CS Lewis once made the analogy that a game of chess (or any other game for that matter) would be far less engrossing and fun if there was no chance whatsoever of losing it. In the same way, what makes the experience of life so momentous and important is the fact that it is possible ultimately to lose at it.
It is sometimes said that Hell is an archaic notion, along with the notion of angels and demons etc. Outdated antiques that belong in dust-filled libraries but not in modern discourse, be it oriented towards theology or science or anything else. Yet if this is the case then much of what Jesus said is composed of outdated antiques that have no bearing on modern life, for of all the prophets in the Bible, Old Testament and New, no one warned against Hell, Satan, and demons more than Jesus did. Today is an example.
Jeremiah and the Psalm address the myth that sin is somehow more interesting than virtue, using the imagery of the living tree versus the barren bush or "chaff." A life of sin, far from being interesting or exciting, is actually dead, stagnant, boring even. Thomas Merton put it best when he said:
There is nothing interesting about sin, or about evil as evil. Evil is not a positive entity but the absence of a perfection that ought to be there. Sin as such is essentially boring because it is the lack of something that could appeal to our wills and our minds.
Life is more interesting the more ready one is to practice charity. The rich man's life was already like the chaff, it was already a stagnant, tastless bore, because he never went outside of his little bubble to help the poor man Lazarus. His tragic experience of the afterlife was only a clearer manifestation of the dryness that always existed in his soul because of his insistent inaction.
By contrast, the one who is able to perform great and virtuous feats, by the power of Christ, will always have more to smile about in this life and the next. But the choice is ours. This life indeed is a contest, a battle, a struggle, a war that can be lost to the prince of darkness, or won by the grace of God. It is a life and death situation.
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