Yep, that is what I was going for.
I woud vastly prefer this state of affair to what is taught by churches. Hell is an odious concept : infinite torment for what can be only limited sins. Not even Hitler deserves hell. Nobody does. Hell is fundamentally unjust.
Besides, if I’m promised eternal hapiness (although I don’t like much this concept, either), I would have to be really petty to say : “Ok, Fine, but I’d like to be sure that some other guys I don’t like will be tortured at the same time”.
Finally, obviously, heavens is supposed to be bliss, so by definition, once there, you wouldn’t be worried by anything anyway (yet another concept I don’t like, by the way).
At best, justice could arguably be served by inflicting as much suffering as you caused (and even that is highly problematic). But that doesn’t make much sense, either. What is the point of torturing Hitler for, say, 2000 years if after that he gets an eternity of bliss? This initial “justice” will soon enough be immaterial and will stay forever irrelevant. And so by the way will be the entirety of our so very brief life on earth and everything we have ever done during it. How many billions of years in heaven will it take before you have no interest in what happened during your life, even if you died in an extermination camp? I would guess much, much less than one. And a billion of billions of years is just the beginning.
Maybe it would be just to substract the good you did from the evil you caused and getting the difference adjusted for extenuating circumstances as punishment or reward, after what you die for good. But that’s hardly a satisfying outcome, either. Maybe if you’re reincarnated after that, I would consider it as satisfying.
And anyway, as shown by the OP’s example, you don’t go to heaven or hell according to how good or evil you were, but according to various arbitrary criterias (predestination, having properly confessed your sins, having accepted Jesus as your saviour…) which makes the whole thing even more unjust.
Yes, yes, and yes!
And once I am done pondering such problems with heaven and hell, I can only think that winking out of existence is preferable.
I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve been told to not question God’s mysterious plan, and that the mere mortal mind is incapable of truly appreciating the brilliance and perfection of God.
That type of reply to these questions about heaven or hell is tremendously frustrating.
If a perfect God gave me the miraculous gift of human thought, yet it is still so inferior that I can’t fully appreciate his plan, then why punish me for it?
He seems to prefer that I rely on unquestioning faith, he wants me to suppress and shun my God given curiosity, and blindly follow the religious teachings of whatever sect that I happened to be exposed to in life.
If I make the wrong choice, here is what my childhood pastor says awaits me.