Fr. Dwight Longenecker
Do we not all know some people who hate God, hate Jesus and his blessed Mother, hate all that is beautiful, good and true? Do we not know people who are sunk in the sickness of sin so much that they have come to literally loathes everything that is holy, good and true?
I have met such people. I think there are actually many, many people like this.
Why do we imagine therefore, that they would be happy in heaven? They would not be. They would hate heaven because heaven is the place where there is nothing but goodness, truth and beauty. If they have hated and loathed these things all their life why do we imagine that they would love them once they see them in all their purity and power in the next life?
I believe there are many people who will reach the gates of heaven, be invited through the doors of repentance and howl with rage, fear and hatred. They will spit on the invitation and run as far and as fast as they can in the other direction. The sober fact is they will prefer hell to heaven. Heaven, for them, would actually be a greater torment than hell. Their pride will be so great and their loathing of the holy so great that the demons waiting below will seem to be their brethren and even in their torment they will scream, “Hell is Fabulous!”
Finally, there is this interesting speculation (I think from C.S.Lewis) that perhaps, in the end, everyone goes to the same place.
Perhaps all will enter the presence of God and all that is real, good, beautiful, and true.
Those who are saved will experience that light as everlasting glory of heaven.
Those who are damned will experience that same light as the searing torment of hell.
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