So now, with the individual, disregard of Our Lord’s teaching, the refusal to repent, and the determination to be independent of God, leads to spiritual ruin – to Hell.  And Hell is a place which individuals choose with their eyes wide open in preference to Heaven.

The happiness of Heaven comes solely from the visible Presence of God.  The misery of Hell comes from the absence of God.  Yet many people today, if they gave the matter a thought, would turn that upside down.  In their eyes Heaven would be completely spoilt if the all-holy God was going to be in it.  For them, that would be Hell.  For just as, in Our Lord’s words, “…what is prized by human beings is an abomination in the sight of God” (NRSV, Luke 16:15), so also that which is prized in the sight of God, is an abomination among human beings.