Who is Going to Heaven and Who is Going to Hell?

Question

***The Paschal sermon of St John Chrysostom is read aloud in every Eastern Orthodox parish on the morning of Easter, the Great and Holy Pascha of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. In that sermon are these words:

"For the Lord, who is jealous of his honour,
Will accept the last even as the first.
He giveth rest unto him who cometh at the eleventh hour,
Even as unto him who hath wrought from the first hour.
And He showeth mercy upon the last,
And careth for the first;
And to the one He giveth,
And upon the other He bestoweth gifts.
And He both accepteth the deeds,
And welcometh the intention,
And honoureth the acts and praises the offering."

***If an evil person repents on his or her deathbed...and truly means it...Heaven will be their reward.

Answer 1

There is no such place as hell, it a man-made myth. Heaven and going home with God is the only alternative.

Answer 2

All faithful humans are NOT going to heaven, only 144,000 chosen will. And those who do will have a definite purpose. “…they will be priests of God and of the Christ, and will rule as kings with him for the thousand years.”— Rev. 20:4-6 and Rev 5:8-10

All other faithful righteous people will live on earth. Jehovah created this earth so that humans could enjoy living on it forever. He wanted the earth always to be inhabited by righteous, happy people. (Psalm 115:16; Isaiah 45:18) The earth will never be destroyed; it will last forever.—Psalm 104:5; Ecclesiastes 1:4.

The Bible says Hell is the grave. Eccl. 9:5, 10: “The living are conscious that they will die; but as for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all . . . All that your hand finds to do, do with your very power, for there is no work nor devising nor knowledge nor wisdom in Sheol,* the place to which you are going.” (If they are conscious of nothing, they obviously feel no pain.) (*“Sheol,” AS, RS, NE, JB; “the grave,” KJ, Kx; “hell,” Dy; “the world of the dead,” TEV.) Ps. 146:4: “His spirit goes out, he goes back to his ground; in that day his thoughts* do perish.” (*“Thoughts,” KJ, 145:4 in Dy; “schemes,” JB; “plans,” RS, TEV.)

Pagan religions are noted for teaching red-hot hells. The ancient Egyptians, Babylonians, Phoenicians, Persians, Grecians and Hindus taught flaming hells. The Buddhists teach a hell wherein people cook and sizzle in blazing kettles.

How does Almighty God look upon the idea of roasting men and women in fire? It is repugnant to God. For when the Israelites religiously burned their children in fire, Jehovah said: “They have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded not, neither came it into my mind.” (Jer. 7:31, AS) Fiendishness does not even enter the mind of the Creator. And no wonder, for “God is love.”—1 John 4:8.

Answer 3

Excuse my ignorance, but I am not quite sure whether that was a statement or question.

You have answered your own question...Yes, even if someone repents in the dieing seconds, they will be entered into the Kingdom of heaven. Just like the right hand thief, he attained salvation through faith in Christ in his last dieing seconds when he said "Remember me O'Lord, when you come into your Kingdom."

Similarly speaking, there are people who have lived righouse lives, but have decided to lose faith and hope, again, in their dieing seconds. The Orthodox desert fathers has many stories of men and women who have lived piouse monastic lives, but have chosen to turn their back on God and give-up all that they have worked for for their own lusts. And equally, unless they repented, they would have not part in the eternal kingdom.

That is why the Bible says "Learn from the end of their lives".

Finally, having said all of the above, no one knows exactly who is going to heaven and who is going to hell. The Orthodox liturgy address God in the litany of the Departed and says "For no one is free from sin, even if they had lived on earth for just one second. But we intreat you, our merciful father, to have mercy on those souls who have departed to you, for you are the help of the helpless and the hope of the hopless, remember us O'lord with your mercies"
This would clearly indicate that judgement is solely and ultimately a job and honor that only belongs to God, and no one knows exactly what measures and standards God has when judging us, the week and sinful, except that it is all according to his loving kindess, gentelness, yet justful wisdom.

God bless you and may the prayers of St. John Christostom be with u and me...pray for my weekness.

Answer 4

the only way to heaven is believing in the lord jesus christ and repenting of your sins.you must believe that he died on the cross and rose again. you must read your bible and learn of him.you need to understand that there are some things to learn about your heavenly father. you must turn from your evil ways.the bible is a book that will tell you all truth but it takes time.when you read it you will see things that the lord wants you to do .this book will speak to your heart.as you read the word and recognize yourself and you have a heart to live for god you will start making small changes in your life. all of a sudden you wont want to do this or that thing anymore because you will realize that it is not pleasing in the lords sight.remember one thing man looks at you from the outside but god looks at you from the heart .so live your life to the best of your ability reading his word and depending on him and you wont have to doubt if you are going to heaven or hell you will know.remember you cant work your way to heaven.salvation is a free gift,but you do have to workout your own salvation. god bless you

Answer 5

Rev. 21:8
"But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."
Rev. 21:27
and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.
John 3:16-18
"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. [17] "For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. [18] "He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."

Answer 6

If I go to hell, at least I'll be with my friends.

Hell is not a physical place, it is what we make of our lives here on earth - if we are miserable etc. and are going through hell on earth, that is hell.

The Bible stories about heaven and hell are merely allegorical tales made up to scare a largely illiterate and ignorant populace into living good lives.

Answer 7

I am truly sorry to tell you that there is NOBODY that can answer that question.
For ANYONE to honestly answer they would have to be dead and then come back and tell you what happens after you die.
There are those who will lie and tell you what happens after death, But because they have never died, They have no honest answer.
People do have BELIEFS in religion or FAITH in some higher power, But that is just that, A BELIEF or FAITH, And not actual knowledge.

Answer 8

"Heaven will be their reward" - You state this as a fact, but in truth no-one in all of human history has ever produced one single solitary item of objective evidence nor one valid argument for the existence of any gods, or heaven, or hell, or any of the vast panoply of supposed supernatural characters and places that people have believed in. If you have any such new evidence or argument then please present it here and astound the entire planet with your wisdom.

Answer 9

Only the 144,000 spirit anointed followers of Christ go to heaven, all the other sheep live on earth, the unrepentent go into non-existence.

Answer 10

The saved go to Heaven the damned to Hell