One of the first Bible verses I learned as a child was John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

That’s the entire Gospel in a nutshell, and it’s pretty awesome.

My finite brain has a hard time wrapping itself around the concept of infinity, and my gnat-like attention span can’t begin to fathom time without end. I only know that I’ll be there to experience it, and that’s enough for me at this stage of my life.

I like the song, “I Can Only Imagine” by MercyMe: “Surrounded by Your Glory, what will my heart feel? Will I dance for you, Jesus, or in awe of You be still?” As intimidating as it seems on this side of heaven, we, as believers, have nothing to fear, because we’re going Home. And it must be pretty fantastic, because all the people I know who’ve preceded me haven’t come back here!

It surprises me, though, that there are still people who don’t believe, don’t want to believe, and don’t want to hear about anything spiritual. Someone once said, “Don’t witness to me, and we’ll get along just fine.” Hmmm. I hadn’t said a word, so I’m thinking there’s something going on in their souls, a prickling of their subconscious, that’s begging to hear the Good News, in spite of themselves.

I loved Daryl Witmer’s recent Voices article stating that God is a gentleman and won’t force himself on anyone who doesn’t want a relationship with him. It was brilliant!

A dear old pastor said that once God breathes the breath of life into man’s nostrils, man spends his life finding his way back to the Giver of Life and that it takes some people a whole lot longer than others to figure it all out.

I was helping some people move a refrigerator and a couple of the guys were trading stories, and the language was disintegrating around me.

In an effort to lighten things up a bit and preserve my hearing, I said, “And you eat with that mouth?” It netted me no response, so I tried again with, “Have you ever thought about the path to hell?”

One of them glibly replied, “Hey, that’s where all my friends are going to be, so why would I want to go anywhere else?”

The sad thing is, he wasn’t kidding.

That’s when I had one of those light-bulb-over-the-head moments. Believers aren’t the only ones who have everlasting life – everyone does. It just takes place in a different venue. There are those who cavalierly say, “Hell is right here on earth. I don’t believe in life beyond the grave.”

Well, I can say I don’t believe that 2 plus 2 equals 4, but that doesn’t make it any less true, now, does it?

There are those who say they can’t believe in God; it just doesn’t make sense. Yet these same people wholeheartedly embrace the entire evolution fairy-tale.

There are those who hate God because they feel he let them down in some way, yet they haven’t given their life to him in the first place, so how could he let them down?

There’s a popular country song making the rounds that says, “If you’re going through hell, keep on going, don’t slow down, if you’re scared don’t show it, you might get through before the devil even knows you’re there.”

An interesting concept. Just as I’ve never heard of anyone coming back from heaven, I’ve never heard of anyone returning from hell, but I don’t for one moment believe it’s because they don’t want to!

In Luke 16:19-31 we see the rich man in hell and Lazarus in Abraham’s bosom. The rich man wants Lazarus to come give him some cold water because of the tormenting flames, but between them there is a “great gulf fixed.” No traveling between the two zones.

Another light-bulb moment: There are no unbelievers in hell. Think about it. In that one moment, the Truth of it all is revealed: Jesus did die for the sin of the world; those who have given their hearts to him are sharing eternity with him in Paradise; those who ignored his message of love are forever banished to hell with no hope, because they’ve ignored all the second, third, and fourth chances God’s given them here on earth. They’ve made their choice, and he respects their decision to never have a personal relationship with him.

Eternity is a really long time. Where will you spend it? Smoking or nonsmoking?

Brenda Norris is assistant Sunday school teacher and choir director at West Lubec Methodist Church. She may be reached via bdnreligion@bangordailynews.net. Voices is a weekly commentary by Maine people who explore issues affecting spirituality and religious life.