HEAVEN BOUND

I’m not going to heaven.  But I’m OK with that because I don’t believe that heaven exists.  Christians, on the other hand, do believe in heaven.  After all, isn’t that the point of the salvation story: A reversal of the finality of death and an opportunity for eternal happiness, regardless of the challenges, pain, and disappointments of this life?

But Christians seem to differ on the chances of making it to heaven.  If you were to ask a cross-section of Christians their view on what portion of humans will wind up in heaven, I’m predicting that you would get a very broad range of estimates of the number of saved, from only a select few who are both devout and particularly righteous, at one extreme, to virtually everyone regardless of faith or misbehavior, at the other.  

Not only is there a great diversity of opinion about the odds of getting into heaven, but individual Christians seem to be uncertain as to their own thinking.  Consider, for example, the following conversation:

Friend:  “There’s a narrow road and there’s a broad one, and most people are on the broad road because it is easier.”
Me:  “By ‘narrow’ and ‘broad,’ do you mean the road to heaven and the road to hell?  And are you saying that most people are headed to hell because of their sinfulness?”
Friend:  “Right.”
Me:  “But aren’t you saved by faith?”
Friend:  “Right.  I am saved because I have accepted Christ as my savior.”
Me:  “So even though you are sinful you will go to heaven because of your faith in Christ as your savior?”
Friend:  “Right.”
Me:  “But most people, at least in America, are Christians.  Haven’t they, by definition, accepted Christ as their savior?  So why do you say that most people are on the broad road to hell if they believe in Christ and if salvation is by faith rather than by works?  Which is it?”

Then there are Christian Universalists, who, as I understand it, believe that everyone, regardless of belief and regardless of their conduct during this life, will make it to heaven in some form or fashion.  But doesn’t that mean that such individuals as Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, and Ted Bundy would make it to heaven?  Really?  Recently I discussed this with an individual who indicated that he is a universalist.  When I asked him about looking forward to meeting such individuals as Hitler in heaven, he equivocated, stating that there were some who probably wouldn’t make it to heaven after all.  

Finally, on a personal note I feel fortunate to have enjoyed the life that I have, and I am not looking forward to the end of that life.  That does not mean that I am afraid of death.  I’m just not ready for life to be over.  However, I know a number of Christians who, even though they believe, on an intellectual level, that they are saved and will wind up in heaven, are very much afraid of death.  Why should that be?  Is it because they are concerned that they might wind up in hell after all?  Or is it that at some level they are not sure that there really is a heaven after all?

© 2019 John M. Phillips