Heaven

Will atheists go to heaven or hell?

This post is a response to a question posed in its complete format: “ATHEISTS! Maybe you’ll go to heaven, or hell, or maybe you’re right. Not for me to say. But know that God loves you. And so do I even if you hate him (or the idea of him) and even if you hate me. It cost nothing to be kind. How bout that?”

You should consider why you felt compelled to write this.

You’ve made numerous presumptions that do not match reality, but they suit your bias.

For example, you presume hatred is a part of the equation or makeup of an atheist mindset. It’s not. Hatred is an individual phenomenon that grows into a group phenomenon when people are trained to think alike. This means hatred is more prevalent among believers than it is among atheists.

The counter-assumption I have just provided you that refutes your presumption of hatred is supported by reality. Religions have been catalysts for war between people for centuries. Bigotries toward minorities are stoked within religious institutions. That includes your biased attitude toward atheists that you display within your post (which isn’t even a real question).

This means that your presumption of atheists being motivated by hatred is a projection on your behalf. On some subjective level, you’ve recognized a particular prevalence of hatred in your environment and, rather than seek out its source, you’ve chosen to deflect responsibility for that hatred onto atheists.

Do you see how that works?

You can sense hatred in your environment and understand how corrosive it is. You express a desire to do something about it by imposing your bias onto a group of people you can more easily scapegoat than hold the people you have grown fond of accountable for their behaviours.

Your behaviour is an exhibition of a common psychological phenomenon called “deflection.”

It’s a way of lying to yourself to help you avoid an uncomfortable truth.

This brings us to the last line in your post.

Kindness indeed costs nothing, and that’s why I’ve taken the time to provide you with a calmly worded and detailed explanation of your behaviour — in the hopes that you’ll take some time to ponder how it is that your intention to display kindness is, in reality, an offence, not a kindness.

It would be far kinder of you to at least refrain from making negative presumptions about atheists and accusing them of things about them that are untrue. After all, your scriptures caution you against bearing false witness.

Instead of proferring advice from a tone of arrogance and condescension, you would have been more aligned with your professed saviour (and your extoling of kindness) by keeping your counsel to yourself, praying over your consternation with the prevalence of hatred you have detected, and offering assistance to your fellow believers in helping them to overcome their hatreds.

Please note how my response to you came from a place of love for humanity, not from some imaginary figurehead that I can pretend grants authority to my words. This is just one human speaking honestly and respectfully to another.

No God is required to justify kindness.

We all have that potential within us.

We must only be honest within ourselves to display genuine kindness to another, rather than use the pretext of kindness as a disguise for disparagement or malice.

Where is heaven for you?

This post is a question twofer of responses to two questions initially posed on Quora as written here.

It’s in the same general area where “Utopia” exists.

It’s right next to “Avalon,” which isn’t far from Valhalla and just around the bend from Asgard and down the road from Shangri-la, but more than a stone’s throw from Agartha while one can easily get lost on their way if they get distracted by the gold in El Dorado and miss their left turn at Alfheim. Try not to stay too long admiring the great fields of Elysium, or you’ll never leave. Be sure to avoid the talking snakes if you take the shortcut through the Garden of Eden, and carry a flashlight or gas lantern if you cross Thule. Agartha can get a bit warm if you fall into a deep chasm, so be sure to have spare clothing and have a spear or sword on hand to defend yourself against errant knights while crossing the lands of Camelot.

At any rate, if you make it to Cockaigne, you’ll find anything you need, which should help you if you have to climb Mount Olympus and travel through Arcadia.

Otherwise, keep your compass pointing upward toward hope; eventually, you’ll reach heaven.

Question 2: Is it okay to believe in ancient gods?

If you need permission from others to choose your beliefs, then your issues involve your self-image and self-confidence.

If you already believe fantasies can be real and magic is, then you’re not that different from much of the rest of the world, sadly.

That you ask if it’s okay to believe what you want to believe speaks to a lack of confidence in your beliefs, and that means you’re not sure if that’s what you should believe, and you’re hoping some confirmation by others will help you decide what to believe.

That may be a valid strategy for getting confirmation when lost. Still, it also shows you’ve allowed your beliefs to arise from wandering about without paying attention to the path you’ve taken. Your mind has wandered in an aimless direction, and now you’ve arrived at a place of wondering where you are.

You might want to retrace your steps to understand better why and how you arrived at the place of belief preceding what’s popular today. That you’re aware of earlier paradigms shows you’ve done some investigation into your beliefs. You’ve been curious to learn for reasons that have meaning for you.

Choosing to rest on a particular set of beliefs is just that. You may find your curiosity compelling you to investigate further.

In any case, the ability to choose to adopt or discard any belief at any moment is an exceptional reason to pay attention to how and why one chooses either way, because failing to do so leads to the sort of loss of self you’re experiencing now.

Ultimately, your beliefs are yours to do with what you will. They are “tools” — “useful implements” that allow you to maintain a consistent heading of self-discovery. The more authentic they are as an expression of profound insight into oneself, the more genuine they become as beliefs.

Good luck on your journey.