Heaven or Hell; Fact or Fiction

Religion has always been a subject too many of us disagree on and many use to declare war or dismiss those who oppose their way of thinking.  It was also a subject that many felt needed to be separated from politics, the government, out of school and other private places.  Few ever broach the subject unless you have the title of Reverent, Pastor, Father, Padre and Rabbi along with others that may exist. 

For me I think it is sad that we can not have an intelligent conversation about religion without someone trying to force their views on another often by violence.  We are now presented with an opportunity to try and have this conversation again since Tom Breen of the Associated Press penned an article titled Who's in hell? Pastor's book sparks eternal debate which detailed the following.  “When Chad Holtz lost his old belief in hell, he also lost his job.  The pastor of a rural United Methodist church in North Carolina wrote a note on his Facebook page supporting a new book "Love Wins" by Rob Bell, a prominent young evangelical pastor and critic of the traditional view of hell as a place of eternal torment for billions of damned souls.  Two days later, Holtz was told complaints from church members prompted his dismissal from Marrow's Chapel in Henderson, North Carolina.  Holtz and his family plan to move back to Tennessee, where he'll start a job and maybe plant a church.  "So long as we believe there's a dividing point in eternity, we're going to think in terms of us and them," he said.”

I believe what this Navy veteran and father was trying to say is that no one group or religion has all rights to Jesus and his father.  That if one religion believes that Jesus died for our sins then it could be assumed that he died for all mankind sin and not a selected few.  That being the case, would not the one who sins the most have an opportunity to turn their lives around, accept Jesus and be saved?  If you answer “yes” then consider that being saved would mean going to heaven and if all of us can be saved, is there any real need for a hell?  In the article it was reported that “Page Brooks, a professor at the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, thinks Bell errs in a conception of a loving God that leaves out the divine attributes of justice and holiness.”  She is quoted as saying "its love, but it's a just love," Brooks said. "God is love, but you have to understand you're a sinner and the only way to get around that is through Christ's sacrifice on the cross."  She disagrees with him but is she not actually saying the same thing?

I am of the belief that hell is right here on earth which is why there are so much suffering and pain.  I believe that the only way to walk in the footsteps of God is to follow the Ten Commandments to the letter.  Knowing that we are sinners at conception however, gives us little room to walk in those footsteps which is why he sent his son to give all of us another way home.