What's the point of heaven and hell?

Question

If you believe in God, what is the point of heaven and hell? There has to be a reason behind that. Is it just to keep people in line?
Are the threat of hell and the hope of heaven supposed to be the only reasons to be good? Doesn't that sound a bit suspicious?

I know what heaven and hell are...my question is what is the point?

Links and bible verses are not answers.

Links and bible verses are not answers.

Answer 1

It is NOT to "just keep people in line".
It is NOT the "only reasons to be good".

The purpose of heaven and hell is this:
To glorify God.

Hell brings glory to God's justice and power. He is a holy God, and God would be UNJUST if unholy people went to heaven.

Heaven brings glory to God's grace and love. He demonstrated this in sending His Son to die for unholy people, so that He may freely grant them eternal life without being declared unjust.

The concepts of heaven and hell are NOT to "keep people in line". The main reason this is false is because heaven is not granted to "good people". In other words, the way to heaven is NOT by "staying in line" and "by being good".

No one is "good" enough to go to heaven based on their behavior. All people sin. All people are unholy (compared to God!) If "being good" were the way to heaven, then NO ONE WOULD GO TO HEAVEN...except Jesus Christ (who IS God).

The way to Heaven is by GRACE. That is, it is a free gift. It is not earned by being a good person. It is given by God to ALL who desire it...to all who repent and believe that Jesus Christ died for their sins. Faith is the means of salvation, while grace is the basis. "Being good" is merely the EVIDENCE of salvation...the effects seen in someone who is already heaven bound.

But again, the chief end of God (or chief purpose of God) is to glorify Himself. Therefore, all creation tends to that single object - the glory of God. Heaven and hell are no different. They, too, bring glory to God.

Heaven, again, glorifies His grace, mercy, and love.
Hell (a bit harder for people to grasp) glorifies His justice and power.

This is GOD-centered thinking...not man-centered thinking. It is quite humbling to man to realize this, but man is NOT the "center" of creation. The Creator - God - is the center of creation.

I hope this helps you understand...

Answer 2

God in the Old Testament declared in Deuteronomy about ..Blessing and Curse..To those who will obey his commandment there will be a blessing. To those who will turn his back on the Lord and do wicked things, he will give a curse. It is like a reward and punishment. Reward is likened to heaven, it can be a place but it can be more of state of mind. The same thing with curse or punishment while many thought of it as a dreadful place, it can also be a state of mind where you can hardly find peace and tranquility in your mind.
You have to be good not necessarily because of a reward or fear of being punished. You have to be it because you believe it is a good thing to do and you feel good doing it. Most people of the past and few in this generation have not reached the stage of maturity in their faith and they have to be treated like a child where there is reward and/or punishment for the things you did. As one matures and reaches the point of understanding then you will find that you are doing good like giving things to a friend without expecting anything in return. If that is the case you want to express, then you have matured already. Unfortunately, not everyone have reached the step you have.

Answer 3

It's Just all Karma- And hell is not eternal nor is the material heaven. Hell is a place where people get their bad Karma burned off Like a bad jail sentence. Heaven is where you get your good Karma. What you do has to come back to you it's just the laws of material nature. God knew you would misuse your free will so eventually you would get tired of this suffering business. Because there is no suffering in the spiritual world called G0-Loka Vrendavan. Go there It's really a better deal. www.stephen-knapp.com

Answer 4

with out going to deeply into it did you already know the bible would not practice we bypass to Heaven or Hell . that's fake doctrine used through twisting scriptures to scare people or advantages them to persist with those grimy lieing church homes which permits the Church to extort money from the fools that persist with them , it also provides the church homes a skill base. we ought to continuously relish this existence & no longer damage others with the aid of the undeniable fact that's all we've.

Answer 5

I don't believe heaven and hell to places but rather conditions of life. Hell would be over indulgence in ignorance and heaven would be the understanding that indulging ignorance is like swimming in fire. It's not a threat the way I look at it but rather all in the experience. We experience heaven and hell everyday. Ex. you know not to place your hand on a hot stove, you know that it burns. To keep putting your hand on a hot stove despite seeing and feeling the adverse results is hell (ignorance). Once you come to understand that placing your hand on a hot stove is not in any way beneficial to you then that's a little bit of heaven you've aquired. The point, in my opinion, is to encourage us to live a more productive or "moral" life, to inspire us to stay aware.

Answer 6

To try and limit people to only two choices. Their way, or no way. Some people just cannot envision anything beyond what they are taught. They limit themselves and refuse to even consider the idea that there might be other choices or possibilities in life, or afterlife. If you ran a business that only offered two choices, you would quickly get beat out by another company which took into account. individual wants, needs, and ideas. It always amazes me how people can be so competitive and open to changes to improve business, but refuse to look at religious beliefs in the same way.

Answer 7

GOD Created all of this BEFOR HE Created Adam and Eve from which we came.
If you were to Visit Another Country, you would have to Learn their Laws of the Land to stay Safe and Have a Good Life.
When you are Born onto the EARTH, you grow and Hopefully begin to Learn the Laws of the Land so that you can Stay Safe and Have a Good Life.
Alot of the Laws that GOD put into the EARTH are Invisible.
Like Gravity, it is Invisible but can be Used for Good or Bad.
Waterslides (Good)------or the Smartest man in the World, who Grabbed the BoyScouts Back-Pack instead of a Parachute while Trying to Escape a Falling Plane. (Ouch!) (Bad)

Answer 8

In New Thought, we believe that heaven & hell are states of the mind. The chaos, the hell that we go through is just that . . . hell. Heaven is a state of peacefulness, an inner stillness. Heaven is not in the sky with God, & hell is not a fiery pit. We don't have to die to go to heaven, but everyone goes to heaven when they die because God doesn't punish & send people to hell. Usually, we create our own hells, just as we create our own heavens.

Answer 9

I don't quite understand. So what if we believe in God.
The point of heaven and hell is that heaven is for people who believe and dedicate their faith to God and to know that Jesus Christ died for their sins (probably different for each christian/catholic/islam/judaism etc.)
&No. It's not suspicious to me because those are where some of us will land in when we die. (noooo I'm too young to be thinking of death!)

Answer 10

I think that you are thinking along the right lines, the idea of heaven and hell was created to keep us subservient and submissive. Do as I say or you will be damned to eternal Hell. Pretty Scary.