There has to be a heaven cause I sure feel like I am there right now!!

Do you know me?
Do you know what I've done as a Christian?
Are you a Christian?
How do you judge if someone is a "good" Christian if you're not one nor have you studied the Bible?

I don't know who's more hypocritical here talking about someone or something they don't even know. Ever heard the phrase "pot calling the kettle black"?

You are right, it is pointless discussing this with each other.

There is no heaven, heaven is on earth!! /thread. time to close this up

My post a couple of pages ago actually touched upon something which a lot of posters have also, directly and indirectly, touched upon: personal choice. I became a Christian back in 2006 as I was heading off to law school. I wanted to figure out why all my friends around me were becoming Christians or have been Christians for many years. I've also been put off by the hypocrisy I've seen in Christians throughout my life not to mention the countless number of atrocities witnessed throughout human history.

I won't get into the details of how I came to believe but it was a half a year long process. I was not shy to ask questions and I inquired to a lot of people who believed in God. My friend who was preaching to me told me that I could be presented with all kinds of truths and evidence but eventually, I'm going to have to make a leap of faith as to believe whether God exists or not.

Christianity is not easy. You have a "perfect" God but we see the imperfect world which we live in. The very people who supposedly represent him often stumble through life committing wrongs both big and small. For my part, I know that everyday is full of choices I make. I know I make them freely. I don't feel the iron will of God. I make good choices and I make bad choices.

Going back to a comment by a previous poster about all the evil and tragedy that happens in this world, I don't have an answer. Anyone who says they do, I would take it with a grain of salt. God is a love, that I do believe, but also I know God is a jealous God and a God who will avenge. The Bible is seemingly full of contradictions but I ask this: if the early church was out to create a scam to fool people, why would they include seemingly contradictory stories and characteristics of God? It would be a lot simpler if they just put one out unified story.

Again, it all goes back to choice. Whether you choose to believe or not, its a choice. When you encounter hurt in this world, you choose how to respond.

@ DC5-S

In a way, I agree with you: heaven is on Earth. If God doesn't exist and there is no afterlife, then we should be trying to live our life as best as possible now. Everyday, we should be making choices that don't hurt others and build ourselves up to be a better person.

As a Christian, I also know that the time I have here is limited but a chance to live by faith. I know I should endeavor to be someone who exhibits God's qualities: patience, love, kindness, longsuffering, etc.

Pain can exist in heaven. Pain exists in our current world, if we assume our current world to be heaven. However, pain will be a memory in the Christian heaven but only as a reminder as to how one strives and suffers to do better things.

no. if anything it's hell on earth. we've just become smart enough to overcome and adapt to the torturous environment of this "hell". we have to constantly battle with life to keep pain and suffering away, we have done a pretty good job lol.

i'd like to think of religion this way. they're all right in some aspect.

but they've been interpreted thousands of years ago (if not more), by mere human beings, that understand nothing about the universe. they could only be translated into something that the masses could understand. stories are the only way humans can explain things. human corruption, greed, and especially the human ego has warped and changed an already inaccurate understanding of "religion" over so many years, that really, you can't prove or disprove anything.

on one hand religion cant prove jack shit, but then again science can't explain many things either.

there's a difference between someone that believes in something (you can call that religious or pragmatic agnosticism/agnostic theism) vs. someone who is just blindly following a cult.

i use the world cult, because that's basically what it is if you follow it so blindly and take every word printed in some book, or preached to you by some higher ranking cultist, to heart 110%. it's also super hypocritical, especially if you have gone to school and have at least half a brain.

plus just to throw this out, christians of this thread, please answer this, what about religions before christianity? before the egyptians?
people haven't changed, i don't believe religions have either (the core structure), but the surface most definitely has.

i truly believe ego has a huge part of this.

Just curious as to why you decided Christianity, and not Islam?

Sam Harris, a great thinker.

Reminded me of the following video: