A real Question on an online forum: Do non-Christians go to hell when they die, even if they lived a good life?
A Real Answer (mine): The God that would be so intolerant and cruel enough to invent a hell and petty enough to consign everyone to it who doesn’t believe one thing or another isn’t for me. It makes God an ogre, and “God’s love” a lie.
I won’t have a monster for a god. Love would not torment you with twisted, abusive definitions of love nor threaten you with perdition for not holding a certain opinion. And I love people in general enough to encourage them to resist oppression wherever it is perpetrated. If God is the villain described by those preachers of damnation, the moral thing would be to resist that oppressor as one would any other.
It is not loving to create an abusive god and insist that anyone who doesn’t agree with you will be abused without end. That isn’t justice, that isn’t love, that isn’t moral, and that isn’t sane.
Many people worship hate and fear and violence (and other such inadequate idols), but I am trying to protect people from the notion that fear-based religion is the only option. Do non-Christians go to hell? My answer is no. AND, if the answer were yes, I would, on moral principles, still reject such theology.
If Einstein, Seneca, Socrates, and Rumi aren’t “in heaven” (whatever that really is), then I wouldn’t want to go anyway. If some of the noblest, most devout seekers of truth are excluded for not embracing a certain dogma, that isn’t love, and I won’t have any part of it.
Your god can be any sort that you want. My only question is why you’d want a version that isn’t as kind or accepting as most of the people in my life? If your friends are kinder and more welcoming than your god, then why not just stick with your friends?
And if God is so limited and cruel, how would heaven with that god be a blessing? When people ask questions about God, my answer will be to err (if it is an error) on the side of kindness and grace.
I’d rather be wrong about god’s goodness than right about god’s cruelty. If God would damn me for giving Her too much credit, then She and I were never going to be a good match anyway. But my understanding and experience of the Sacred is much more gracious than that, and I’ll stick with the god of all-inclusive, unconditional love.
Perhaps my life as a Queer person has forced me to challenge oppressive theologies more than I might have otherwise; if so, then I thank my lucky stars for my queerness.
