Hi guys!
Recently one of my friends said "You're going to hell" because, according to her, "only people who believe in God and actively serve in His name deserve so". I wonder why quite a lot of people think like that.
Let's say Hell and Heaven exist. Let's say there's a Good Guy sitting in that mighty fine Heaven of his and let's say there's a Hell in which there's Bad Guy. Now let's find a very nice person whom many of us would like to hang around with - let's pick Gautama Buddha. You can say many things about him, but he was a really swell guy. According to that friend of mine, he would not be allowed into Heaven, since he did not claim to work in the name of the Christian God. Simply put, if you do not 'allow Jesus to be your savior', it is simply not possible to go Up instead of Down, if you follow the logic of my friend. Wouldn't that automatically mean that EVERYONE who lived before Christ got sent to hell, even if they were AWESOME people?
Shouldn't your 'reward' be based on your actions or motives rather than the words you yell while doing the aforementioned actions?
Being a non-practicing Buddhist (raised Christian though) myself, I wonder why many believers (mainly of the Abrahamic faiths) are so arrogant that their way is the sole way to enlightenment. Can anyone explain this mindset for me, please?