Consequences

I enjoyed some time on Father’s Day this year with my brother and his wife, their children and grandchildren. Shortly before we sat down to eat, one of my great-nephews, about 8 years old, was causing trouble, so he had to go to his room while we enjoyed a more peaceful lunch together. “Time-out” for him was the consequence of his behavior. Having some time in isolation when everyone else was together enjoying a meal was meant to be instructive for him, not simply punitive. Indeed, the consequence of selfishness isolates us from others. It is a lesson that we have frequent opportunity to learn while as children we grow in maturity. After all, repetition is the mother of studies! The isolation of selfish behavior also enables us to see the rewards of good behavior – that of peaceful communion with others. Good parenting requires the enforcement of consequences not just for the moment, but for the good ordering of our society, as well. Life’s choices have consequences, some of which may be eternal.

There are consequences in life for just about everything we do. Smoking might lead to lung cancer. Helping a neighbor in need might lead them to return the favor. Regularly drinking alcohol to an excessive degree might lead to addiction. Mowing someone’s lawn while they recover from knee replacement might make us more empathetic to the disabled. Not following through on our word might give us a bad reputation. Some of the consequences of our behavior may be unintended. There may even be lasting consequences to words and actions we never imagined would occur. Yet the disposition of kindness is surely to have a ripple effect.

When I was in college, a professor of philosophy who taught logic presented an interesting image as his idea of what hell would be like.  He described hell as “solitary confinement.” (I thought of this when my great-nephew spent time-out in his room on Father’s Day.) He reasoned that if sin is selfishness, a life of sinfulness was not only a rejection of God but a fixation on oneself. Only thinking of oneself, serving oneself, advancing one’s own interest – perhaps even at the expense of others – was, in reality, a kind of isolation. Logically, then, he said that in the end, when such a person dies – they get what they wanted in life – isolation – forever!  Thus, he reasoned that hell is the consequence of a life of selfishness and sin, but the experience will be an eternal solitary confinement – me, myself and I forever alone!

As an extrovert and a people person, that was enough to make me think twice about my patterns of thought, speech, action and omissions. To reinforce the idea, we have a gospel story about “Lazarus and the Rich Man” (Luke 16:19-31). Lazarus was a poor man, covered with sores, who begged at the gate of the rich man. The passage has a graphic description of the dire state he was in. It contrasts him to the rich man who was lavishly dressed and who feasted splendidly each day, while ignoring the poor man Lazarus at his gate. When they both died, there were sharply contrasting consequences, as the rich man suffered thirst and isolation in burning flames from where he could see the poor man Lazarus enjoying friendship with Abraham, with a great chasm separating the two of them.

The gospel tells us that from this place of torment, the rich man can see the consequences of the poor man’s goodness, from where he acknowledged the separation and learned that nothing could be done about it.  He would live in this solitary confinement, forever, while at the same time seeing the poor man now in heaven and what he himself could have had. So, for a moment, imagine that you are invited to a 4th of July celebration with all your closest friends, but that morning you wake up with the flu and are stricken by the worst attack of nausea, etc., that you have ever experienced. That evening, as you are isolated at home, you imagine all your friends enjoying the 4th of July without you, which only adds to your misery!

Simply put, this is only a glimpse of what the experience of the loss of our eternal soul in hell will be like. Solitary confinement is one thing, but for our souls to live forever in solitary confinement, eternal unending isolation – while observing the reward for the just at the heavenly banquet forever – is a punishing consequence that is beyond our imagination. Now, if eternal solitary confinement is the consequence of a life of sin and selfishness that is never confessed or repented, what must the opposite be like? What will be the consequences of faith, of converted hearts, of sins forgiven by the merciful love of God who is “slow to anger and rich in kindness?” (Psalm 103:8)

The consequences of a life of faithfulness to the Lord, and of converted hearts who humble themselves before God and confess their sins, is eternal union with God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit), with Mary and Joseph and all the saints, and with our loved ones who also enjoy the blessed vision of God for all eternity. Put somewhat casually, heaven is where “we will all be at the same party and no one has to go home.” But it won’t just be ANY party. Rather, it will be an experience of the perfect gathering of the children of God with our Creator, Lord and Savior, and it will be FOREVER! That’s something we can scarcely comprehend. The consequences of a life of faith and faithfulness to the Lord will be the happiness of eternal communion, the banquet that will have no end. The opposite of eternal isolation is eternal communion and fellowship!

Rather than dwell on the fear of going to hell, we would do well to focus on the rewards of heaven. We should strive to live in communion with God’s holy will and in the loving care and service of one another. Quite the opposite from selfishness and sin and their consequences, we should seek to become transformed by the grace of God to love him more each day and live by his commandments and our Lord’s instruction in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew: 5-8). The consequences of striving to please the Lord and practice the virtues is, over the course of a lifetime, what enables us to live in the hope of God’s mercy and with confidence when he comes to judge the living and the dead.

If “solitary confinement” is not what you want to experience for all eternity, then focus on striving to please God more each day by serving others with a generous heart. Choose your consequences. “If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.” (Hebrews 3:15)

Let me leave you with this...

“You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart,

with all your soul, and with all your mind.

This is the greatest and the first commandment.

The second is like it: You shall love your

neighbor as yourself.

The whole law and the prophets depend

on these two commandments.”

                                                                 Matthew 22:37-40