Today’s column is free to all. Please consider becoming a subscriber to get ‘em all. Thank you for your continued support. As a kid in Catholic school we were constantly bounced between the vengeful God of the Old Testament and the less violent deity of the New Testament. One was forever threatening us with eternal hellfire while the other was more a glass half-full kind of guy. Sometimes we longed for heaven simply because we feared hell, and sometimes heaven seemed a nice enough place all on its own.