Funny you post this, Greg. Just yesterday I burnt my finger on a kerosene heater. I just touched it for a fraction of a second and the result was a white blister on my fingertip. Extremely painful.
Driving home yesterday, it was really hurting. That one little raw blister just screamed and screamed. My head started to hurt from the sharp pain, and I longed to plunge it into a cup of ice. But there was no ice, of course - only a cool steering wheel which provided minimal comfort as long as I pressed my finger against it.
As I cooled my finger on the rim of the steering wheel - and as the pain abated a bit - I began to think about hell. About an intense burning pain for all eternity, the entire body wracked in flames forever and ever, a trillion times worse than a little finger blister from a kerosene lamp, and with never a luxury to cool down for even one day. No cool steering wheels, no cups of ice, not a single drop of water. Just the endless pain of fire and screaming forever in eternal darkness.
Then my mind shifted to the temporal pleasure sin affords in this vapor of time we call life: The thrills of fornication, the drunkeness, the quest for success and money, the little white lies to gain an advantage at a job or in school. All of those things quickly vanished when I took my finger off the steering wheel. The only thing in the universe at that moment, for me, was the searing pain returning.
And then I thought of the endless multitudes falling into this eternal pit of flaming torture as most "Christians" watch football games and tirelessly debate Calvinism/Arminism while harboring secret sins and idols, unaware that they too, are heading for the pit.
I had to stop myself from going there, for felt I would lose my mind in grief and anger. So, returning to your post, I agree with Brooks: The more we think on hell and eternity, the more safeguarded we may be from going there.
Brother Paul
