Why are we here, and where are we going?
In another we covered Jesus, comparing him to a videogame avatar for God who would be the player in the analogy; but what about us? Where do we fit into this world? That’s easy! If the world were a videogame, we would be the Non-player characters; but it’s not that simple.
Why are we here? What is Heaven? and What is Hell? Do you want to know the true purpose of life and what “heaven” and “hell” really are? What do you think God created you for? What you will be doing for eternity, and why are you here now? You’ve come to the right place to learn all of this in one simple article.
You can use the menu below to jump to a specific aspect of life and the afterlife.
Meaning of Life
(Why are we here, why do we exist?)
First of all, let’s discuss why we are here on Earth, but we will need some updated metaphors to help us really understand this. I know I’ve said this once, but I want to really drive this in.
Consider being a software developer. Maybe you are designing a new general artificial intelligence for a self-driving car. You could write the code, introduce a neuro-net to give it higher functionality, and now it’s time to test it. Maybe we don’t want it to drive untrained on the busy streets, so we insert it into a virtual city to see how it responds. We also have an artificially intelligent toaster that makes perfect toast and adds butter, and then a Smart TV that can pick television shows for you. Why not? Now we let these devices multiply inside the simulation to see how they respond.
As the simulation runs, the various generations of the code change and loses some features, and gains others. More importantly, we can enter commands and see which groups of code function properly and which do not accept commands. Of course, this disobedient code will be thrown out. Consider a toaster burning your house down while your TV chooses to display shows that you don’t like, won’t turn off, or worse, plays country music. Then your car drives off and gets an expensive carwash on your bill. Others work perfectly.
This is why we are being tested. We can not be trusted with holy things right now because even when we decide to serve God, we fail miserably. With proper debugging, we can overcome this. Right now, humans are in alpha testing and being debugged.
What is Heaven
(What will it be like?)
What is Heaven going to be like? You devote your life to serving and obeying God, then you die. What comes next? What most people mean when they say “Heaven” is the New Jerusalem that will descend out of the sky and land on earth. This city is around 2220 kilometers square and has equally tall walls. Those walls have large gates which may work like ball valves to keep the good in and the bad out.
Once in there, you will have fresh, organic food and clean water. You will have fresh, clean air too. There will be no night, and you likely won’t need to sleep. You will be free to praise God all day long, knowing that this is your purpose. Imagine not having any question as to why you are there or who you are or what to do, and living your best life.
You won’t even have to worry about all of the wrongs you have done as your mind will be mercifully wiped and you will only do as you are supposed to in the bliss of not remembering any wrong you have done. This mind-wiping is not a bad thing, because you would know the true depth of your sin and the effects of it otherwise. This is a mercy. Consider someone with post-traumatic stress disorder forgetting the cause of their stress and living happily ever after. You will be perfect, and happy. You will also have a full belly.
In the software analogy from earlier, this is the code making it through testing and being implemented in something beyond the confines of the simulated system, ready to fulfill its true purpose. But how do we get there, what happens to our bodies? What about the rapture?
For one, in Hebrews 9:27 it is said, “and as it is laid up to men once to die, and after this — judgment,”.
We see later in scripture that two prophets of God are taken up into heaven without dying. In Hebrews 11:5 we see “By faith, Enoch was translated—not to see death, and was not found, because God did translate him; for before his translation he had been testified to—that he had pleased God well” and then in 2nd Kings 2 we see “And it cometh to pass, at Jehovah’s taking up Elijah in a whirlwind to the heavens, that Elijah goeth, and Elisha, from Gilgal,”.
Then in Revelation, we see two (unnamed) prophets descend to be witnesses for a bit of time, and even in glorified and powerful bodies they are then are murdered and left to rot. Why? Because it is appointed for man to die once and then be judged. Don’t worry about these two, they’re good.
Revelation 11:3-10 “I will give to My two witnesses, and they shall prophesy days, a thousand, two hundred, sixty, arrayed with sackcloth; these are the two olive [trees], and the two lamp-stands that before the God of the earth do stand; and if anyone may will to injure them, fire doth proceed out of their mouth, and doth devour their enemies, and if any one may will to injure them, thus it behoveth him to be killed. These have authority to shut the heaven, that it may not rain rain in the days of their prophecy, and authority they have over the waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the land with every plague, as often as they may will. `And when they may finish their testimony, the beast that is coming up out of the abyss shall make war with them, and overcome them, and kill them, and their dead bodies [are] upon the broad-place of the great city (that is called spiritually Sodom, and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified,) and they shall behold – they of the peoples, and tribes, and tongues, and nations – their dead bodies three days and a half, and their dead bodies they shall not suffer to be put into tombs, and those dwelling upon the land shall rejoice over them, and shall make merry, and gifts they shall send to one another, because these – the two prophets – did torment those dwelling upon the land.’”
I suggest that are the same two men as before, Enoch and Elijah because they have not yet died as of the time of writing this.
What is Hell
(What will it be like?)
What if you don’t get uploaded? What Will Hell Be Like? Maybe you chose not to serve God, but serve yourself instead, what now?
There are differing views regarding hell, from eternal conscious suffering to being destroyed fully after judgment. I will air on the side of caution here and describe the eternal suffering version here.
Remember those gates of heaven? This is the other side of that gate. This is also why there are no windows in the city wall. You don’t want to see this. Still, according to a major interpretation of scripture, you will be unable to die, as death itself will have been destroyed. You’ll also still breathe, and feel hunger and thirst too. There will be no clean air, no food, and no water.
Unfortunately, the city of New Jerusalem will have crushed the tectonic plates and there will be magma, lava, and literal brimstone all over. The surface of the Earth will be a hellscape and the atmosphere will be full of volcanic gasses and ash. There will be no light other than that emitted from the magma either. Everything is dead and burned and choked, but you still can’t die. I’d suspect that the thirst is worse than the burning, but I’m not sure.
Don’t forget how crowded it will be. Where do you think most of these people will congregate? Near the city gates, as the less than fortunate always have. It’s like in those zombie movies when there is a nice area fenced in, that’s where the zombies are, at the fence. I can’t stand crowded places even when I’m not on fire and choking while starving and hating myself.
You might ask why you would hate yourself, here’s why. You don’t get that merciful mind wipe and God will not hear your prayers. Keep in mind that this happened to the Nephilim, only you won’t have Enoch to speak to God on your behalf. Furthermore, you will be here forever and know that it is your own fault. You will also remember every sin you ever committed and know the full effect of each sin. Even more, everyone around you will know too, and you’ll know theirs. You’ll also know that you deserve this.
What will we do?
(What is the purpose of the afterlife?)
What will we be doing in the afterlife? We will be serving God! Remember the garden of Eden? The original plan was for Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply and then continue subduing the Earth to expand the paradise. Well, we dropped the ball on most of that. Sure, we filled the Earth, but that’s about it. Now you will have a decent group of people in a perfect paradise and a chaotic and ugly and chaotic Earth. It’s back to the beginning, but more extreme. Could we have further work to do? I’m not sure. Either way, we will be serving God.
Perhaps expanding God’s kingdom, but what if after you did you wake up in one of those speech-activated digital assistant boxes sitting on God’s desk, or something like that. Perhaps this world is not even real and God is waiting to bring our consciousness into the real world to perform some task. Given that you have read the section on the trinity you will see how this world being a videogame style simulation can make God make more sense, now we can expand the concept to heaven and hell and the afterlife.