Be careful what you ask for

The gates of Hell are locked from the inside.

This line is part of the description of C. S. Lewis’ The Great Divorce. The entire text is:

What if anyone in Hell could take a bus trip to Heaven and stay there forever if they wanted to?

In The Great Divorce C. S. Lewis again employs his formidable talent for fable and allegory. The writer finds himself in Hell boarding a bus bound for Heaven. The amazing opportunity is that anyone who wants to stay in Heaven, can. This is the starting point for an extraordinary meditation upon good and evil, grace and judgment. Lewis's revolutionary idea is the discovery that the gates of Hell are locked from the inside. In Lewis's own words, "If we insist on keeping Hell (or even earth) we shall not see Heaven: if we accept Heaven we shall not be able to retain even the smallest and most intimate souvenirs of Hell.

This is a great book.
I really hope to have time to put more from it up on the site.

Maybe I've been too busy.  I wrote this article back in October of 2012.  It's now February of 2017.  I still haven't written anything else from the book.  Still want too.  I suppose I will - when it's time.  God's time - not mine.

As I add more to this, I'll put it in text like this, so you can tell what's new.

Anyway - This book came to mind when I was reading an article about - of all things - Texas cheerleaders. But more on that story in a while.

As I was searching the web for the entire text quoted above -
I came across a whole bunch of comments about the book.
Some were obviously positive -
talking about the amazing insight into the choice that we have between Heaven and Hell -
and what that would be like.

Others obviously were very negative and / or disagree with this conclusion.
One of them is -

Lewis's belief that "the doors of hell are locked from the inside" has really been troubling me. I really don't understand how this could be true. I know that Lewis is trying to make the point that a person's unwillingness to submit themselves to God is what put them in hell, and I agree. But can we really assume that is what is keeping them there? I think if these people saw Jesus face to face and he said "I never knew you" they would be struck by Christ's glory and know for certain that they had missed it. I think they will realize that the sovereign God of the universe truly exists and that surrendering their self-will for His service would have been definitely worth the sacrifice. But it will be too late. If hell truly is a lake of fire and a place with weeping a gnashing of teeth like the bible says it is, I don't think people will "enjoy forever the horrible freedom they have demanded. I think it will be horrible, but I don't think there will be enjoyment or freedom.

I’m guessing this statement was made by a Christian -
someone who already has accepted Jesus -
someone who already realizes the significance of the choices already made -
and that Lewis is saying that the gates are locked -
not by God -
but by the residents of Hell themselves.

I’ve known people with three different reactions to God’s Word - The Bible:

• Some believe it is really from God - and try to live by it.
• Some think it’s a nice story - but that’s it - just some old stories and tales.
• Others totally reject it - lies, lies and more lies.

Some people are too “into themselves” to have any interest in God.

Others think they are strong enough to take care of themselves and don’t need anything else.

Others seem to be perfectly happy thinking that life is just a random / short experience and then there’s nothing after that.

Some think they would have to live a “boring” life if they did what God wanted.

I can tell you, especially these last three or four years, while they haven't been anything like I had hoped or would have expected - it's been anything but boring.  Sometimes I even wish God and Satan would leave me alone for a while.  But then I realize - I don't really want that - not at all.  Because that would put me behind the wrong gates.

Still others are having what they think is too much fun to even want to think about God.