The whole concept of Hell is so demented and irrational, that many religious people have abandoned it. There are quite a few Christians who sensibly reject it and simply say that because their God is a loving God, everyone gets to go to Heaven. Of course, now they're stuck with the concept of Heaven.
His points certainly make sense to me. I mean, I don't believe in any kind of afterlife because there's no good evidence for it. That's my main objection about the supernatural. I want to make that absolutely clear. I'm an atheist simply because there's no good evidence for belief, period. But aside from that, the whole idea of heaven and hell never made much sense to me anyway.
A benevolent god is going to torture me for eternity because I don't see any evidence that he exists? Obviously, ending up in heaven or hell after I died would be pretty good evidence that something was going on, don't you think? So if it's so important to the creator of the universe that I believe in him, why not make his existence obvious now?
As Myers points out, eternal torture is not possible for human beings because our minds would break very quickly. If it were possible, we'd no longer be human. And what's the point, anyway? Is torture supposed to make you love the torturer? If it's just a matter of disbelief, waking up anywhere after I died would fix that, wouldn't it? Seriously, none of this makes sense except as a threat while you're alive, and most likely just as a way of scaring children. I'm thinking that it's really just aversion therapy to keep children from actually thinking about all this after they grow up. (Remember, all successful organizations must maintain their membership, whatever it takes.)
But if hell is completely ridiculous, heaven isn't much better. Human beings aren't suited for eternity. Given enough time, no paradise would last. We can't even imagine forever, let alone try to live it. And the very nature of humanity is change. You are not the same person you were as a child. Visiting heaven would be great, but actually living there? It would be like living forever, unchanging, in an old age home.
Or, as Myers points out, maybe you prefer the crack cocaine version of the afterlife, permanent ecstasy that would strip away your humanity just as surely as permanent torture would. Whatever vision of heaven you have, it's not life. It's not human. It might sound good to casual thought - just as you might idly think of how wonderful it would be to live wherever you're enjoying a brief vacation - but it just doesn't hold up to close examination.
Like it or not, we're mortal. Time moves forward, inexorably, and there's no stopping it, no turning back, no do-overs. You can daydream otherwise, but that's all it is, a daydream. In an eye-blink, we're born, we live, and we die. The universe got along without us perfectly well for some 14 billion years, and after we're dead, it will continue uninterrupted for even longer than that. We're just mayflies. If the universe could blink, it might very well miss your life entirely. It's that brief.
But from a human viewpoint (and what other is there?), your life is far from inconsequential. Each of us is important. Our lives matter. We may be mayflies to the universe, but the universe can't appreciate us. Our mayfly values are what matter here. Yeah, it's a shame that we'll all die soon enogh,... but that's life. It's hard to accept, but it would be cowardly to deny it. Are you that much of a coward?
As humans, let's not dwell on eternity. Eternity is not for us. We live in the real world, and it can be wonderful. Just the fact that we know it won't last should make us enjoy it even more. Do you think you have it bad because your life won't last? Well, at least you've had a life. And most of us will live far longer than our ancestors did - and have a lot easier time of it, too. Get off your knees and hold your head up high. Isn't that the kind of person you want to be?
And we are all part of something bigger than ourselves. We are social animals. We live in a society, we have a civilization, and we share our planet with countless other living things (all of them our relatives). When we die, our society, our civilization, our planet will continue. Not forever, of course, but forever is not for us. Still, the idea that something important will survive our deaths should be comforting. We do not live alone, and our death isn't the death of everything.
So we should strive to leave our planet a better place than it was before us. Again, this is not eternity, but it is a worthy goal for a mayfly. Or for a human being. We are part of something bigger than just our individual lives. In that respect, our lives will have an effect that outlasts us. It's not immortality, but it's pretty good, don't you think? Plus, it's real.
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