My heart broke yesterday. I was walking through a local gift store when I noticed these oddly-shaped novelty coffee cups. As I read what was written on one of them, my breath was taken. Here is the exact quote, “The Upside of Going to Hell: you’d probably sweat off a bunch of calories and look super hot in a string bikini”. Really?

There is no “upside” of  going to Hell. I can’t get my mind around what would lead people to believe there could be anything positive about it. Instead of joking and making fun of it, it should break our hearts that people actually go there. God’s Word paints a less-glamorous picture. The Bible describes Hell as a real place, a place of “of weeping and gnashing of teeth“. In the story of the rich man and Lazarus, the rich man, upon his death, finds himself in Hell. He cried out that he was tormented by the flames and that he desired someone to tell his brothers so they did not join him.

Aside from the physical element, there is also a mental element to Hell. It is there the individual is separated from the presence of God eternally. Within God, there is hope, truth, light, and love. Being separated from Him is darkness and hopelessness. Truthfully, even the individual who does not believe in God today still enjoys His presence. He/she may not acknowledge the existence of God, but they enjoy the spirit of love and the presence of hope that comes only from a loving God. Without the presence of God, there will be no love, no hope, no peace, no light, and no second chances. There is no “upside” to being eternally separated from the presence of God.

Some may say this is no big deal. Some may defend statements like these by passing it off as a joke or harmless fun. The possibility of being separated from God is no joke and by no means harmless. The one true “upside” to life is that Jesus Christ is still saving sinners. Who, if not for Him, would be staring down an eternity without God.