To whom it may concern: the matter of Heaven and Hell
Cornelius Hamelberg
For some lurid descriptions, there’s Swedenborg’s first-person, personal account Heaven and Hell which I read some 45 years ago and recognised some of the phenomena he was talking about/ had encountered in the lower spheres.
As Jimi Hendrix often said, “It’s all in the mind” – could be the demons in our own minds.
For Stevie Wonder, Heaven is 10 Zillion Light Years Away
For some people, hell is some of the misery, poverty, war, mental and physical suffering experienced on earth, whilst for some other people hell is somewhere in the future, as Curtis Mayfield famously sang, “If there’s a Hell Below, we’re all going to go “
I should just like to clarify a few matters so that I do not have to plead guilty to having misled anybody, on the Day of Judgment.
My function here is not to propagate any religion or religions or to burden anybody by foisting my own or anyone else’s doubts, misgivings, fears, uncertainties, disbelief or unbelief that I myself may have in my imperfect, little mind and in that regard I hope that I should be responsible enough to exercise not only caution but the uttermost reserve since I am no Pied Piper of Hamelin and God forbid that I should say to anyone, “Follow me”
Islam: From the very beginning the Quran sets out the conditions that qualify the believers:
“Alif. Lam. Mim.
2 This is the Scripture whereof there is no doubt, a guidance unto those who ward off (evil).
3 Who believe in the Unseen, and establish worship, and spend of that We have bestowed upon them;
4 And who believe in that which is revealed unto thee (Muhammad) and that which was revealed before thee, and are certain of the Hereafter.
5 These depend on guidance from their Lord. These are the successful.” ( Surah Al Baqarah 1- 5)
Christianity: “If you look at a textbook of Orthodox theology, you will find that the truth cannot be found by the unaided power of man. You can read the scriptures or any holy book and not even understand what they say. There is an example of this in the Book of Acts, in the story of the Apostle Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch” : The Book of Acts 8 : 26 - 39
There’s a commentary on that passage on Pages, 21 -22 of Fr. Seraphim Rose’s God’s Revelation to the Human Heart
(I intend to continue with the next installment –with some of Judaism’s perspectives, with regard to Heaven and Hell, and it will only be about twenty-three paragraphs long)
