JFJ Forums - CS Lewis book where going to heaven is hell for unsaved people?

Was this book called shadow lands? At the time the book was so far out to me I didn't see the point. But what if earth changes for the millenium and unsaved people experience it in a way that is unpleasant to them but not to the saints?

I looked it up on Wickipedia, it is a book called the Great Divorce. It is about a ride from hell to heaven by the damned. They ride on luminesent merry go round polies of ice or something like that and they hate it as I recall, it like blinds them or something.

Chad Higgins Wrote:

Was this book called shadow lands? At the time the book was so far out to me I didn't see the point. But what if earth changes for the millenium and unsaved people experience it in a way that is unpleasant to them but not to the saints?

Shalom Chad,

As a child, in Sunday School, I had an adult explain heaven and hell this way:  Everyone goes to the same place, with everything to eat a person could want to eat, and you can eat as much as you like without any problems.  All of the people/souls there have long handled spoons attached to their arms, so that the elbow will not bend.  They are all set free amongst the food.
Those who are in Hell, cry, wail, and gnash their teeth, because they cannot bend their elbow to get the beautiful food to their mouth.
Those who are in Heaven, feed each other.

This is only one imaginative way of explaining something none of us can understand, until we arrive, and are taught to understand.

And, No, I have not read Shadow lands.  I have enough on my plate (Pun).  Does this, above, relate to the storyline of the book?

Shalom in Messiah.  Arley

Chad Higgins Wrote:

Was this book called shadow lands? At the time the book was so far out to me I didn't see the point. But what if earth changes for the millenium and unsaved people experience it in a way that is unpleasant to them but not to the saints?

Max Lucado says about Hell, as is quoted on many webpages:

Quote:

Once there, they don't want to leave. The hearts of damned fools never soften; their minds never change. "Men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues; and they did not repent and give Him glory" (Rev. 16:9 NKJV). Contrary to the idea that hell prompts remorse, it doesn't. It intensifies blasphemy.

Remember the rich man in torment? He could see heaven but didn't request a transfer. He wanted Lazarus to descend to him. Why not ask if he could join Lazarus? The rich man complained of thirst, not of injustice. He wanted water for the body, not water for the soul. Even the longing for God is a gift from God, and where there is no more of God's goodness, there is no longing for him. Though every knee shall bow before God and every tongue confess his preeminence (Rom. 14:11), the hard-hearted will do so stubbornly and without worship. There will be no atheists in hell (Phil. 2:10--11), but there will be no God-seekers either.

But still we wonder, is the punishment fair? Such a penalty seems inconsistent with a God of love--overkill. A sinner's rebellion doesn't warrant an eternity of suffering, does it? Isn't God overreacting?

Who are we to challenge God? Only he knows the full story, the number of invitations the stubborn-hearted have refused and the slander they've spewed.

Accuse God of unfairness? He has wrapped caution tape on hell's porch and posted a million and one red flags outside the entrance. To descend its stairs, you'd have to cover your ears, blindfold your eyes, and, most of all, ignore the epic sacrifice of history: Christ, in God's hell on humanity's cross, crying out to the blackened sky, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matt. 27:46). The supreme surprise of hell is this: Christ went there so you won't have to.

I love Max Lucado... ty for sharing that Goy.

Wow--that's powerful!!!!!!!

GoyOfY'shua Wrote:

Chad Higgins Wrote:

Was this book called shadow lands? At the time the book was so far out to me I didn't see the point. But what if earth changes for the millenium and unsaved people experience it in a way that is unpleasant to them but not to the saints?

Max Lucado says about Hell, as is quoted on many webpages:

Quote:

Once there, they don't want to leave. The hearts of damned fools never soften; their minds never change. "Men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues; and they did not repent and give Him glory" (Rev. 16:9 NKJV). Contrary to the idea that hell prompts remorse, it doesn't. It intensifies blasphemy.

Remember the rich man in torment? He could see heaven but didn't request a transfer. He wanted Lazarus to descend to him. Why not ask if he could join Lazarus? The rich man complained of thirst, not of injustice. He wanted water for the body, not water for the soul. Even the longing for God is a gift from God, and where there is no more of God's goodness, there is no longing for him. Though every knee shall bow before God and every tongue confess his preeminence (Rom. 14:11), the hard-hearted will do so stubbornly and without worship. There will be no atheists in hell (Phil. 2:10--11), but there will be no God-seekers either.

But still we wonder, is the punishment fair? Such a penalty seems inconsistent with a God of love--overkill. A sinner's rebellion doesn't warrant an eternity of suffering, does it? Isn't God overreacting?

Who are we to challenge God? Only he knows the full story, the number of invitations the stubborn-hearted have refused and the slander they've spewed.

Accuse God of unfairness? He has wrapped caution tape on hell's porch and posted a million and one red flags outside the entrance. To descend its stairs, you'd have to cover your ears, blindfold your eyes, and, most of all, ignore the epic sacrifice of history: Christ, in God's hell on humanity's cross, crying out to the blackened sky, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matt. 27:46). The supreme surprise of hell is this: Christ went there so you won't have to.