Hell

This mosaic comes from Florence, Italy, dating to about the 12th century. It shows the almost irrational fear of the afterlife that hounded Medieval thought. However, the real thing is worse (yes, it does exist - it's not just a story made by ancient lunatics, as you may think) - much worse than being devoured alive by writhing snakes, than being roasted alive, than being pricked with needles all over your body.

Hell is the vindication, or justification, of God's incomparable and infinite holiness. In it is the righteous wrath of God, inflicted upon sinful man, upon his abominations and iniquities.

Let's imagine this scenario.

You've just taken your last breath (slightly drunk, you drove your mother's car into a tree after a party, killing you and 4 of your friends). You'd be facing in His eternal tribunal the Holy One Himself, the Almighty Lord and Creator of the Universe, to whom you owe your entire life and being.

And you ask yourself quietly, "Am I worthy of Him?"

Your entire life flashes before your eyes: you remember those moments when you secretly pawed through your room mate's adult magazines, when you lied to your parents about your grades in the face, when you almost wished your annoying little brother to drop dead, among others.

You know it. You're not. You've wasted your life, engaged yourself in satisfying the fleeting lusts of this world, instead of giving Him, whom you owed everything, all the honor and glory.

And He would agree. Case closed.

What's most terrible about Hell is knowing that you utterly deserve the punishment, in its entirety, because you were completely responsible for your actions, and that you could have done something about it when you still walked the Earth.

But, you, dear reader, are still alive and kicking, and are not as those wretched souls in Hell. If I've got you worried to death (you literally should be), here's the best news in the world: thankfully, oh so thankfully, there is a way, which He Himself provided, to be spared from His wrath which you so rightfully deserved.

(more to be written soon)