PRE - Heaven, Hell and Purgatory

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  • Christian Beliefs on Heaven, Hell and Purgatory
    • Heaven
      • Some Christians believe that only those who followed Jesus and have been baptised will go to heaven
        • ''Nobody comes to the father except through me"
          • 'There will be no death or mourning or crying or pain' - revelations 21:4
            • Suggests that heaven will only have happiness, there will be no suffering, no sin and will be a 'perfect world'
      • Other Christians believe in Universalism- everybody will go to heaven as going to hell would be an unloving thing to do.
      • Many Christians believe that heaven is something in a state of mind and not something physical.
      • Christians believe that death should not be feared of, instead it would be something to look forward to.
        • Life in heaven would be predicted to be without suffering and a place where sin cannot be committed, and they'll live happily
          • John Hick
            • His analogy was there is no clear way of going to heaven and nor is there a clear way to climb a mountain.
            • People approach these two in their own way and argue that theirs is the best but there is no way of knowing
            • I agree with this analogy because even the existence of heaven is arguable, but we wouldn't know until we get there.
        • Being in heaven would mean being God's presence, which is a direct view of God which gives people total happiness.
      • Heaven by definition is; A state of eternal happiness in the presence of God; the place of eternal peace ruled over by God
    • Hell
      • Hell would be described as a place of torture with everlasting fires and burning. Many Christians today no longer believe in this anymore.
      • Some argue that Hell would make God cruel. Ireneaus thought that after death you might continue to process of soul making so everyone goes to Heaven
        • 'And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest,day or night' - revelation 14:11
          • Suggests that Hell is a place of punishment and suffering
      • Most Christians today would say that Hell is not a place but a state of annihilation being destroyed and separated from God
        • Original Christian teaching is those who do not accept Jesus as their saviour and follow his teaching will be sent to Hell and be punished for eternity
          • However sending people to Hell would be considered unloving, which crosses out the attribute of God being all loving (omni-benevolent)
            • However this could be counter argued as that those who went against Gods commands must be punished, for committing sin, therefore sending them to Hell for a period of time would be the most loving thing to do as people like Hitler and other sinners cannot just enter Heaven without getting punished.
            • 'But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars - they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfer' this is the list of those who shall go to hell for what they've done.
          • By accepting Jesus as their saviour they need to get baptised, either when they were younger or in their teen years or whilst being an adult.
            • By being baptised Christians also get rid of original sin which was inherited from Adam and Eve
    • Purgatory
      • Purgatory is a Roman Catholic belief and many other Christians do not believe in this as it is not mentioned in the Bible
        • The Roman Catholic Church teaches very few people to get to Heaven.
          • Although they have lived good Christian lives they are not free from sin.
            • Someone may be sent to purgatory if they are not pure enough to be in God's presence.
    • Purgatory
      • In purgatory Christians undergo purification, and are made spiritually clean enough to be in the presence of God
      • The Elect are the people who are chosen to go to Heaven.
        • Catholics pray for the dead to help those in purgatory.
      • 'You will never get out till you have paid the last penny' - Matthew 5:26
        • This suggests that you wouldn't get out of purgatory until you are fully purified.

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