Growithim, Indonesia.
Shalom and happy Sabbath!
If you are asked, in your opinion, is Heaven a torturous place? How will you answer?
Our answers might be different from each other. Some may say, ‘Yes, Heaven is a torturous place for me,’ and some ‘No, Heaven is a joyful place to be.’
Why are there two different answers? Shouldn’t we all think that it is a joyful place?
To answer this question, let us read a quote from the book Steps to Christ page 17 paragraph 2: “The sinner could not be happy in God’s presence; he would shrink from the companionship of holy beings. Could he be permitted to enter heaven, it would have no joy for him. … His thoughts, his interests, his motives, would be alien to those that actuate the sinless dwellers there. He would be a discordant note in the melody of heaven. Heaven would be to him a place of torture; he would long to be hidden from Him who is its light, …”
So when a man does not enter Heaven, “It is no arbitrary decree on the part of God that excludes the wicked from heaven; they are shut out by their own unfitness for its companionship. The glory of God would be to them a consuming fire. They would welcome destruction, that they might be hidden from the face of Him who died to redeem them.” (Steps to Christ 17.2)
So those who say that Heaven is a torturous place are those who live a sinful life, who do not find joy in God’s presence and think that being with God is boring and even misery. Why? They might think that there will be no games to be played in Heaven, or there will be no Korean drama, Chinese films, anime, or Hollywood movies that they enjoy to watch here on earth. Some might even think that Heaven is boring because they cannot buy cigarettes.
Thus, let us have heavenly habits and lifestyle though we still live on this sinful world as Romans 12:2 exhorts us, “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
Happy Sabbath and God bless all of us. Amen.