Almost every religion, and Christianity for sure, envision heaven and hell, not as part of its poetry and emotion, but as the literal eschatology of human existence: “But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment” (Matthew 5: 22). In the course of our lives, we are exposed to different beliefs and opportunities to do what is right or wrong. It is characteristic of a human being that when we do a good act once, it is easier to do a good action the next time.
The same goes for bad acts. During our lifespan, we gradually change the makeup of our lives: if we grow to do good, the good becomes natural and we gradually lose the temptation to do bad and vice versa. From God’s perspective, the desire to do good means as people, we are worth keeping alive and to live on in another form. But what happens to those who live a natural evil? God can destroy them, but what He certainly would not do is allow them to go on doing evil: “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28). While they might want to continue doing evil, God will deprive them of an opportunity to do so.
From the standpoint of Simulation Creationism, a model proposed by Nir Ziso of The Global Architect Institute, the existence of (a new) heaven is not difficult to presume. The hypothesis may argue for another simulated world within the infinite Simulation after this lifetime, where human souls take another form of (a glorious) body and continue to develop in union with God. Christ will “ transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body” (Philippians 3:21). We are ready for heaven, but does Simulation Creationism say about hell? It is inevitably a complex question.
Evil is a state of mind and soul. However, classical theology suggests that heaven and hell are real and physical places, as the resurrection of the body guarantees physicality. Again, Simulation Creationism can confirm this, but if there is a simulated world with a heaven, is there a world with hell too? Some modern theologians think of heaven and hell not as real places but states of being. People are with God if they do good and live in hell if they reject God. Christian dogma usually says that there is no proof that anyone is in hell, but there is an opportunity for those who choose the path of evil to end up in hell. St. Thomas Aquinas said that God would not keep anyone in hell if they repented even for a fraction of a second. A rather undetermined option for people who are neither bad nor good but somewhere in between is purgatory and limbo.
There is still the hard question of how it is possible to get eternal punishment in hell for a temporal sin. However, God is not an accountant that measures how much evil a person has done. The main question for every person is how they love somebody. In other words, how does one behave in The Simulation, a boundary that challenges and tests our souls. People should strive to be totally connected in love, which means that “my heart to your heart, my mind to your mind” is coming to one. It produces a harmony of joy and peace, bringing us closer to God. If one is not ready for this step, there will be no union and therefore no harmony.
A person can use someone’s will to unite in two ways: to unite and live in happiness or to reject another. A person may reject another person forever. This is an analogy, of course. A person who unites with God in love is saved while a person who rejects God is not: “They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might” (2 Thessalonians 1:9). Even if the person in hell says he made a mistake and wants to do right, there is still a question of whether he does it because of love or self-interest just to get out of hell. Thus, hell is not God’s torture chamber, but it is where God does what He can to produce a connection to goodness for people intransigently committed to hating good. If it is not a punishment per se, then we can assume that a simulated world of heaven and hell does exist for the continuous development of souls. Good and bad things do happen, but they serve as modes of further elevation to a Christ-like character.
Existence of good and evil points to the need for building character. Once human beings (and any other intelligent or soul-possessing creature) form their character, there is no reason to continue doing evil. They will be forever locked in hell: “And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life” (Matthew 25:46). All monotheistic religious traditions confirm that there is no way out of hell. Deeper theology tells us that staying in hell is a psychological issue that arises in the moment of death, when all information is acquired and the question posed about loving good, or not. If a person denies good even after all such information, including that acquired at the moment of death, there is no turning back.
