Often, hell is portrayed as a place of
punishment and heaven as a place of reward.
But this concept easily leads us to think about God as either a policeman,
who tries to catch us when we make a mistake and send us to prison when our
mistakes become too big, or a Santa Claus, who counts up all our good deeds and
puts a reward in our stocking at the end of the year.
God, however, is neither a policeman nor a Santa
Claus. God does not send us to heaven or
hell depending on how often we obey or disobey.
God is love and only love. In God
there is no hatred, desire for revenge or pleasure in seeing us punished. God wants to forgive, heal, restore, show us
endless mercy, and see us come home. But
just as the father of the prodigal son let his son make his own decision, God gives
us the freedom to move away from God’s love even at the risk of destroying ourselves. Hell is not God’s choice. It’s ours.
--Henri Nouwen, Bread for the Journey
Image source: Sir Frank Brangwyn, The Prodigal Son (ca. 1952), https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/art-artists/work-of-art/the-prodigal-son
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