Yes, this is a blog post about Hell.
Yes, it will discuss who in Second Life deserves to go there.
And yes … I will namedrop, so don’t feel as if you’re wasting your time reading this. It’s an “exposé” after all, which means at least one person has to be exposed as deserving everlasting separation from the glories of heaven and the presence of the Lord.
Who am I talking about? Who deserves it? Fine, I’ll just tell you.
“Cosmic Parx.”
Yes, sad to say, it’s true. And it isn’t just under the name of my avatar that I deserve to go there. It’s real me, SL me, all versions of me on the face of this planet. I’m prepared to tell you why, too … just in case you find yourself in a similar situation, and need to know how to deal with it.
(1) I deserve Hell because I have consciously committed acts I knew to be wrong. I did things I knew were outside the perfect will of God. Like many people, I was raised to have a passing acquaintance with the Ten Commandments, and even with some of the 603 other commandments in the law books of the Scriptures. I’ve broken them. Okay, not all 613, or even all 10 of the Decalogue. But I had my favorites, and I departed from the will of God somewhere between about one and one million times.
(2) I deserve Hell because I broke from the will of God even when I hadn’t yet learned specific rules. I’m human, so I have that instinct: I know something is wrong, and I feel guilt about breaking rules even when I haven't specifically learned them yet. It’s almost as if the laws were written on my heart long before I saw them written on the page. I guess that’s not even just a human thing; all of creation might operate that way. Those of you who have dogs know what I’m talking about … dogs have never had the laws of living with humans spelled out for them in writing, but you can always see when they know they’ve been naughty, even when they’ve done something they’ve never previously been yelled at for. They just know. The way I just know.
(3) I deserve Hell because I am born from a long line of humans who have severed themselves from fellowship with the Almighty. If you were raised in a society where individual accountability is a guiding philosophy of justice, that may seem unfair. What did I do to deserve to be born out of God’s grace? I need to realize, though, that I am not just an individual. I am a member of this Human Nation. We share a state of excommunication from perfect fellowship with God, and no amount of imagining it’s unfair will change the reality. A metaphor I use: I was born with a disability. I could spend life whining about how unfair it is that you're whole and I'm not, but no amount of whining changes Cosmic’s lot in life. “It is what it is,” to quote a favorite line of my SL friend Edge. And in the context of my being born outside of grace, that line says it all.
(4) I deserve Hell because God deserves better. My lot is what it is, and God is who He is. He is perfection, the only Being in all universes where perfect oneness and justice cross paths with perfect mercy and love. A creature like myself – born outside of communion with Him, and with a track record of sinning and liking it – should not stand in His presence, basking in His eternal elation. Do you think I’m being too harsh on myself? He’s a big God and He can handle it, you say? Yes, yes of course God could handle it. My point is that He shouldn’t have to. Another example: Say I had been caught stealing money from my employer for the tenth, yes tenth, time. Should I expect them to allow me back on their property? Should I say, “You’re a big business with lots of money, I apologize, but you can handle it”? Of course I wouldn’t expect to be allowed back. So I ask you, why would I expect God, who is also patient, to utterly ignore my rebellion and acts of offense against Him?
I deserve Hell.
But I have a secret. I’m willing to share it, only because you might be finding yourself in a similar situation. Here’s the real scoop:
I’m not going to get what I deserve.
God pulled a fast one. Standing at that place I mentioned … that place where perfect oneness and justice meet perfect mercy and love … in that spot stands the God Man named Jesus of Nazareth. Being Man, he was able to step into the line forming for Hell, right in front of me, and take the punishment I had coming. Being God, He was able to do it perfectly, and to fill me with Himself so that, by all the demands of justice, I appeared to be as perfect as He is! It’s a move I can’t begin to wrap my mind around. Justice demanded I pay, so He paid for me with His life. Mercy demanded I be rescued, so He reached out, killed the fallen me, and raised me back up in His image.
Now, when Justice looks at me, it sees only Him. As far as Justice knows, I died.
He didn’t trick the rules – He rewrote the game plan by fulfilling them in His perfect way.
He took a punishment He didn’t deserve. As a result, I get a relationship with God that I don’t deserve.
So count on it: Cosmic Parx deserves to go to Hell.
But she is no longer living.
Instead, it is Christ living through her.
She is dead.
Long live God.
Maranatha,
Cosmic
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