Hell, A Nightmare?

Can we imagine what Hell is like? Can we experience "A Hell on earth", as the expression goes? I think because of sin we get little snippets of Hell here and there. The consequences of a lie, rejection, the loss of loved ones, bad break-ups, divorce, miscarriages, rape, war... These can all give us a taste of what it's like to be apart from God. But what is Hell, really? What makes it so bad? Is it really a pit of fire that burns our souls for eternity? I don't know for sure, no one does. But we can speculate.

Personally, I believe Hell is simply the complete isolation of a person for all of eternity. The pain that is described as fire is the pain of complete loneliness. Think of a time when you were left alone at home, or got lost in the woods, or found yourself alone working on hw when everyone else has gone to bed. Think of the pain you felt when you realized there was NO ONE else around, that there was absolutely no one to talk to, no one to help you find your way, or to comfort you. Then try multiplying that pain by infinite. Hell is complete separation from God, and I take that to mean that a person in Hell is completely isolated from everyone and everything else in existence. No God, no family, no friends, no pets, not even any enemies. Nothing but yourself.

Maybe you're ok for a day, maybe you like being alone. But after a week, a month, a year, a decade, a century, a millenium, you might begin to long for companionship. The loneliness will creep up on you, it will begin to consume you, every fiber of your being will be racked with the pain of the absence of others. What's worse, you might even be able to remember your time here on earth, so you remember what its like to have friends, or at least someone to talk to and hang out with. You remember what it's like to not be alone.

I don't know about you, but I couldn't take it. I like being alone for a little bit here and there, I just need to get away from people and breathe. But even then, God is with me. He is always by my side keeping me company, guiding me through my life, giving me strength to go on. Without Him, I don't think even my friends could begin to fill the gaping hole that would be left in my life. I've got wonderful friends and I don't know what I would do without them, but they can't take the place of God.

Hell is too much, way too much for me handle. If anyone truly thought about it, they wouldn't be able to handle it either. There would be no choice left to them but to accept God's free gift of salvation. And I realize that I haven't said much, nor have I put much structure in these paragraphs, but whatevs, right? It's just a blog, not a term paper for Historical Perspectives or anything serious like that, so get off my back. =P Also, I'm definitely too self-critical...