Why Would Anyone Choose Hell?

Over the years, as I have shared the Eucharistic Adoration story with others, many people have asked me, “Why would anyone choose Hell?” It is the first logical question. (Chapter 4).

I really didn’t have an answer to it, I only believed it to be true from my experience. I thought to myself, “clearly, if a soul was standing on the brink and Jesus appeared in his full glory, and the devil was showing his true intentions and fangs, I would dare to venture that the soul would most assuredly want to go to Heaven.” So, that cannot be how that moment of ultimate choice will present itself. It will not be quite that easy.

I prayed to understand it for years. It was heartbreaking to think that anyone – any one – would willingly choose hell.

Then, through prayer, and with the help of the Holy Spirit, I began to find the answers to that question and many more in the words of the Bible – in God’s Words. I began to understand that in our lives, we use our free will to make decisions that lead us on a path either toward Heaven or toward hell.

As we live, we begin to train ourselves to listen more to the voice of Jesus or more to the voice of the evil one. It may be gradual, and not entirely intentional, but we do it. These choices become a trajectory toward one eternal home or the other. But our path does not need to be our final destination.

Conversely, the more we follow the voice and urgings of the evil one, the closer we will come to darkness. When it is our turn to make the final choice between Heaven and hell, the closer we are to the light, the easier it will be to make a clear choice for Heaven. If we have walked more in the darkness during our lives, our choice may be more difficult, it may be more clouded. We may not be able to see the light to the right path and we may be lured by the temptations and lies of the evil one.