[ wp ] after dying god informs you that hell is a myth , and `` everyone sins , its ok '' . instead the dead are sorted into six `` houses of heaven '' based on the sins they chose .

It was the age of enlightenment. Religion was dying. Man was waking up. Logic was being reintroduced to the reality-tv-watching masses. There were new problems, jobs were not as plentiful, more because we had intelligent machines than lack of opportunities. Family planning was managed in a way that had less to do with being fruitful and multiplying and more to do with quality of life. Of course there were those that clung to the old ways. In the United States half the country clung to vehicles that required human drivers, citing freedom and ironically autonomy, while causing 83 % of all accidents and over 97 % of all fatal accidents. 
 
 There were extremists of course. Some died in quiet whispers, their fervent insistence of their flavor of deity. Then you had the others. Islamic extremists in the middle east setting bombs and destroying ancient artifacts. Christian extremists in the southern United States opening fire on `` Take back your Sunday,'' education and sporting events. Some Buddhists spoke of falling leaves and turning of seasons. Some said nothing at all. 
 
 Then God died. 
 
 In his last message to man was a recording of sorts. A last will and testament to his creation. Every window vibrated, every speaker came to life. The language was spoken in tongues. A calm undulating mass of syllables strung together in unbroken harmony. Translated by whatever means into meaningful thought constructs, bypassing the language centers completely. 
 
 It said he was proud of us. We put away childish things, tossed away fear of hell, and hope of heaven to focus on the real world. He apologized for being what he was, a indifferent creator, a scientist of sorts who kicks over an ant hill to see what happens next with little regard to the ants. 
 
 But he liked the idea of heaven, so he created one of sorts. It did n't work out well. The idea of happiness for the human mind is a flawed thing. Only through deep meditation can the human mind be happy by itself. Often it needs something or someone else to compare the level of happiness too. Someone to feel superior too. In heaven, that biological limitation is gone. There are places where you can indulge in the pure pleasure of eating, though you have no body to fill. Areas where you can lounge about with nothing to do ever. 
 
 The explanation was beautiful in a way. Those aspects of life thought to be sinful by the older generations were in fact indulgences in the afterlife. 
 
 Which of course started the wars. War. Really all the fighting kind of rolled into a big ball of hate and fear. Everyone was convinced either it was God, or it was the Devil. Old hatreds and fears blossomed to the surface. Those who refused to take a side were labeled as enemies by all others. 
 
 As I write this last account, hidden deep beneath the wasted earth, I have to wonder if God and the Devil are not the same thing. If the being or entity or process that spoke to mankind that day was not simply kicking over our ordered ant hill to see what would happen next.
