Lucifer – Satan – was the first to enter Hell, that outer darkness beyond the consciousness of the presence of God; and what sent him there was his pride, that is, the substitution of himself for God as the centre of his life.  So now pride, the foundation of all sin, is the real cause why anyone goes to Hell.  As Holy Scripture says, “The beginning of human pride is to desert the Lord, and to turn one’s heart away from one’s maker” (Jerusalem Bible, Ecclesiasticus 10:12).  It is therefore quite easy to go to Hell perfectly respectably, for the essence of pride is self-centredness.  The Rich Man in the parable was a very respectable citizen.  He did not go to Hell because he was rich, although admittedly that handicapped him – as Our Lord says, “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” (NRSV, Luke 18:24).  No, the Rich Man went to Hell because he was the centre of his own life.