You've lied, cheated, stolen, and been a dick and an asshole all your life. When you die, you will be condemned to the fires of Hell. Well, at least that's what we have been told growing up. But, think about it for a minute. If you've been bad will you be punished and made to suffer in Hell? By the devil? I don't think so. If you've been bad then that would be, I think, "good" from the devil's point of view. It would seem that the punishment is NOT being allowed to go to Heaven-- and that's it. God slams Heaven's Gate in your face. And since there's apparently no other place to go-- you go to Hell. But, whatever happens to you in Hell would be up to whoever is in charge there:-- the devil.
The Bible depicts the devil as God's "equal". Well, equal in the sense that they are always portrayed talking with each other like diplomats in a summit meeting. In the Book of Job, we are told how God and the devil-- picture them talking over coffee in Starbucks, played craps with the life of a decent man. God agreeing with and giving the devil a free hand to do whatever he wants to do with Job, short of killing him, to test the man's faith. I could not begin to imagine how God and the devil sets up a meeting. All I know is that the Bible tells us that they do meet. Are these talks deliberate and on a regular basis or do they just randomly run into each other. The Bible says that after the failed coup in Heaven, a place was carved out of eternity to contain coup leader and now ex-angel Lucifer-- the devil, and his cohorts. The Bible only mentions these two places. And since there are only two places (-- to be accurate there is one other place: purgatory. We are told that purgatory is a temporary holding area for sinners who may be considered for admission to Heaven), there must be a common border. Picture God and the devil walking up to the border-- maybe not unlike the DMZ dividing South and North Korea, and having a tête-à-tête at arm's length. Or, maybe they meet up on Earth. One thing is certain though, there is no mention in the Bible of God visiting the devil or the devil having a day tour of Heaven (though it is mentioned in the Bible that the devil gave Jesus, the Son of God, a guided tour of Hell after the latter died on the Cross). It could reasonable be concluded, therefore, that neither of the two could pop out at will on the other's realm. It would seem that neither have control beyond their turf. Thus, God runs pretty much everything in Heaven (and apparently on Earth too since it's His creation). But, for all intents and purposes Hell is run by the Devil.
So, if you've been good all your life, the big pearly gates opens and there is this bright light. Yippie whoopee doo. You're finally home in Heaven where you will spend an eternity basking in God's eternal and unconditional love. Yeah hey. It would be like visiting your grandparent's house on a damp Christmas day as a kid. Yippie yah yeah. Boring? What do you expect? It's not like that God is going to say: hey kiddo, see that hot babe with big boobies, she's yours. Nope, that's not going to happen. Eternal bliss. Like standing on the moon. Alone. Forever.
And if you've been a bad boy?
I'm not sure. Everything we know about the devil is from the Bible, now that's God's book. The devil hasn't put out a book yet. It would seem that the devil has taken the high road by not bothering to respond at all (then again, he might have a hard time getting published either). The thing is if you've really been bad the Devil would have no reason to not like you. You're one of his boys. Why would he make you suffer?
What could be in Hell then?
Well, if we take out everyone that shouldn't be in Heaven:-- Rock n' Roll!
