Some have posited that earth, if chosen instead of heaven, will turn out to have been only a region of hell, and earth, if put second to heaven, to have been from the beginning a part of heaven itself. While it may not be true in a purely literal sense, the concept and experience certainly is. In other words, hell, heaven, and earth may be distinctly separate places, but one can at least have a “hellish” or “heavenly” experience on earth based on their attitude towards it.
A Christian who realizes that his lifetime spent on earth is only the prelude to an eternity in paradise can draw more pleasure out of it. Such knowledge gives hope in difficult situations, and perspective to pleasant ones. Such perspective offers so much more appreciation of nature. I believe this is because God has left something of an imprint of himself in His Creation. As such, we can see a reflection of whom God is when we look at the infinitely intricate and detailed, yet massive and majestic, yet coherent and united creation.
The world is beautiful and practical; it is artistic and scientific. On the other hand, life on earth affords much displeasure and pain. Someone without the Christian perspective has no hope to cope with suffering. This reflects the eternal hopeless suffering of hell. We can thus see that our lifetime on earth can either be experienced as a prelude to eternal comfort in heaven, or as a prelude to eternal, hopeless discomfort in hell.
