Are Hell and Paradise Outside Ourselves?The everlasting Heavenly bliss and torments of hell in the afterlife are the natural fruits and natural consequences of our earthly lives.
Part 1: Paradise and Hell Are Already Here and Now. Part 1
The Parable of the Wheat and the Tares
Faith in God is a deadly cross for human
Pride is the First Daughter of the Devil
First of all, we need to love God, because for this temporary life He gave us such a large, comfortable earth, a great variety of plants, springs, rivers, seas, fish, animals, as well as air, fire, day, night, sky, stars, sun, and moon.
The Lord testified to this:
Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal (Jn. 12:24–25).
That is why it is so hard for us to come to believe in the Lord sincerely and wholeheartedly; or rather, it is absolutely impossible by our efforts alone, without grace and help from above.
To come to believe in Christ you first need to meet Him, by hearing and responding to His call, so that He Himself can touch your heart with His Spirit and kindle a gentle flickering of faith in it. As long as there has been no such touch, you in fact are not yet a believer. Your faith is not yet living, burning, or spiritualized. Either you have no faith or it has a superficial, formal, and worldly nature.1 Without faith quickened by the spirit you are still outside the fold of Christ,2 outside His Body, the Church.3
At the same time, outwardly you may seem to yourself and to others a believer, since you correspond to certain formal indicators. For example, you are baptized, know the basics of the Christian faith and attend church services. “But this is not enough,” as one poet said.4 Such people lack the most important thing—being inwardly filled with the Holy Spirit.5 One of His most precious gifts is sincere faith in the Lord.
Every person needs to take pains to ensure the presence in his soul of a living, gracious flickering of Christian faith, without which all our words and deeds become futile, worldly and vain, and our whole life loses its salvific meaning.
It is through the Lord’s kindling the flame of faith in the human heart that a grace-filled seed of paradisiacal life begins to dwell and grow in it, struggling through to the Light through the thorns of sinful passions.
From the moment you meet and convert to Christ, your intensely difficult spiritual work begins of self-improvement, of being transformed into the image and likeness of Jesus of Nazareth. The Lord Himself compared this work to cultivating a field diligently to reap a good and rich harvest.6
The preparation of the soil for sowing corresponds to your life before meeting Christ, when the “soil” of your soul is softened and humbled by trials, discoveries, sorrows, joys, meetings and separations, fascinations and disappointments, losses and acquisitions.
The tool that “digs up” and “loosens” the “soil” of your heart is the cross that we all have to bear. By bearing it or rejecting it you accumulate positive or negative experience, realizing your weakness and dependence on others, humbling yourself, growing wiser, and becoming more open to hearing the call of the Lord.
Sowing corresponds to meeting with
The Parable of the SowerWhoever desires to know the truth, whoever does not silence the voice of conscience within himself, let him ponder the meaning of this parable and apply it to himself…
The germination of wheat and its growth together with weeds corresponds to the stage of ascetic labor or spiritual warfare—the practice of implanting virtues and eradicating sinful passions. This stage can end in both defeat and victory for you.
Defeat in spiritual warfare results in the choking of faith by sinful passions, leading to darkness, unbelief, and eternal perdition. Victory, on the other hand, eliminates sinful tares and cultivates a heart filled with virtuous wheat, leading to salvation and grace. The final judgment at the end of earthly life, after death, and in the Last Judgment by Christ determines one’s spiritual state. Those judged favorably enjoy a heavenly celebration, while others face darkness and torment. The battle between God and the devil for human hearts determines one’s ultimate fate, either in Paradise or hell. The presence of eternal torments in hell reflects God’s respect for human freedom, allowing individuals to choose their path. Those who reject God end up in a state of isolation, hatred, and suffering in hell, due to their own sins. The root of all passions is self-love, leading to various sinful behaviors. The cycle of sin begins with indulgence in worldly pleasures, leading to a desire for wealth, followed by lust, vanity, pride, anger, sadness, and ultimately despondency. It culminates in a state of eternal anguish and regret. Those who do not repent are left with nothing but emptiness and suffering.
Hell is depicted as a place of darkness and torment, fueled by a sense of guilt and regret for a life lived without purpose. It is a self-inflicted state, resulting from one’s own actions and choices.
On the other hand, by cultivating humility and virtues with the help of God, believers can achieve a state of unity and joy. Through enlightenment by the Light of Christ, they come to know God, themselves, and others in a profound and loving way.
The seed of all virtues is humility, which allows the grace of God to enter the heart. From humility stems abstinence, chastity, patience, meekness, mercy, and ultimately, love. Love brings infinite joy and gratitude.
Living in communion with God on earth leads to the fullness of communion with Him in Paradise. However, living selfishly and without regard for others leads to a lonely and hellish existence in the afterlife. We have the power to create our own eternity, either in heaven or hell.
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