"Don't wonder about those who are good without god. Fear those who need god to be good."
-Unknown
Asking the question of who gets to go to heaven alludes to the idea that Heaven is some sort of reward for being "good." That were it not for the promise of ending up in Heaven, people wouldn't be good because they'd have no reason to be. The question is arbitrary at best and there truly is no right or wrong answer. When I was young I wondered as I sat in church what would have happened to me had I been born in a place where Christianity wasn't the mainstream religion. What would have happened to me had I been raised Buddhist? I may have spent much of my time in meditation and might have been brought up to see the sacred in all things, feel the sacred in every action, from taking a walk to making tea. I could have spent every moment living spiritually, open to the sacred in all living things, every day, not just on Sunday. However, as I sat in the cold, hard church pew I also wondered at the fact that even if I had lived that spiritual life in the mountains of Tibet, would I burn in the fiery pits of hell for all eternity just because of geography? I asked myself these kinds of questions a lot growing up.
-Unknown
Asking the question of who gets to go to heaven alludes to the idea that Heaven is some sort of reward for being "good." That were it not for the promise of ending up in Heaven, people wouldn't be good because they'd have no reason to be. The question is arbitrary at best and there truly is no right or wrong answer. When I was young I wondered as I sat in church what would have happened to me had I been born in a place where Christianity wasn't the mainstream religion. What would have happened to me had I been raised Buddhist? I may have spent much of my time in meditation and might have been brought up to see the sacred in all things, feel the sacred in every action, from taking a walk to making tea. I could have spent every moment living spiritually, open to the sacred in all living things, every day, not just on Sunday. However, as I sat in the cold, hard church pew I also wondered at the fact that even if I had lived that spiritual life in the mountains of Tibet, would I burn in the fiery pits of hell for all eternity just because of geography? I asked myself these kinds of questions a lot growing up.