This subject has weighed heavily on my mind for a long time. The words and thoughts that I share today are only that… my words and my thoughts. I do not propose that they are correct, only through my experiences do I believe them to be true. The teachings I’ve heard, books I’ve read, and the life I have lived have led me to these conclusions. What do you believe? What is heaven and hell to you?

The following letter is taken out of my journal as I have wrote about this subject over the last three days.

I’ve come to the conclusion that for many of my years I had the wrong impression of God, heaven, and hell. Now this may be troubling to some and this as you all know is just my opinion. My opinion is based on my own experiences in this life and many of you may disagree. That’s okay by me…I hope that if this strikes a chord in your soul that we could have a deep meaningful conversation about it. Perhaps my words here will be read by some after I am gone…If that is the case, I hope you will think on these things.

God, for a long time to me was a distant mystery. A figure that I thought I could only meet when I died. When that happened we would go to a place in the clouds and stand in front of some pearly gates and await sentencing so to speak. It would then be determined if we were worthy of heaven or hell based on our acts on earth. I believed that my actions, good or bad, would determine the fate of my soul. I no longer believe that. I do believe that my thoughts determine my actions, and my actions determine my fate, but my fate here on earth…in this life. You see, it is not the heaven or hell of the hereafter we need to be concerned with. Heaven has been bought for us with the blood of Christ Jesus. The heaven or hell that concerns me is the heaven or hell I live in this life. If we live a life without God, we are sure to live a life in hell. As we travel through this life without the power of God, we are lost. When we open our hearts, minds, and spirit to let God in, our lives become filled with purpose and passion and we begin to live without fear, or pain, or thoughts of unrelenting worthlessness. Without God I lived a life without value.

Every morning we decide to live a life with or without God. I made the decision for over 18 years to live it without him. I would wake up with thim from time to time and when it was convenient for me. I didn’t truly walk with him in my mind. He was buried deep down in my heart and it took it breaking to bring him to the surface. To make him known in my life. To help me see he had been with me along the way. Much like an egg brittle and frail, so it is as a mans heart. We wrap our hearts with “manliness” to keep it hidden and safe from others. What we don’t realize often until it is too late, is by hiding and keeping it from others, we do the ones we love a great disservice. We keep our hard exterior up so we don’t look weak, but it is because of this that we are weak. If only we would crack open our hearts to set the love that is inside us free. For it is within our hearst that God’s peace and love is stored. Men would be more beloved if they showed that love more. To show their emotions and share their feelings more freely with other men around them.

Men of God should have no fear of sharing their feelings and emotions; their struggles and faults of life. Sharing them with other men would surely bring about an awakening and hunger for God in the world. God’s peace, love, and mercy would shine on the faces of men and bring them grace. It would bring about heaven in the hell they are often living in.