Hypothetical Situation #3

[Paradox]

remember these? :p

You have died and the afterlife isn't what you thought it would be. You have a choice between heaven and hell. You look over and see heaven as fun, love, and peace. You look over at hell, and you see suffering people who are nearly insane and infested with evil. You can either go directly to heaven, or pick a wretched soul in hell to send to heaven (being cleansed and changed to good along the way, extremely thankful he didn't have to stay longer in hell) - with you taking his place in hell, waiting for another generous newly-dead person to come along and free you.

Where would you go and why?

[System Error]

I'd probably go to Heaven. Why? Well, why would I help someone who went to hell when they had a reason to go there? I'd definetly pick Heaven over Hell, unless I have a friend in Hell that I want to free. :)

[firebug]

i'd choose hell for the simple fact that god would see me choosing heaven as a selfish act, making me unworthy of it.
(although im not religious in any way shape or form, so maybe i shouldn't have voted...) :shrug:

[System Error]

Umm...good point Firebug. Maybe I would pick hell then. Or, if it was possible, sign an agreement to just be a wandering spirit A.K.A. a ghost. Fun! Fun! Fun!

[Ich]

Life is the trial, heaven is the reward. "Those who believe in me shall have eternal life." Which is heaven, and not an eternal life on earth. God punishes sinners by sending them to Satan. If I had earned heaven, I'd go there.

[DarkDragon]

Hell. After all, the wretched soul could be another person like me, who temporarily deferred his rightful place in heaven to help another...

[Blonde799]

Sacrifices are noted to man only if they've recieved their reward for it.

In other words, I'd take the big-breasted angels with cream cheese.:D

[Daarkseid]

Just because this would be so fucking hilarious, I'd offer to go to hell, so long as the person sent from hell to heaven is Adolf Hitler.

I'd better enjoy the joke too, because I doubt afterwards anyone is going to want to trade spaces with me.

[Masamune]

well if i believed such a thing as heavan or hell existed, i'd pick hell since you'd probably get sent to heavan to for your good deed. actually... i believe when you die, you go into your own heavan. like... say there's some skater dude who dies. h can spend the rest of forever skating and doing insane tricks and stuff. and if someone racist and mean dies, they can dream about killing all the blacks and jews and eskimos and gorrilas.

[Dart Zaidyer]

Knowing I had earned my place in heaven, and that the other guy earned (likely CHOSE) his place in hell, I'd go to heaven.

[TheGeepster]

Interesting hypothetical. Honestly, I'd choose heaven.

I would injerject here how the Judeo-Christian faith views the matter of afterlife. Read or ignore at your own peril, and take it as you will.

During each of our lives, we have all fallen short of the standard God set for us. All of us, no exception. The penalty for such is a justly deserved everlasting death, referred to as "hell". The only thing which can save us from this fate is for another who has achieved the high (OK, perfect) standard to take our punishment for us, and thereby cleanse us. But who? For every one of us is in the same boat.

However, God sent His Son, who was in fact God Himself in the flesh, to serve as the sacrifice to remove the penalty of this fallen nature.

It is now up to each individual whether they will try to get to heaven on their own merit (a doomed proposition since each of us has already failed), or to accept the cleansing gift from Jesus, God in the flesh who died so that we might live.

[DarkDragon]

I would injerject here how the Judeo-Christian faith views the matter of afterlife. Read or ignore at your own peril, and take it as you will.
More Christian than Judeo, I believe. ;)
In any case, wouldn't it then be morally better to emulate Christ and sacrifice yourself for the salvation of that one soul in hell?

[ShadowTiger]

Y'know... I'm not really sure that I would pick the hell choice. I mean, it seems like exactly the charitable thing that I would do, despite eons of searing pain. But those people in hell... those people... they went there for a reason! If they don't go to heaven, the go to hell. :shrug: You go to heaven if you're good. You go to hell, if you're bad. I wouldn't want to unleash a bad person into heaven, because that's against God's decision to put him there instead of in heaven.

*clicks button for heaven.*

[mikeron]

It'd be fun to fuck around with the angel or whatever and not choose. :tongue:

[carrot red]

I'd click the Heaven button too. If I earned my place there, I'm not giving it up. Plus my "friends" choose it and that's reason enough for me.;)

[Beldaran]

I'd choose heaven because I don't want to go to hell. Does the word "DUH" mean anything to you?

[Axel]

as an atheist the reality is clear from my point of view. however, this is what I prefer, in order:
1. Fuck you. I'm immortal, I'm not gonna die.
2. Reincarnation. I want to be reincarnated as a tree.
3. Undead. I wish to wander the earth as an undead being, without life or death. needing neither suctinence nor maintenance. Vegas here I come!
4. Paradise, by any other name still smells as sweet.

Geepster, that makes absolutely no sense. and it never will.

[moocow]

I didn't vote. Mainly because I'm not certain what I'd do. If there is a heaven and a hell, and I had to choose between the two, I'd like to go to heaven... but just choosing heaven out-right like that kinda seems selfish, so I may choose hell and let someone be free. Or I'd say screw it and just chill between the two.

[Jer1400]

I would go to heaven and if everyone had a choice I don't see why anyone would be in hell....

[TheGeepster]

The first part of that post was Judeo and Christian, the latter part was completely Christian, DarkDragoon. And I stand corrected in that respect.

And you may be right. It would be more Christ-like to step in for another. However, part of me is still selfish, and I still know this scenario would never actually turn up, because it is inconsistent with biblical doctrine.

Axel, I can see how it might be difficult to understand for some. Especially since you have decided in your heart that God cannot be, and the whole faith of Christianity is based not only on a Living God, but a personal God who gets involved with His Creation. If you cannot envision a God who cares, then Christianity makes no sense.

And there are a lot of questions which can naturally arise which boggle even the wisest of men, like the origin of evil (not to mention the origin of matter and the origin of life).