[ Setting: A lush waterfall with afternoon rainbows shining. ]
FRED: I love the rainbows in the waterfall. My mother and I used to look for rainbows all the time; signs of hope she’d say.
You know, its been an awfully long time since I thought I would be going to heaven. I was convinced by everyone that only a very few are admitted into heaven, and all the rest would be going to hell. But looking at these rainbows, I remember my mom. She died when I was little but she let me know I had some value. I sometimes pictured myself visiting her in a setting like this. I recall she said there would be “rainbows in paradise.” But it wasn’t long before I gave up on actually getting the chance to really see her again. But now I sure hope I do.
ALLEGENTIA: There is no doubt you will see your mother again, and I bet she has a rainbow site all picked out to visit.
It is sad you lived under such a profoundly false belief. Men have long believed in God’s justice but are slow in trusting God’s wisdom to mete out the proper portions of both justice and mercy. All actions do have their consequences, but always will the agents of God reflect the nature of the Father with an harmonious balance of justice tempered with mercy.
FRED: “Justice tempered with mercy” was never even considered where I came from. Just about much everybody–my father, the preacher, my parole officer–assured me I was either worthless, a sinner, or both.
ALLEGENTIA: The feeling you were already damned was hardly motivation to change, yet here you are. You did make an attempt to be better. Your idea of what was “better” may have been distorted or meager, but you knew enough to give it a shot. Any such attempt is more valuable than you can know; it always produces some success.
Within the hard shell of justice there is a heart of mercy. The Father knows your essence. His love absorbs and destroys sin and all the weakness resulting from it. Divine justice is sure but it is restrained, balanced, and always delayed by mercy. Eventually you will see how love encompasses both justice and mercy. Justice will prevail in relation to sin but the sinner will always be granted time to learn from their mistakes. A person can change into a better person, in part, because of their errors, or at least in spite of them. Remember the love of God saves the sinner. He desires all of his children not only to survive but also to thrive.
FRED: I’m sure glad to hear that; it is just that my best hope was that I would never wake up again, but if I did, I would have to resign myself to some kind of god-awful punishment in hell. You can see why I am confused–but seeing you does give me hope. After who I was how can I even be here on my way to heaven?
ALLEGENTIA: It is no wonder you felt unworthy when people in authority accused you of unforgivable sin. Some church elders accused everyone, including newborn infants, of being sinners. But sin is the willful embrace of evil, something an innocent child cannot do. God is able to forgive any transgression, no matter how heinous, as long as the person seeks forgiveness. Once they do, they eventually stop piling poor choices on top of bad ones. Heaven is designed to help you progress, to grow in goodness and all loving qualities.
You, as well as all the other souls going to heaven, are here because of the values you possess. A child begins with inherent value in their nature–sometimes called grace. But as an embryonic soul takes advantage of the opportunities in their lives, they enhance these basic gifts and add more sophisticated ideal virtues. You lived a long enough life and chose to be a good enough person to make them a living part of your soul. Just as you built up and added to your original gifts on Earth, you will continue your life in heaven and be given more and varied options for more growth.
FRED: OK, good.
You said earlier there were a thousand of us with you. How many people who die get to go on, to heaven that is?
ALLEGENTIA: There are hundreds of Transport Seraphim and thousands and thousands of souls in our convoy carrying most of the recently departed.
FRED: Maybe I am not as hopeless as I thought, but if I am not bad enough to miss out on heaven, what about people who were worse than me?
ALLEGENTIA: You now have an opportunity to look at yourself as you are. Later you will see your soul in relation to others. This comparison will be very enlightening and oftentimes surprising. As the Master said, “Everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, while he who truly humbles himself shall be exalted.”
In my introduction I noted there are all manner of souls, some smaller than others by their own choices. One of the consequences of sin is the hindering–or even reversal–of soul growth. This loss of soul mass is a result of evil choices. While on earth every person had many chances to make decisions based on their unique circumstances and opportunities. Bad choices are constricting and hardening. Good choices are expanding and opening to the possibilities of more positive growth. It is the same in heaven.
Physical death temporarily halts the development of both the good and bad person. There were people who made better choices than you, but there were also people who made more foolish choices. To be sure, the bad person with a diminished soul will begin in heaven in a more fundamental condition, but they are given an opportunity to carry on. No matter how small a chance they gave themselves, they are capable of becoming a glorious being. God does not give up on his children.
FRED: I am very grateful for his patience but what about the really, really bad people?
ALLEGENTIA: If there is no spiritual substance there is no resurrection. The really, really bad people have no soul, therefore there is nothing for us to take. Their physical death was their final death. They committed cosmic suicide.
FRED: But what about hell?
ALLEGENTIA: The visions of those who would have God torture his sons and daughters woefully misunderstand the Father’s loving and merciful character. Hell is a human idea brought about by a very foreshortened idea of who God really is. He is justice but not only justice. Anyone who gets to know the Person we call Father knows it would be an absurd inconsistency for him to threaten his children with eternal pain to get them to focus on eternal goodness. You would not have developed the soul I see before me if you did not know God gave you freewill to find your own path to the truth.
God did not create hell. You do reap what you sow, but hellish torment need not be the harvest. We will not harm you; we will only help you.
FRED: Man, that sure is different from the fire and brimstone teachings I heard. How do you help us?
ALLEGENTIA: In many, many ways. First off, we will get you situated in your new environment. We will tell you the truth and you will get to know other ascenders and angels. For instance, you will meet with Reconciliation Angels. They will show you the progress, or lack of it, you have made up to this transition point. Then they will show you your options. All the while you can concentrate on acquiring the qualities you need. You have many future adventures open to you. Heaven is a real place, and a state of mind, where you can continue your soul growth.
FRED: Okay, that sounds good, but if there is no hell, how does a person pay for their sins?
ALLEGENTIA: One big thing you will need is to gain an understanding of what constitutes a sin. As I said earlier sin is conscious evil. Missing an opportunity was not a sin, but consciously turning away from something you knew to be of value could have been.
It is a faulty myth that people go to hell if they are tainted with imperfection, that only the perfect go to heaven. Nobody can be totally perfect in one short lifetime. There is a long way to human perfection, much less Divine Perfection. Many assume the other side of death is the place of final judgment. But for a finite being everything they do is flowing toward the One Reality. Everyone has the potential for growth, to become more than they were and more than they are.
A person who could have learned courtesy but refused, still has to learn it. A person who was self-loathing will need to learn self-respect.
Do you really think you were so evil that God would stop loving you?
FRED: Not really, but according to the Preacher it would not take much to be dismissed from the “Joy of the ages.” I can hear him now, “Our God is a jealous God and he guards the gates of heaven with a mighty sword. There are few sheep and a great many goats.” My best was just never good enough.
ALLEGENTIA: I can see you made a reasonable amount of soul progress despite your difficulties. Some of your original choices were to move away from the negative, but as you matured you began to see the better way to grow was toward the good. The direction taken by the sincere of heart is upward and inward to God. Those who fixate on the “fear of the Lord” delay their progress. Focusing on the love of God is a superior motivator and a swifter road to righteousness.
FRED: You know, this is the first time in a long time I’ve been told I did anything right. I appreciate you saying so. It means a lot to me. I guess it is smooth sailing from here on out, hey?
ALLEGENTIA: Your future life will not be completely free from challenges. But you will learn to welcome these hardships because they will teach you to qualities such as sympathy, compassion, and patience. Many valuable qualities cannot be appreciated or appropriated except in the face of difficulty. We will help you design your journey so you will gain the values you missed out on, delayed, or actively crushed. Foundational steps are required before you can make real spiritual progress.
FRED: So there will continue to be difficulty and I will have to learn a few things. That’s okay by me. More than anything, I am relieved I am not going to hell. I tell you though, it is very hard to shake the idea I have to pay somehow.
ALLEGENTIA: How did you think you were going to pay?
FRED: I got to thinking about that when you woke us up to tell us where we were going. I thought before I died there would only be a few who actual got to go to heaven and how could I consider myself to be one of them? I always dreaded spending eternity in the terror, pain, and sorrow of hell. But now I am thinking since I lucked out, and I am not going to hell after all, then maybe I would have to spend some time in agony, just to get it over with, and come out the other side clean. If I am not going to hell does this “First Heaven” have some way to purge my soul of sin?
ALLEGENTIA: I understand it is very difficult to overcome a lifetime of beliefs. When we arrive you will see for yourself why we call it heaven. And you will begin to see the extent of your potentials. The constricted view of an angry God will quickly become unreasonable. I know you will be be relieved.
You are, of course, accountable for the suffering you caused others. Your next life gives you a chance to get some perspective–to see how things really are. Life goes on from where you left off. Since you are familiar with suffering, you are all the more suited to recognize it and work to relieve it.
Mistakes, evil, sin, and iniquity were foreseen by God before he gave his children freewill, and he planned for these misguided actions to be dealt with in appropriate ways. He knew freewill would prove to be a dangerous thing for immature souls, but he did not want to fill the universe with unfeeling, un-choosing beings. It is unthinkable God would coerce his children. He is not a bully or a trickster. If you need to forgive or be forgiven, you, with our help.
FRED: That reminds me of these guys I used to run with. I sure never expected to see them again, but if I get to go on, then I guess it is possible they can too. We did things together I’m not proud of; things I would change if I could.
ALLEGENTIA: You will have the opportunity to see them again. Eventually everyone of consequence you encountered during your life on Earth will cross paths with you, many will have been arranged by the angels. You will have fleeting contact with some and extensive discussions with others. No matter if they offended you, or you did something wrong to or with them, you will need to come to a mutual understanding. There will need to be healing. Justice ensures a true balance be rendered.
FRED: Okay, tell me how this forgiveness business works.
ALLEGENTIA: On the Progress Worlds forgiveness is a process. Wise angels will be on hand who will attend to the situation with all fairness.
The one hoping for forgiveness will take an active role in the process. It is true a the self-absorbed person has a more difficult time admitting their mistakes. A good self-image and self-respect are essential but it must be balanced with the realization that others also have value.
The forgiver needs to put themself in the other person’s place and believe they are worthy of forgiveness. Great progress occurs when one is willing to sincerely say, “I forgive you.”
Forgive and forget has an intervening phase: refresh. There are a number of steps. They include: a sincere intention of doing better, an honest self-assessment, a willingness to take responsibility, and a plan for positive growth.
FRED: It sounds like I was listening to the wrong people, they told me God would do the forgiving.
ALLEGENTIA: Many think the act of dying will somehow wipe the slate clean.
Divine forgiveness is instantaneous because it is not subject to time. But finite forgiveness goes through a series of stages. It begins with a moral code, a Law if you will, laid down as a foundation. Justice is the blind interpretation of the law. Fairness takes into consideration the motives of each person within the situation. Patience allows sufficient time to move through the process. Kindness encourages understanding sympathy and is the impetus for forgiveness. Mercy is the attitude of love. And Love is the light to sweep away the offense.
Just being open to divine forgiveness renews the attitude, and all manner of good things begin to accrue. Soon the sinner will see a way to forgive; have a new clarity to hear the voice of God’s will; be able to find the key to the vault of positive values; gain insights into the importance of prayer; adopt a position of unselfish intent; be calmed with a greater appreciation of the simple joys of existence–and more.
FRED: I sure have a lot to learn but, thanks to you, I have a better idea of what I need to do and what opportunities I will have. I guess mom was right about the rainbows of hope.