How To Get To Heaven When You Die

[Arawn-ap-Hywel]

Quote by: Marilyn Monroe Truly being sorry is all it takes, but truly is the main word here, and God knows when you aren't.

Marilyn only if you truly believe in a singular entity

and as Ken asked, is the christian or muslim or other(s) heaven really worth it?

[Porfyra]

and as Ken asked, is the christian or muslim or other(s) heaven really worth it?

yes. absolutely, without a doubt. it's better than burning in eternal fire, right?

[Marilyn Monroe]

Quote by: Arawn-ap-Hywel Marilyn only if you truly believe in a singular entity and as Ken asked, is the christian or muslim or other(s) heaven really worth it?

That's right.

I don't know how any one can answer that about heaven. It's hoping for the best in my estimation. That's all any of it is is hope.

I'm a believer in living the here and now. I like trying to achieve better things, and being kind, learning patience, all that rot. It's something to do. Some people might like to focus in other ways. It's all a journey, as the cornballs would say.

[Marilyn Monroe]

Quote by: Porfyra yes. absolutely, without a doubt. it's better than burning in eternal fire, right?

Thing is the soul's burning, and it's a spirit. Does the soul feel pain? Why would a guy who was a petty criminal, get the same punishment as a murderer?

There are some who say it's not burning, you just don't get to see God. Different theories on all of it, I suppose.

I still can not figure that God would do this to His children no matter what they did.

[XFRODOBAGGINSX]

The pain is the same as this life, only it's worse because the body doesn't burn up. There are different levels in hell, but in the end, everyone there ends up in the lake of fire.

[Jack]

I'm a believer in living the here and now. I like trying to achieve better things, and being kind, learning patience...It's all a journey

It sounds like Buddhism would be a better philosophy for you to investigate than theism.

[Foxfyre]

Quote by: Marilyn Monroe Thing is the soul's burning, and it's a spirit. Does the soul feel pain? Why would a guy who was a petty criminal, get the same punishment as a murderer? There are some who say it's not burning, you just don't get to see God. Different theories on all of it, I suppose. I still can not figure that God would do this to His children no matter what they did.

Personally, I don't think you have to 'figure it out'. If you have experienced a loving, compassionate, forgiving God who is ever gently teaching you and pulling you to be better than you were, you can trust that. He is not the God of hell despite what some say, and none of us know what heaven or hell are. We can trust God's promise, however, that a better place is prepared for us and what is now is not all there will ever be.

[Ken Carman]

Quote by: Porfyra yes. absolutely, without a doubt. it's better than burning in eternal fire, right?

I've heard different takes on this from various believers. Some think if you don't qualify for heaven there's simply nothing after death. Some believe as you do. Frankly I could never worship any deity that demands I either agree with him/her/it, or accept some premise, or I'll be tortured for eternity. That, for me, would be the very definition of evil, or Satan... if you wish.

[Foxfyre]

Quote by: Ken Carman I've heard different takes on this from various believers. Some think if you don't qualify for heaven there's simply nothing after death. Some believe as you do. Frankly I could never worship any deity that demands I either agree with him/her/it, or accept some premise, or I'll be tortured for eternity. That, for me, would be the very definition of evil, or Satan... if you wish.

I have often wondered how many people come to know Christ by being told they are going to hell? That strikes me as a rather flawed promotional tactic. It does seem to work in some other religions though.

[Jack]

Fear of torture and death is a wonderful inducement. For simple people who aren't philosophers, anything that promised deliverance from pain and sorrow would be acceptable.

[Foxfyre]

Quote by: Isherwood Fear of torture and death is a wonderful inducement. For simple people who aren't philosophers, anything that promised deliverance from pain and sorrow would be acceptable.

You miss my point. Few, if any, people accept the Christ who have been introduced to him via threats of hellfire and damnation. Christians do not believe out of fear, but out of experience. Here I am making a clear distinction between believers and those who do not yet know the Christ but who list Christianity or one of the Christian denominations as their religious affiliation.

[Porfyra]

the only thing is that you are not including ALL christians... some do believe out of fear which is totally stupid but....

[Foxfyre]

Quote by: Porfyra the only thing is that you are not including ALL christians... some do believe out of fear which is totally stupid but....

Some may profess belief out of fear, but I think those, except perhaps the mentally ill, who have experienced the living Christ do not believe out of fear. As the Apostle Paul put it, no one can say Jesus is Lord (i.e. believe) except by the power of the Holy Spirit. I have come to accept that particular statement as particularly good gospel teaching.

[Foxfyre]

Then again, who am I to say what means God uses to call us to Him? I have a dear friend who was caught in the worst stages of alcoholism, trying desperately to control it as he spiraled relentlessly downward toward insanity and death. One afternoon, he was sitting in his car, drunk as a skunk and barely still conscious, miserable, and recalls forming an incoherent prayer for help to a God he scarcely believed in. He reports that God appeared in his windshield. God looked exactly like an angry John L. Lewis, a terrifying apparition. My friend corked the bottle, checked into with AA that very day, and has not taken a drink since. He also returned to the church, accepted Christ as his personal savior, and devoted the remaining years of his life to helping others. He was rescued from a very real hell of his own making.

So who am I to say in what mysterious ways God may choose to work?

[Marilyn Monroe]

Quote by: Isherwood It sounds like Buddhism would be a better philosophy for you to investigate than theism.

The ideas I have I got from Catholicism, but not entirely the way you'd think. I think I wanted to do better than some of the hypocracy I saw. Just something to strive for.

You're probably right about Buddhism, but at this late date I don't think I need another philosophy to confuse me. If I could get into a non-chalant type attitude I could investigate it I suppose.

[XFRODOBAGGINSX]

Just to let you know, Jesus Christ preached about hell and is the source of a Christians information on it. What's better, being scared OUT of hell or being kept ignorant of it until it's too late?

[Marilyn Monroe]

This is what I think.

http://www.amazon.com/There-is-no-He...27NMUYYHHY2C/1

I must be a Universalist.

[adam10312]

Any god I have ever heard described could never hold the mind of his own creation against it. That said, my sense of logic prohibits me from fully believing something that someone just told me without backing it up. I didn't choose this brain from tempation, I was born with it. Therefore God made it, and me, and made me a nonbeliever. How can I be punished for that?

[Foxfyre]

Quote by: adam10312 Any god I have ever heard described could never hold the mind of his own creation against it. That said, my sense of logic prohibits me from fully believing something that someone just told me without backing it up. I didn't choose this brain from tempation, I was born with it. Therefore God made it, and me, and made me a nonbeliever. How can I be punished for that?

Wellllllllllll, I don't know about being punished for it, but I do not believe God made me a believer nor did he make you an unbeliever. My sense of logic has to allow for free will, else none of this makes any sense whasoever, and that means that we must exercise our brains volitionally to conclude what we make of our experience. I believe God puts thoughts in our head, but He does not force us to accept nor reject them. Otherwise we would be marionettes manipulated by supernatural strings and would be incapable of making any choices about anything. And for me, that would not be rational.

[adam10312]

Quote by: Foxfyre Wellllllllllll, I don't know about being punished for it, but I do not believe God made me a believer nor did he make you an unbeliever. My sense of logic has to allow for free will, else none of this makes any sense whasoever, and that means that we must exercise our brains volitionally to conclude what we make of our experience. I believe God puts thoughts in our head, but He does not force us to accept nor reject them. Otherwise we would be marionettes manipulated by supernatural strings and would be incapable of making any choices about anything. And for me, that would not be rational.

Well He designed and constructed every single atom of my brain, did He not? I have tried many times to believe. Honestly, I have, and hard. It is really nice to believe in all of this. Who wouldn't want to believe in a scenario where they have a roadmap that guarantees eternal paradise? EVERYONE WOULD! But there is absolutely nothing I can do. Unfortunately, I am incapable of believing in something just because I want to. I have no control over this. Free will is not an issue here, as I do not choose what I believe and what I don't. I want to have a nice God watching over me, someone to thank for life, but nothing has made me believe that.