.

 Frankly, I think people only react in the "see you in hell" way to get attention or shocked fury from religious folk. I once saw someone post on social media "do I get to bring my iPod to hell? I'd like to listen to music." It was the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen, and yet, people take heaven and hell so lightly because they don't believe they exist.

Heaven and hell are very real, and not a place you'd bring your iPod. (That's a worldly possession, and it'll be gone anyway.)

Now, let's talk about heaven.

 Revelation 21:4 says "He will wipe all tears from their eyes, and there will be no more death, suffering, crying, or pain. These things of the past are gone forever.” That doesn't sound like angels playing harps on fluffy clouds. It's such a comforting thought- you will never again be sad, no one will die, there will be nothing to hurt you.

 Another passage in Revelation: (21:3) "God’s home is now with his people. He will live with them, and they will be his own. Yes, God will make his home among his people." God will live with us, talk to us, be right there. 

 Don't let yourself be tricked. "The greatest trick the devil ever played was to convince the world he didn't exist." He's real, but so is God.

It's your choice, and I won't take that away from you; I just want you to know what's on both sides.

Just keep this in mind- heaven will be new, amazing, and totally worth your forever.

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