1) Heaven is too much like a worship service for their taste. The vast majority of Americans no longer attend church, and they don’t attend because they don’t like church. Church is boring, and it is an inconvenient interruption to their work, sleep and leisure. There are many things people would rather do than go to church. Since there is no joy in attending church, there is only one reason to go – duty. And many people have been working hard to undermine any sense of duty to attend church. People say things like, “You don’t have to be in church to worship God” and “ I can worship God just as well on the golf course” and “You don’t have to go to church to be a Christian.” With duty removed and delight never present in the first place, people simply skip church altogether. Some, in whom the sense of duty still remains, simply tolerate church and do what they can to make sure it isn’t too long. Some come on rare occasions – just to keep their foot in the door. And there are still others who enjoy church somewhat, but only because that church has eradicated any semblance of true Christianity from the service. They come to see their friends, sing some harmless songs and hear an innocuous sermon on how to be good and take care of the environment. But heaven will not be like this at all. Heaven is a long, long, long, worship service. It goes on forever and ever. Notice the scene from heaven in Rev. 4 and Rev. 7.

“And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say, "HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is THE LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY, WHO WAS AND WHO IS AND WHO IS TO COME." (9) And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever, (10) the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying, (11) "Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created." -- Rev 4:8-11

“After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; (10) and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, "Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb." (11) And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures; and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, (12) saying, "Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen." (13) Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, "These who are clothed in the white robes, who are they, and where have they come from?" (14) I said to him, "My lord, you know." And he said to me, "These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. (15) "For this reason, they are before the throne of God; and they serve Him day and night in His temple; and He who sits on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them. (16) "They will hunger no longer, nor thirst anymore; nor will the sun beat down on them, nor any heat; (17) for the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and will guide them to springs of the water of life; and God will wipe every tear from their eyes." – Rev. 7:9-17

This is way too long of a worship service for the vast majority of Americans to endure. Furthermore, the doctrine in heaven is strictly biblical. The singing is pure and without secular and pagan influence. If most Americans knew that heaven consisted of an eternal worship service, they would reconsider their aversion to hell, for heaven would now become hell in their eyes.

2) The second reason that most Americans would reconsider hell if they knew what heaven was really like is because of the God-centeredness of heaven. Americans (along with all the children of Adam) are self-centered. They like to have the attention. We start out this way as children. We like to have the spotlight and the microphone. We like to talk, not listen. We want to be noticed and admired. We want people to applaud us. We want to be the center of the universe and we tend to think of our own interests as superseding everyone else’s interests. With such a mentality, we are not prepared for heaven. Heaven is a place where selfishness is eradicated completely. There is no more self-centeredness. There is only God-centeredness. In heaven, there are not hordes of people competing for center stage. On the contrary, God is center stage, and everyone there gladly complies with this reality. Notice the God-centeredness of heaven from the following passages in Revelation.

“And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say, "HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is THE LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY, WHO WAS AND WHO IS AND WHO IS TO COME." (9) And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever, (10) the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying, (11) "Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created." -- Rev 4:8-11

“And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. (10) "You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth." (11) Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, (12) saying with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing." (13) And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, "To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever." (14) And the four living creatures kept saying, "Amen." And the elders fell down and worshiped.” – Rev. 5:9-14

Sinners like the idea of every tear being wiped away and going to a nebulous “better place” up in the sky, where they can have a supposed eternal freedom to indulge every fleshly pleasure they justified in this life. But they do not want to go to the real heaven and focus their eternal attention on someone other than themselves, even if that Someone is God Almighty. Sinners are way too self-centered to tolerate a half hour of heavenly reality.

3) The third reason that most Americans would reconsider hell if they knew what heaven was like is because none of their friends will be in heaven. In this life, sinners spend their time with other sinners. They hang out with those who like to sin and do the same ungodly things that they like to do. They do not like spending time around true Christians – the ones they call radicals. They have gone to great efforts to avoid such people as that. The last thing they would want to do after death is go to heaven and spend eternity mingling with God-centered “radicals” and “Jesus freaks.” They don’t like people who take the Bible too seriously, but this is the only kind of person who lives in heaven. All the people who enjoyed sin are not found there. The Bible is very clear about this.

“Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.” (1Co 6:9-10)

“Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (Gal. 5:19-21)

"He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son. (8) "But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." -- Rev 21:7-8

“In the daytime (for there will be no night there) its gates will never be closed; (26) and they will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it; (27) and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.” -- Rev 21:25-27

This eliminates the good buddies of most American false Christians. They like to spend time with ungodly people, not holy people whose righteous behavior makes them feel uncomfortable. They like to hang out with their fellow pleasure seekers and drinking buddies and sports idolaters, etc. But these people aren’t in heaven. They’re in hell. What would the sinner do in heaven? Who would he talk to? How could he carry on a conversation with holy people who don’t enjoy the things he does? How would he relate with anyone? He would be eternally lonely and eternally miserable. He would have no friends in heaven, and he might consider hell to be a better option. After all, at least his friends would be there. His mindset is like that of Billy Joel, “I’d rather laugh with the sinners than die with the saint … the sinners have much more fun … only the good die young.”