The Truth About Heaven and Hell

I went to Encyclopedia Britannica and Wikipedia to see what they had to say about Heaven and Hell. These are my concluding thoughts from these two references, my emphasis added. 1. “…depictions of heaven provide a revealing index of what a society regards as the highest good. Hence the study of heaven is, in its broadest application, the study of ultimate human ideals.” 2. “…heaven is the realm of afterlife where good actions in the previous life are rewarded for eternity (hell being the place where bad behavior is punished).” Based on what I have heard and experienced from others during my life, I suspect that these two conclusions represent the majority of humans and their thinking. Time magazine, online, says: “…72% believe in a literal heaven, 58% in a literal hell.” Time’s article entitled “What Jesus Really Said About Heaven and Hell” by Bart D. Ehrman states: “The vast majority of these people naturally assume this is what Jesus himself taught. But that is not true. Neither Jesus, nor the Hebrew Bible he interpreted, endorsed the view that departed souls go to paradise or everlasting pain.