Draft Archive #1

I found this in my drafts, and figured I would post it, because I made some damn good points, and it seems appropriate due the fiasco of this weekend.

I just thought of a few things:

Is the Rapture a denial of free will? Let me expand on this. So you're a Christian, right? Say you were one of those that are Raptured before the Apocolypse. What if you didn't want to be? Obviously, once you are up there you can't come back. So what if you were raptured and you found out your spouse wasn't. They didn't believe hard enough or something. Anyway, so now, say you want to go back and help them survive the Apocolypse, or you want to die with them. Oh well! You're up in heaven, they're not, end of story.

Is Heaven really heavenly? Ok, now say you died and are in Heaven. You are there for eternity. FOREVER. Heady word, isn't it? Meaning a billion years, a trillion years, ten to the zillionth power years, is just a blink of an eye compared to how long you have left to go. Wouldn't you eventually run out of stuff to do? You could write a novel, compose a symphony, learn to play every instrument know to man, invent your own instrument, write music for it, teach a class on how to play it, see every square mile of the Earth, stay in every country for 30 lifetimes, build your own city, populate it with people, buy a country, learn quantum mechanics, learn every branch of science (ironically, you wouldn't in Heaven, but this is for the sake of argument) learn everything you can about every subject in the world, invent a language, teach others your language, ask God for your own planet, paint a mural on every square inch of it, make a mural of planets, ask God to tell you the history of Himself and the universe, and after all that, you still have ETERNITY to go. You will now be bored for the rest of time. You have done EVERYTHING there is to do. Still have forever to go.

Now, wouldn't Heaven also suck for other reasons? No one will be nice in Heaven, because EVERYBODY is nice in Heaven.

There will be no sickness, no homelessness. What about the people whose jobs (humanitarians, doctors) make them truly happy and fulfilled? They would feel like they are missing a part of themselves for eternity. Sad prospect, isn't it?

Heaven ITSELF is also a violation of free will. We can't choose to be mean, destructive, or, God forbid, LGBTQ!

What kind of music do you have in Heaven? Christian rock, probably. Wait, God dislikes rock. So, just gospel, i assume? I know a lot of people who HATE Gospel. What will they have to listen to? Where's the Cradle of Filth (who use some satanic imagery in their music) or Amon Amarth (sing about old Norse religions) or Children of Bodom (sing about [and are even named after a famous case of] mass murder). I know some CHRISTIANS who LOVE these bands. Does God fundamentally change our brain to dislike this kind of music? Then I wouldn't be ME.

Ok, now say I convert to Christianity, and I have an Islamic friend. We are like brothers. He ends up in Hell. You would be PRETTY sad, right? But, in Heaven, there is no sadness. So, do I just NOT miss him? Do I forget about him? What about preachers? They preach to warn people of Hell, because they don't want them to burn. (Ok, some do, most do it just to score points with the Big Guy, but that's beside the point.) Will they be sad because their efforts failed? No. They're apathetic to the burning and suffering of other people. They have to be. Can't be sad in Heaven!

In conclusion, the only shot we have at "everlasting life" is to have a truly positive (or VERY negative) impact on the human race. Make an amazing scientific discovery (Einstein, Darwin, Da Vinci) , write a great symphony (Beethoven, Chopin, Bach), write good stories (Shakespeare, Homer, Dr. Suess) or rape, kill, and/or eat the dead bodies of a bunch of people (Jeffery Dahmer, Charles Manson, John Wayne Gacy). Pick a way, because THESE people are immortal.

(Disclaimer: I do not endorse, condone, or really even appreciate murder, it was to make a point.)