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A review by hazem_walid
Hell is the Absence of God by James Trimarco, Ted Chiang
4.0
Angles descending from heaven and entering the mortal realm lead to miracles and disasters, humans can observe the visitation, and see hell sometimes, knowing where their loved ones end up at..
“It was an unexceptional visitation, smaller in magnitude than most but no different in kind, bringing blessings to some and disaster to others.”
What will happen if miracles can really be observed by humans, we can see angles, we know for sure that God is here, will we be all believers, and what does believing mean in this situation, we do not believe in the sun.
The real problem is the world still works with the same principles, logic, and whatnot, but the realm of God is not working in the same way, the collision between the two, leads to humans trying to comprehend how to go through it, try to make sense, try to understand, try to filter everything through the mind it is not a simple task, and that is our human curse.
(Two parallel lines that should never meet, at least with logic.)
"Perhaps, he thought, it'd be better to live in a story where the righteous were rewarded and the sinners were punished, even if the criteria for righteousness and sinfulness eluded him than to live in a reality where there was no justice at all.”
Story starts...
Neil lost his wife to one of these visitations from the angle Nathanael and he knows his wife Sarah end up in heaven, and Neil regardless of what is around him is not what you can say a devoted believer, so he needs to come to love God if he is going to reunite with his wife, but it is not this simple as his motivation is corrupted.
“In Heaven, they would both be different, and their love for each other would be mixed with the love that all the saved felt for everything.”
Neil’s life is intertwined with two other people Janice Reilly, is a devoted believer that preaches the word of God, but when she encounters a visitation from the angle Rashiel, and receives a miracle that will turn her life upside down, for most people this miracle meant that she was in the right way or she passed the test, but she does not feel like that. She feels the miracle may be a mistake or the true test, but she is sure that she needs to understand why all people that they need a miracle, she is the one that got it, and what will happen to her purpose in life that she thought she already knew.
Also, Ethan Mead had a part in this story, A man who feels that he had a special role in God’s plan ever since his childhood, he waits for a sign and when he witnesses the visitation of the angle Rashiel he knew it was going to change him, and whatever happens, it will have a meaning, something like that should have a meaning right? Or he is going to force the meaning?
This short story was something, in 34 pages the author was able to deliver some great ideas, build a cohesive world, and make you care about the fate of these characters and let you think, and wonder.
A read from the author of two short stories and this is the third. One I am going to read it again Tower of Babylon, the other one was good but did not click with me like the other two, it is called understand.
At the end of this, read and think about what if hell was just the absence of God…or the absence of a loved one.
“Hell, after all, was not physically worse than the mortal plane.
It meant permanent exile from God, no more and no less.”
“It was an unexceptional visitation, smaller in magnitude than most but no different in kind, bringing blessings to some and disaster to others.”
What will happen if miracles can really be observed by humans, we can see angles, we know for sure that God is here, will we be all believers, and what does believing mean in this situation, we do not believe in the sun.
The real problem is the world still works with the same principles, logic, and whatnot, but the realm of God is not working in the same way, the collision between the two, leads to humans trying to comprehend how to go through it, try to make sense, try to understand, try to filter everything through the mind it is not a simple task, and that is our human curse.
(Two parallel lines that should never meet, at least with logic.)
"Perhaps, he thought, it'd be better to live in a story where the righteous were rewarded and the sinners were punished, even if the criteria for righteousness and sinfulness eluded him than to live in a reality where there was no justice at all.”
Story starts...
Neil lost his wife to one of these visitations from the angle Nathanael and he knows his wife Sarah end up in heaven, and Neil regardless of what is around him is not what you can say a devoted believer, so he needs to come to love God if he is going to reunite with his wife, but it is not this simple as his motivation is corrupted.
“In Heaven, they would both be different, and their love for each other would be mixed with the love that all the saved felt for everything.”
Neil’s life is intertwined with two other people Janice Reilly, is a devoted believer that preaches the word of God, but when she encounters a visitation from the angle Rashiel, and receives a miracle that will turn her life upside down, for most people this miracle meant that she was in the right way or she passed the test, but she does not feel like that. She feels the miracle may be a mistake or the true test, but she is sure that she needs to understand why all people that they need a miracle, she is the one that got it, and what will happen to her purpose in life that she thought she already knew.
Also, Ethan Mead had a part in this story, A man who feels that he had a special role in God’s plan ever since his childhood, he waits for a sign and when he witnesses the visitation of the angle Rashiel he knew it was going to change him, and whatever happens, it will have a meaning, something like that should have a meaning right? Or he is going to force the meaning?
This short story was something, in 34 pages the author was able to deliver some great ideas, build a cohesive world, and make you care about the fate of these characters and let you think, and wonder.
A read from the author of two short stories and this is the third. One I am going to read it again Tower of Babylon, the other one was good but did not click with me like the other two, it is called understand.
At the end of this, read and think about what if hell was just the absence of God…or the absence of a loved one.
“Hell, after all, was not physically worse than the mortal plane.
It meant permanent exile from God, no more and no less.”