The old man

Once upon a time, an elderly man passed away at home peacefully, surrounded by … Well, surrounded by nobody. He had got so old that he managed to outlive most of his friends and family.

God then appeared before him with a sombre expression and explained that he could not allow him into heaven as his life hadn’t been lived free of sin. The man, perplexed by this astonishing vision, spent a moment to put himself together and grew the strength to challenge God’s assertion. God saw that the man had been brave enough to challenge him, and thought that it’d be just to give the man an opportunity. They both then agreed to look back at the old man’s life so it could be determined whether he could be forgiven for those sins he committed or if he would be, at least, remorseful for any wrongdoings.

God then started by recalling an episode of his mature life:

A few years ago, your best friend asked you for financial help and you became very angry at him and refused to give him anything. In my eyes, that was a very greedy attitude, and on top of that, this was made worse by becoming angry at who was supposed to be your best friend.

To this, the man responded that at that point in his life he was very poor, and he got angry because it wasn’t the first time his friend had asked him for money. He said that the few bucks he saved, he put them to good use. He eventually became a successful entrepreneur and made peace with his friend by making him a shareholder of his company.

God reflected on this and agreed that he could spare this hiccup of the man’s life. But then, he challenged him about an earlier incident:

Is it not true that when you were younger, you did visit a prostitute, and by doing so, you committed the sin of lust and took advantage of another human being?

The man said that although he recognised he should have not taken advantage of the prostitute, he had looked after her since. So much that, after meeting with her a few times, he felt in love and eventually married her, getting her off a life of drugs and prostitution.

Then God, seeing that he was about to be beaten, asked him about one more episode of his life:

What about when you were a child and were facing your first school test? Do you remember that you were too lazy to revise and spent the whole previous afternoon playing with your toys instead? You swore to me that if I let you pass the test, you’d never sin again. I let you pass, but our conversation today proves that you have sinned since.

The man considered this thoughtfully and elaborated a reply. He argued that he could not feel guilty about it because he was only a child, and thus he was unaware of the consequences of his actions and so he could not feel remorse nor ask for forgiveness. He confronted God and told them that it was a bit rich to be judged on his emotions when he was an adult and his actions when he was a child. He was in complete control of neither.

In that case, son, I can not let you in heaven, and you’ll have to burn in hell for eternity.

In a blink, God vanished and hell appeared. The man became very frightened, and within the darkness, he saw a shadow in the distance, approaching him very quickly. He could not see what or who this was, but as the shadow got closer, he started to recognise some features of it, and given the circumstances, he thought the devil itself was about to take his soul.

As the shadow got closer he realised that it was more than a single entity that was approaching him. They were laughing, or at least that’s what he thought. Maybe demons rejoicing at his sinister fate? But when they were almost on him, the shadows became clear and what he thought laughing demons, were instead smiling faces that he recognised.

His wife was delighted to see him and kissed him romantically. His best friend was there too and hugged him. And all the people who he wronged in God’s eyes were there, in what’s God called hell, and they were all happy to see him.

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