IM sure HELL aint no picnic ether.

You may have no need to worry.

I know what you mean Lizelrene and have said that myself. How can you (talking to a christian) float around for all eternity in "heaven" living the best life and happiness etc. and knowing full well that your spouse, kids or friends are in horrible pain and agony for ever?!

Who knows what it is really like? We only have small glimpses being told to us. But think of it like this: You go where your feet take you. As far as the afterlife is concerned, you go where your actions take you. Even on this earth, when you do bad things, good people run away and you are left surrounded by bad people. Then you grizzle that 'everyone' is evil when the truth is that you scared away all the good people (or killed 'em and bragged about how weak they were!) We don't know the true details of heaven and hell but we do know this much.

If it's a place free of sin, then it doesn't sound much fun, as sin is what constructs the whole of what it is to be human. If I can't have sex or play video games up there, then spiritual transition from this mortal coil to enlightenment better be damn good.

Like Symbeline, I can't get a bead on what you might have a grievance with, but our minds are wrought with sin and we can't truly evaluate anything correctly, especially not heaven, since we only at best use 10% of our brains.

No, you aren't the only one. I'm not an Atheist, but the whole concept of "heaven" as Christians and the Bible describes it sounds like one eternal torture...the idea of never-ending torture doesn't sound so great to me. It sounds boring. Who wants to spend eternity singing praises to ANYTHING, let alone Yahweh? Plus, it sounds like it will have a large share of the very people I try to avoid here on Earth (santimonious, bigoted boring people). Count me out.

Christian heaven sounds dreadful to me. Thank god it's all make believe.

1) I have no problems with "Heaven". I have some problems with "Hell"... 2) http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/613481

I do not fundamentally believe in heaven, nor hell. I was raised Catholic, and I always thought of heaven and hell as reward and punishment. Be good and go to heaven, be bad and go to hell. But life isn't so easily broken down, and real life issues are not always so conveniently black and white. Very often doing the "right" thing hurts someone, somewhere; and at times what feels like the "wrong" thing ends up being a benefit. The ideas of heaven and hell don't take circumstances into consideration, and I believe pretty firmly that circumstances dictate our responses to life.

If one's idea of 'the good life' is defined as mentioned here by some "sex and video games', then clearly the idea of Heaven is not understood. Heaven is free of the 'lusts of the flesh.' Just as here on earth there are many things more important than sex and video games, such as interpersonal relationships, family, etc., there are more important things in Heaven. Our limited understanding does not allow us to even imagine what the glories of Heaven are like. It is foolish to try to compare Heaven with things of Earth. But, clearly Heaven is better than eternity in 'the fiery pit'.

Nope, you're not.

Sounds boring as hell to me

What exactly do you see as the Christian idea of heaven? The Bible portrays it as a place free of sadness, troubles and strife, and full of activity, music and positive relationships. I have no problem with that?

I like the idea of heaven I just don't really believe in it.

No, you're not alone. Faith-blind or otherwise-cannot replace knowledge nor can harmonize away something so irrational and incoherent in nature as the theologian concept of "Heaven" and "Hell". "Literal truth" is essential to the Christian dogma. This is their primordial emphasis and reject any association of their tenets with myth. This, indeed, presents a problem; for if all the stories comprised in this doctrine must be understood literally and not symbolic stories to illustrate certain principles of moral implication, but not necessarily to project actual facts, then the genealogy of Jesus, for example, literally understood is an absurdity. What else can we make out of such an absurd concoction? Nothing! The Christian dogma requires that this theologian developped concept of heaven & hell be believed "by faith". Sound reasoning cannot be employed-not because it might be inconsequential-but simply because it doesn't have any. Blind faith is encouraged by enticing the believer with the promise of reaching a wonderful place called "Heaven"...........but only after you die! If such a place can only be reached by or through death it cannot possibly possess a field of inquiring thereby.