As happens from time to time, comments take on a life (or post) of their own.
Here is a post and my replies from Angry Dissenter:
I always like talking theology.
The short answer is yes, I believe that if there’s a heaven and I get hit by a bus today, that I get in.
What do you base this on?
However, your question and my answer are based on philosophical assumptions and conclusions which, I think, are more important than either the question or the answer.
1) First, I can’t believe in hell. It’s not a concept that is logically compatible with my conception of God, or even the popular Christian concept of God. If you believe that God is infinite (or at least larger than all things in existence), hell becomes extremely problematic.
It wasn’t problematic for the author’s of Scripture or Christ, Himself:
“Hell” in Scripture:
2) For example, let’s take Pascal’s Wager at its face, and say that if I incur X units of pleasure here on earth, God will be displeased with me and setence me to infinite units of pain in the afterlife. Exactly what X units of pleasure/sin are required is an unknown, since this is all ostensibly within God’s judgment. But under the wager and modern Christian tenets, there is an “X” point beyond which you have sinned and must be condemned to hell. (Here we get into original sin and whether God would ever condemn a child to hell, but for the sake of convenience, let’s boil this down to their logical equivalent of X sin units = hell.)
James 2:10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.
3) The problem here is that we’ve now established for God an arbitrary standard. We have what is essentially an infinite and omnipotent being which is constrained by an outside principle (X). Thus, under the theory we’re working underm iut is conceivable that God may not wish to condemn somebody to hell, but must anyway because those are the rules.
Numbers 23:19 God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?
4) Of course you’re free to reject #3 and say that God has the final say on who gets into heaven, and is not bound by actual sinning. But if you are still saying that God sends other people to hell who have sinned less, you have God playing favorites. And an infinite God (who by definition must love inifinitely and equally) does not seem to be logically capable of such an action.
God is not playing favorites. God has set a standard that is in line with His perfection and His holiness, His righteousness. You’re looking at righteousness man-to-man or horizontally. God looks at man’s righteousness vertically or man-to-Almighty.
5) Then, you may wish to reject the Pascal’s Wager analysis entirely, and say that the amount of sin does not matter- it is only whether one has “accepted” God or Jesus Christ. But this is actually an illusory argument, as it is still based on the behavior of humans while they are still alive. (Rather than being sin units, X is simply replaced with “has/has not accepted God/Jesus Christ.”) The same logical problems involving omnipotence and arbitrary standards apply.
I think I’ve stated clearly that the amount of sin does not matter. Even a small amount is enough to render us unrighteous before a Holy and all-powerful God.
Romans 3:10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
6) All of the above ignores a simpler philosophical argument against hell. I know personally that there are a handful of people in the world that I could forgive anything. If God is greater than me, then God must also be capable of forgiving those same people. Additionally, God must be capable of forgiving anyone else that any other person in the universe is capable of forgiving. And since God’s love is infinite, God must further be capable of forgiving *anyone* for *anything.* And so hell doesn’t really make sense here, either. (Admittedly, this particular argument is not entirely mine. I’d recommend reading If Grace Is True, which is an entire book about this very subject, written by two Quaker ministers.)
Deuteronomy 32:4 He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.
God’s love is infinite. But so is His justice (which is what you would expect from a loving God). For example: A man rapes, tortures and kills your mother. He sadly then alludes the law and lives to a ripe old age where he die a natural death. Where is the justice? From what I’ve read so far, there is no justice for your mother, you or for your family. In fact, just the opposite happens. He also gets to enter the same heaven. Before you think this is a hypothetical because your mother is alive, look at the 2001 US Crime Index. Where only 46.2 percent of violent crimes are cleared and 16.2 percent of property crimes cleared (excluding arson). In other words, only about half of people murdered ever see justice this side of heaven.
7) Even if the above arguments were somehow false, it would be morally advantageous not to convince other people that hell exists, because if they do not believe hell exists, their altruism will will purely altruistic, and not motivated by fear of being damned.
As I stated earlier, and as Scripture puts so well, “fear is the beginning of wisdom”. The realization that you are in violation of God’s perfect standard; that no one is perfect and that you too will have to answer to God Almighty for what you knew to be wrong. Never mind the things you didn’t know — seriously, think about the things you knew were against your God-given conscience but you did them anyway. There is a day coming when you will have to answer for that. Your lies, your theft, your adultry. Will you be innocent or guilty? The thought should wake you up. When it does you like most may ask, what must I do to be save?
8) As a final thought, on fear as a motivation to do good: I’m reminded on the ancient Chinese proverb which states, “When the wrong man does the right thing, it usually turns out wrong,” as well as C.S. Lewis’ statement in Mere Christianity that a self-righteous, church going prig may be far closer to hell than a prostitute.
Lewis believed in Hell. His statement was one against self-righteousness. And He’s right.