I used to marvel at people who were convinced that everyone, except perhaps the likes of Adolph Hitler and one or two present-day politicians, and the person who stole their car stereo a few years ago, will be going to heaven….

However, I’ve been made aware in recent times that some people are certain that even Adolph will be there. No-one will be left out, because, well, God is just too loving to leave someone out. And what makes these philosophers make such statements? They think! They “think” that God will do things their way. So allow me to do a little thinking here too…

For mass murderers to make it to heaven there can be only three possible options. One is that heaven will be just like earth is now, oozing with slander, violence, murder, lies, corruption, war, snobbery, division, and just about every human weakness you can think of. Those who, in our day, murder as a way of ensuring their place in heaven would also be there. After all, they only do it because they’re so badly treated-isn’t that what we all do when we don’t have things our own way? And the murder doesn’t really matter does it, because the people they murdered would get there anyway, right?

The second option is that many people will have lost the bad part of their character, thought-processes, free-will, drives, vocabularies, prejudices preferences and proclivities, so that they would be virtually unrecognizable. Adolph would smile sweetly while kissing a buttercup, and say with gentle conviction, “I just don’t know what came over me to make me kill six-million innocents and prosecute a world war resulting in the horrible deaths of tens of millions more! I’m very, very sorry, and I promise I’ll never do it again!”

The third option is that Hitler and many others-perhaps all of us- will have lost our memories of wrongs committed while on earth. Hitler would not be in heaven, because he wouldn’t be Hitler.

If none of us are to be robbed of our own minds and memories, and so remain identifiable, along with Adolph you will see all the people who wouldn’t now choose to go to heaven if you paid them to go. Some people hate the very thought of worshipping God or mixing with “deluded”, “insane” believers, and writhe in anguish and gnash their teeth at the slightest mention of anything they can’t see with their eyes. Imagine the spiteful, nasty humor of a God who would create such a place and send everyone there, including those who never wanted to go, for ever and ever.

What about the people who “think” that God will send everyone to heaven. Where do they get their convictions from? Where is their evidence? How do they know? What is their authority? When did God tell them such a thing, and why didn’t he tell the multiplied millions who’ve lost their lives believing and attempting to spread an alternative message- a warning that there are standards to meet before gaining access to eternal life? Isn’t it rather risky to ignore the concept that there may be standards to meet, and so to fail to seek those standards?

If we “think” that God “probably” has standards matching our own, and that we, being such “good” people are bound to go there, isn’t God just like us, and so fallible, unpredictable and imperfect? Is it not possible that we are fooling ourselves? What if God is perfect, and none of us meet the standards?

If God is God he may be very different to what most of us “think” he should be like. Isn’t it just possible that a God who would and could create heaven would have his own ideas about who would qualify to go there?

Rather than thinking my own thoughts, I’ve invested my eternity in what the God of the Bible thinks, because I’m convinced that he knows. He knows much more than I do, and he knows enough and is able enough to send a message outlining his own standards, quite independent of anything we mortals may “think”.

You can read my post, “How to Go to Heaven” here…   https://nickyfisher.wordpress.com/2013/03/27/how-to-go-to-heaven/

• APOLOGETICS