Heaven and Hell
In the case where heaven and hell exist, it is only reasonable to say non-religious people would go to the latter and religious people the former. Whether one is religious or not is made by personal choice, and I doubt God would be very touched - or fooled - by someone who is religious in name but heretical in nature. If I make the personal choice of disbelieving in his existence in this lifetime, I would have to accept my my going to hell should he exist, as is the common but not-so-well articulated consequence that must unfold. (As a matter of fact, I frequently wonder how a christian and a non-christian can be very close friends because the former, just by being a christian, is already saying the latter will have to go to hell in his afterlife)
What if, however, someone else is unable to make this choice in his or her lifetime? Common examples would be infants who die while still young, mentally handicapped people who cannot possibly make cognitive decisions, and even tribal people who are not aware of the existence of a christian god. Where would such people go upon the end of their mortal life? Heaven, hell, or neither?
Perhaps God is merciful and understands that it was not in their capacity to make the choice. He thus grants them a place in Heaven, because to send them to Hell when it was not their own doing is to be unmerciful and unreasonable. If this were the case, then I hardly see how he is being fair to either christians or non-christians. Christians, because they were devout followers who put in a lot of sincere commitment in their faith. If a place in Heaven is not contingent on sincere belief in the faith, then it just means their faith has been undermined and in some sense unnecessary. Non-christians, because by just being ignorant and not doing anything these people can gain eternal bliss while they on the other hand, have had to slog through a normal mortal life only to be awarded eternal punishment in the afterlife.
Now someone may argue that non-christians, since they are not handicapped in any way, are thus able to enjoy the full benefits of living on this earth whereas people who are handicapped are worse-off in this life, hence it may not be so 'unfair' that these worse-off people be granted eternal bliss after all. I personally believe this is a very contentious point. A mentally handicapped person may be missing out on all the pleasures of life that we get to enjoy, but at the same time he is oblivious to all the suffering life has to offer, assuming he has very little self-consciousness if any at all. Look at it this way: such people can be said to have lived their lives asleep, and at the end of their mortal lives, they emerge from their sleep to find themselves in a place called Heaven.
What if we say, maybe God doesn't grant all of such people a place in Heaven? Maybe he selects them, and he selects them on a fair criteria. For example, he being omniscient, he knows which of those people would become christians if they were given the ability to make a choice. He then grants those who would have been devout followers a place and denies those who would not have been devout followers a place. I have nothing much to say against this line of thought, except that an infant who find himself dead at birth may almost immdiately after find himself in a hellish place, and I hardly see the fairness in this.
If it isn't fair for God to send such people to Heaven, even discriminately, or for him to send them to Hell, then perhaps he adopts a neutral stand and sends them to a neutral place? I don't know if such a place exists in biblical literature, but if it does exist and it is true to its neutral nature then I would expect all their inhabitants to be in a state not unlike that when you are in a deep sleep. That is, they feel nothing at all. This is still unfair to non-christians. Why should, ultimately, a tribal person who had no awareness of the christian god have the privilege of eternal sleep when a prominent scientist who contributed to the progress of mankind be condemned to Hell?
There is a final situation we must address. Perhaps, when all is said and done in our mortal lives and we are about to die, God will approach us in the form of white light and give us non-christians one last chance of salvation. Infants who were dead at birth or mentally handicapped people who can't think will now be able to at the very least feel his magnificance, and it is likely God could communicate to them in special ways. Believe in him and we will go to Heaven, not and we will go to Hell. If he does that, I think it is likely almost everyone would choose to believe, not because they want to go to Heaven, but because there is, at long last, strong empirical evidence that he exists. I would naturally say I believe too, but at the same time I would feel this is being unfair to christians, because we need not have spent our sundays in church nor be constrained in leading a life by the bible, to enjoy the same privilege they have in the end.
What if, however, someone else is unable to make this choice in his or her lifetime? Common examples would be infants who die while still young, mentally handicapped people who cannot possibly make cognitive decisions, and even tribal people who are not aware of the existence of a christian god. Where would such people go upon the end of their mortal life? Heaven, hell, or neither?
Perhaps God is merciful and understands that it was not in their capacity to make the choice. He thus grants them a place in Heaven, because to send them to Hell when it was not their own doing is to be unmerciful and unreasonable. If this were the case, then I hardly see how he is being fair to either christians or non-christians. Christians, because they were devout followers who put in a lot of sincere commitment in their faith. If a place in Heaven is not contingent on sincere belief in the faith, then it just means their faith has been undermined and in some sense unnecessary. Non-christians, because by just being ignorant and not doing anything these people can gain eternal bliss while they on the other hand, have had to slog through a normal mortal life only to be awarded eternal punishment in the afterlife.
Now someone may argue that non-christians, since they are not handicapped in any way, are thus able to enjoy the full benefits of living on this earth whereas people who are handicapped are worse-off in this life, hence it may not be so 'unfair' that these worse-off people be granted eternal bliss after all. I personally believe this is a very contentious point. A mentally handicapped person may be missing out on all the pleasures of life that we get to enjoy, but at the same time he is oblivious to all the suffering life has to offer, assuming he has very little self-consciousness if any at all. Look at it this way: such people can be said to have lived their lives asleep, and at the end of their mortal lives, they emerge from their sleep to find themselves in a place called Heaven.
What if we say, maybe God doesn't grant all of such people a place in Heaven? Maybe he selects them, and he selects them on a fair criteria. For example, he being omniscient, he knows which of those people would become christians if they were given the ability to make a choice. He then grants those who would have been devout followers a place and denies those who would not have been devout followers a place. I have nothing much to say against this line of thought, except that an infant who find himself dead at birth may almost immdiately after find himself in a hellish place, and I hardly see the fairness in this.
If it isn't fair for God to send such people to Heaven, even discriminately, or for him to send them to Hell, then perhaps he adopts a neutral stand and sends them to a neutral place? I don't know if such a place exists in biblical literature, but if it does exist and it is true to its neutral nature then I would expect all their inhabitants to be in a state not unlike that when you are in a deep sleep. That is, they feel nothing at all. This is still unfair to non-christians. Why should, ultimately, a tribal person who had no awareness of the christian god have the privilege of eternal sleep when a prominent scientist who contributed to the progress of mankind be condemned to Hell?
There is a final situation we must address. Perhaps, when all is said and done in our mortal lives and we are about to die, God will approach us in the form of white light and give us non-christians one last chance of salvation. Infants who were dead at birth or mentally handicapped people who can't think will now be able to at the very least feel his magnificance, and it is likely God could communicate to them in special ways. Believe in him and we will go to Heaven, not and we will go to Hell. If he does that, I think it is likely almost everyone would choose to believe, not because they want to go to Heaven, but because there is, at long last, strong empirical evidence that he exists. I would naturally say I believe too, but at the same time I would feel this is being unfair to christians, because we need not have spent our sundays in church nor be constrained in leading a life by the bible, to enjoy the same privilege they have in the end.
1 Comments:
Someone once asked Bertrand Russell what he would say to God, if during his final moments God appeared in front of him. Russell said something along this line: "I would ask God, 'Since you exist, then why did you leave so little evidence behind?'"
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