Is there a Heaven and Hell?
Again, this is more of a religious subject, but it does have relevance in science fiction, horror and paranormal stories because of the use of angels, demons and devils as props or even characters in books of those genres.
Most of the images associated with Heaven and Hell come from classical paintings. Many artists before and after the Renaissance painted religious themes because the Church paid them to do so. Many of these painters were influenced by Dante’s Inferno, part of his now famous Divine Comedy satirical poem published in the 14th Century. Botticelli, Grotto, and Bosch, to name a few painters, are famous for their depictions of Hell. Dante’s Inferno (the Italian word for Hell) gives a detailed description of Hell as being composed of nine circles, each designed to satirically punish a particular sin.
All of these disgusting graphic depictions involve fire because this is the hellfire image that comes from the Bible. I suppose it makes sense to propose that fire is involved because burning at the stake was a common execution method for those judged to be heretics. Fire was also referenced in the New Testament, specifically in Matthew 13:50, and Mark 9:48. In any case most of these paintings show naked people, representing souls, being dragged or stuffed into eternal flames. I don’t know about you, but that’s a place that I don’t want to visit, let alone be stuck in for eternity.
Hell is the place of eternal torment in the afterlife and even after resurrection. Christians didn’t invent Hell or Hades. The concept is ancient, going back to the Norse idea called hel. Many ancient cultures, such as the Egyptians had an underworld concept that is described or referenced in their Book of the Dead. The images and ideas of Hell that we are familiar with came during the Christian era.
Heaven is also an old concept. Most ancient cultures envisaged an afterlife where one goes after death to a better place, a Paradise that would last forever. I won’t bore you with all of the Heaven ideas of different religions. Suffice it to say that there are many interesting variations. My interest is in what these places would be like if they do exist.
Going back to the idea of a soul and a resurrected body, both of these entities could end up in either Heaven or Hell. But, what does that mean? I would suggest that these places are more of a state of existence rather than a physical location. If the soul is involved and the soul is the mind, then both of these states of existence could be imaginary but seem real and similar to what we experience in dreams.
The only problem with this idea is the concept of the final resurrection when everyone gets a new body back and this body can exist for all eternity. This could challenge the concept of Heaven and Hell as a state. If a new universe is created for us then both Heaven and Hell could exist as real places.
Most classical paintings of Hell show the Devil and his demon helpers. They’re usually depicted as ugly human-like creatures with animal features, such as horns and wings. I won’t go into this now because it’s a subject for another post. In any event, the equivalent image of creatures in Heaven is angels with wings, which can be either male or female. Many religions propagate a Devil, but not all of them have angels. Most of these ideas are based on classical art, but both angels and devils are mentioned in the Bible.
Neither theology nor science can answer this dilemma properly. Religion simply makes it a belief that one must accept on faith. Science doesn’t believe that either place exists because there is no physical evidence.
If you want to get into more esoteric concepts consider the Roman Catholic idea of purgatory where souls must suffer punishment to purify their souls before they can get into heaven, or limbo, a pleasant place where souls not baptized but otherwise innocent go to wait out the second coming.
Let’s assume that Heaven and Hell are real. The next question is what are they like. I really have no idea, but I do know that I want to be in a nice place, so I vote for Heaven.
Thanks for reading.