Heaven or hell?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by wilbur lim

People go to churches daily in order to pray to God to forgive their sins and coveting themselves a auspicious future.Humanity do not know genuinely whether there is hell or heaven,but since it is believed,then humanity shall abide by God's rules,to live harmoniously,etc.

---

When there is a large number of people involved in a faith, organization, movement, etc. it is nearly a mathematical certainty that there will be a wide range of beliefs within that group of people. Therefore there is probably little point to pick out some people who believe this or that unless it can be shown that either that is the dominant belief within the group or that it is representative of the doctrines of the group. In the case of Christianity, with well more than a billion believers alive now, the latter path makes more sense, since the former is probably not physically possible to determine.

"In the words of Nietzsche "In Heaven, all the interesting people are missing.""

What does that say about Nietsche? Only that, like many of us, he considers evil to be more interesting than good.

Well in my view it is not truly evil people that go to hell, but simply anyone who happens not to be Christain. Though I know Christains do tend to think that anyone who isn't Christain is is by definition evil.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Dark Muse

Well in my view it is not truly evil people that go to hell, but simply anyone who happens not to be Christain. Though I know Christains do tend to think that anyone who isn't Christain is is by definition evil.

---

Your last statement is only true about the smallest degree of radical fringe Christians. Real Christians - the majority who have grown in maturity and understanding - acknowledge that they too - without the indwelling of Christ in our hearts - are just as evil as anybody who claims no affiliation to Christianity.

Jesus said "I am the way" not "Christianity is the way." It is not Christianity that saves anybody, but Christ who does so. There will be people in heaven who claimed nothing connected with Christianity but who knew Jesus (even if not by the name we know - cf. CS Lewis's treatment of this topic in The Last Battle, the final installment of the Narnia series).

Not all roads lead to God, but God will travel any road to find us.

Hell is a chosen destination - not a sentence.

As God's children, we must remember that it would be no easier for God to "sentence" one of His children to hell than any loving human parent to do the same. That "children" stuff isn't just pretty metaphoric stuff - God really sees us as HIS children. In fact, He loves us so much that He gave us the independence we demanded, even though He knew it would hurt us.

There is a statement in the First Pirates of the Caribbean movie I Found interesting. Barbosa in trying to explain what their curse is speaks of food turning to ashes in the mouth and no amount of drink or pleasurable company would suffice. This has been a long held version of hell, that the "burning flame" is desire, having them all but never able to take pleasure in them. A thought anyway...

God Bless

Pen

As one who believes in both heaven and hell (I am of The Church of Jesus Christ of Later-Day Saints - Mormon or LDS), I believe that God, being a supreme being and a loving Heavenly Father, does all he does for our benefit, knowing all that is best for us (even when we don't see the whole picture) and everything will work our perfectly in the end because He is constantly vigilant. Everything will work out. And God does NOT send anyone to Hell if they happen to fall short. God forgives EVERYONE who will repent and come to him. AND everyone who does fall short and refuses to come to him will not want to spend eternity with him in the next life anyway. Very few people will go to Hell. God wants ALL of his children to be with him for eternity and will do EVERYTHING in his power to guide them there even if it means helping them believe after they die. There is ALWAYS hope. Life is a time to prepare to meat God. Those who leave this life unprepared will not want to. We prepare by developing our faith by doing our best to keep his commandments and being decent people (even though we know that we will fail to be perfect by far). And Hell isn't a punishment. Hell is just "someone not getting the reward of being prepared". And those who are not prepared would rather burn than stand in the presence of God. Its really an act of mercy on his part.

(Note: these are my own personal views and should not be seen as a reflection of the church in which I attend)