The Hell You Say!

No, it's not scriptural. No flames with demons and pitchforks. And it's not down there somewhere, any more than heaven is up there somewhere.
We get ourselves into all sorts of emotional/psychological binds because we fear eternal torment. All due deference to Dante, but what the scriptures was referring to was something called Sheol, a place where all of us go once we die, good bad and the rest of us in-betweens. Sort of a cosmic waiting room where we just muddle along until, well, whatever.
What if we tried to live our lives not out of fear of hell or hope of heaven, but because we were trying to do the right thing for its own sake? So many of us have never gotten past that stage of human development where we were feeling hopelessly inadequate, and tried to make up for it by following parental edicts mindlessly or, conversely, tried not to get caught when we did something we judged wouldn't measure up.
Of course, the whole modern image of hell doesn't mesh with a loving, forgiving God, anyway. It also takes any responsibility out of our hands. We don't have to set limits on our lives because of our own sense of right and wrong; God does that for us. We don't have to recognize the ways we are being selfish or destructive or anti-social; we can just adopt the rules and regulations as we understand God laid them out for us.
And the paradox is that, when we depend on outer rules rather than inner, we become even worse when we choose to reject or ignore any imposed restrictions. Like a young person the first time away from parents, there is a giddy sense of freedom.The result can be a massive hangover at best, crashing and burning at worst. (Many of my college students know what I'm talking about.)
Please understand: I am not saying that God does not deal harshly with the wrong-doers. But we cannot assume it will be the way we have expected or experienced. God does not necessarily put us in a corner or take away privileges, much less anything physical. And when we put limits on our lives, we should do so because these things have a personal meaning, not because God will spank.