How Real is Heaven or Hell in the Afterlife?

We have all been told to go to hell and that, if we're good, we'll make it to heaven. Is this true? Philosophically, this is inaccurate and theologically it is wrong. Pure logic and the history of the Catholic Church reveal to us the answers.

Philosophically, God is just. His entire being is based upon the idea that truth exists and that departing from the truth leads to destruction. It is important, then, to know the truth about the afterlife. I will go into the technical details later, but right now, I would like to focus on the fact that it is just not logical to go to heaven or hell when we die! First of all, it is automatically assumed that people who have never heard of God or the saving power of Jesus are going to hell. Why is this? It is not, as some evangelists say, because we are failing to bring about the word of God to enough people in time. God knows that we are human and make mistakes and fall short of His glory. Why then would He put the lives of His children into the hands of...His children? If He is all powerful and perfect, would He not save us Himself? Exactly. So the salvation of humanity is solely dependent upon Jesus and His death, not upon us. Would God still execute His children because they did not happen to learn about Him during their lifetimes? I doubt it. The Bible clearly states that each of us has a purpose, and it also clearly defines two resurrections, put in place to bring all people back to God's salvation. After that, the Bible itself states that Satan will be loosed for a little while, and then we will all have a choice.

In fact, the only people the Bible condemns to destruction before the thousand year reign of Christ are people who did, indeed, learn about God within their lifetimes, have a relationship with Him, and ultimately chose to turn away from Him and lead a life of destruction.

Now we get to the actual research. The Catholic Church did not decide upon a standard "afterlife" for Christians until several hundred years after the life of Christ. It is the same reason why Christmas and Easter are so celebrated by the Catholic Church, and consequently by many other Christians as well. Many pagans who were joining the church after the death of Christ were bringing their pagan traditions with them. They had varied afterlives, many rituals and many "holidays." In order to conform to Catholic policies, they had to leave their traditions behind, but many of them did not. The Church itself compromised by combining pagan and Christian ideologies and giving Christians an afterlife very similar to that of the pagans i.e. heaven. It was logical to include an eternal fiery hell in this analogy, since it helped to put the fear of God into people. However, the Bible states in the original languages that when anyone is to be burned in the lake of fire and brimstone, they will be burned until they are destroyed. It will not be an eternal suffering. Christmas and Easter were brought in to accommodate original pagan rites concerning Saturnalia, Bacchalia and the worship of Nimrod and Simaramis.

I am not here to condemn the Catholic Church. I am sure that there are many devout Catholics who only want to do the will of God and I admire them for their devotion. This is to encourage followers of God to hold fast that which is true, and to turn away from false doctrine. Many Christians do, indeed, know the origins of Christmas and Easter. They argue that it is fine to use those traditions to worship Jesus. However, for anyone who is hoping that this is true, I ask you to turn your attention to Deuteronomy 12:30-32.