" its better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven "

666 - 666
@nishanity (1650)
India
December 15, 2006 5:02pm CST
dont u think this saying is wonderful!!! i just luv these lines of the great poet John Milton.. and pls dont take the saying literally... This is a popular saying, from the Devil's point of view in Milton's Paradise Lost. C.S. Lewis quotes it in Mere Christianity, and more recently on some bathroom graffiti that said "America would rather reign in Hell than serve in Heaven". The sentence appears to present a paradox, but upon closer inspection its just a false statement. Is it really better to reign in Hell than to serve in Heaven? i think it is... in the sense that... its better to be a person in charge of something, rather than being under someone for something all the time wat do u think?
3 responses
• Australia
15 Dec 06
yeah
@nishanity (1650)
• India
16 Dec 06
thanx for agreeing
• India
23 Aug 11
i believe ,YES it is better to rule in hell than to serve in heaven. hell is a place full of problems,hurdles and adversities so the things their need reform,solution and ruling in hell means took the charge of changing things,to emerge as solution oriented person and above all took initiative to transform that hell into heaven. hell is a great place for learning,for implementing your creativity cause everyone of has some great potential inside us. ruling in hell means taking the responsibility not only of your work but also of your people,thinking not only about yours welfare but also about your people's welfare. at last i will say why to serve on that heaven where their is no importance of yours where you are not getting opportunity to implement your ideas your thought. where you are not able to discover true meaning of your life. EVERYONE WANTS ONE OPPORTUNITY IN LIFE TO MAKE HIS/HER LIFE MEANINGFUL AND RULING IN HELL IS THAT OPPORTUNITY.
• Canada
21 May 09
I think you may be taking this quote a little out of context. When standing alone it very much does stand to imply that it is better to rule than to serve....But following the story of Paradise Lost it was God's most serving Angel Lucifer that spoke these words. After God had made man, Lucifer felt that God was making a terrible mistake and felt that the best way to serve God was to destroy or oppose Man. Lucifer then created hell to serve God the best way he thought he could. From this very very short summary of Paradise Lost you can begin to see that Lucifer even in Hell is still in his mind serving god and did not leave heaven out of distain for servitude; quite the opposite. In this quote Lucifer is merely relating that his service to God is best done by oppose him by regining in hell, he is very much so still in the service of god while technically opposing him in hell. This is the paradox that C.S Lewis is referring which basically amounts to "one must be cruel to be kind".