When I die and go to Heaven, how can I be happy when I realize that someone I love is not in Heaven with me?
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Your question
reminds me of a similar
question I asked myself some 34 years ago when I was just 16 and
studying
the Bible
with a group of religionists. While these folks did
not believe in
hell,
they did believe in Armageddon. Their doctrine was
that at Armageddon, God would destroy everyone on earth who was not a
part of their church.
At the time, I met a woman
(whom I'd
never seen before nor since) and I was talking to her about the
teachings of this group. She told me something I never forgot. She
said, "You have the ability to know the truth in your own heart.
If something grinds against your own natural and logical beliefs don't
except it as being true." I felt then that this made a great deal of
sense, in fact it actually rang as truth to me, so I took it to heart.
Shortly
after that, I went to study with the woman who was helping me learn the
church's doctrines, which adherents of this church simply called "The
Truth." I had been studying with her for about 6 months at the time.
She told me, "My Dear, if you don't convert your parents to 'The Truth'
God will have to kill them at Armageddon and it will be your fault."
Well,
here was a perfect example of something posed as "truth" that most
certainly did "grind against my own natural and logical beliefs." I
unequivocally balked at her audacious statement, and replied, "Are you
saying that God is going to kill my parents?!"
To which she replied, "Well, yes, he will have to dispose of anyone who
is not in The Truth."
I
thought for a moment and then said, "My parents are the most loving
people I know. They are kind and loyal and trusting and sincere. They
are truly good, even wonderful people and you say that God is going to
kill people like them just because they don't belong to your religious
group?"
Again, she vainly tried to explain to me how God would have no choice
but to do such a thing.
I
then told her, "You may think it would be Heaven to live forever on
earth in peace, where the lion lays down with the lamb, etc., knowing
that God had killed your loving parents. But that wouldn't be Heaven
for me, that would be Hell."
At this point she was aghast, and she exclaimed, "Oh you can't feel
that way!"
I simply said, "I'm sorry but I do feel that way and I can't study with
you anymore."
I
left her standing there with her mouth open. As I walked alone the
twelve blocks to my house, I talked to God. I said, "God, you may just
as harsh and unforgiving as they say you are. Perhaps you are willing
to kill good people because they don't follow one religion or another
and if you are that way, I'm sorry but I can't worship you." Then,
after a moment's reflection I thought, "Somehow God, I just can't
believe that you are that way.
But if you want me to know who
you really are, you are going to have to reveal yourself to me because
I'm not getting involved with anymore religions." I felt good in my
heart about that declaration and I left it at that.
Four
years later, during the worst crisis of my life, The Urantia Book came
into my life. It claims to be a revelation of God to humankind. Well, I
asked God to reveal himself so my mind was open to such a thing.
Imagine my joy when I found the God that was so loving, so merciful, so
just, so perfect that I joyfully worship him with every fiber of my
being.
Here are three great quotes from that wonderful book
that I hope will reassure you that God, our truly loving Heavenly
Father, takes no delight in causing any harm to any of his children.
-(2:5.2)
It is wrong to think of God as being coaxed
into loving his
children because of the sacrifices of his Sons or the intercession of
his subordinate creatures, "for the Father himself loves you." It is in
response to this paternal affection that God sends the marvelous
Adjusters to indwell the minds of men. God's love is universal;
"whosoever will may come." He would "have all men be saved by coming
into the knowledge of the truth." He is "not willing that any should
perish."
(188:4.8)
When once you grasp the idea of God as
a
true and loving Father, the only concept which Jesus ever taught, you
must forthwith, in all consistency, utterly abandon all those primitive
notions about God as an offended monarch, a stern and all-powerful
ruler whose chief delight is to detect his subjects in wrongdoing and
to see that they are adequately punished, unless some being almost
equal to himself should volunteer to suffer for them, to die as a
substitute and in their stead. The whole idea of ransom and atonement
is incompatible with the concept of God as it was taught and
exemplified by Jesus of Nazareth. The infinite love of God is not
secondary to anything in the divine nature.
(4:5.4)
The
barbarous idea of appeasing an angry God, of propitiating an offended
Lord, of winning the favor of Deity through sacrifices and penance and
even by the shedding of blood, represents a religion wholly puerile and
primitive, a philosophy unworthy of an enlightened age of science and
truth. Such beliefs are utterly repulsive to the celestial beings and
the divine rulers who serve and reign in the universes. It is an
affront to God to believe, hold, or teach that innocent blood must be
shed in order to win his favor or to divert the fictitious divine wrath.
And another view:
There would probably be no way in heaven that you could be happy if
that were the case. I suspect that you are a Christian -- you may be
interested to know that not all Christian sects promote a belief in
hell. And, as you put it, if there were a hell wouldn't it seem
contradictory for you to be happy in heaven?
The Urantia Book
provides an exalted vision of God, that God is as Jesus saw him and
described him, a loving heavenly Father even so much better than an
earthly parent. And Jesus asked, if a loving earthly father would not
exhibit wrath and retribution toward his own children why do we choose
to believe that the heavenly Father of us all would treat us even worse
than a human parent? That seems contradictory too, doesn't it?
If
you've not already done so, may I recommend subscribing to our Quote of
the Day. It offers daily inspirational and meaningful quotes
from The
Urantia Book along with a great picture. It's an easy way to become
familiar with the teachings of this marvelous book.
And please, I invite you to take a look
at our web page dedicated to the teachings of The Urantia Book
regarding Life
After Death
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