Are You Going to Heaven?

Yesterday I watched a movie called Bridge To Terabithia. There was a scene in the movie where a girl named Leslie Burke goes to church with here neighbors. On the way back they have a discussion about Jesus and the Bible. Jess and his sister are telling Leslie that if they don't believe the Bible they will go to Hell. Leslie doubts this, but likes the story about Jesus' sacrifice anyway. Later in the story Leslie dies and there is some concern about here going to Hell because she didn't believe the Bible.

As I stated in a previous post, I believe that there is more than one heaven and there may be more than one hell. I do not believe that God will send someone to eternal torment because he or she doubted the Bible or joined the wrong religion. I believe that a just and merciful god would never do that! I do believe that getting into the highest heaven does require faith in all of the scriptures and obedience to all of God's commandments. Those who are lacking a little in faith and righteousness will go to a heaven, just not the best one. I believe that it is as hard to get into Hell as it is to get into the Celestial Kingdom. One has to work at both! Total rebellion against God may get you into Hell. Mass murder may do it.

The LDS church teaches that there are 5 steps to repentance and one of them is restitution. You must return or pay for what you stole or damaged. In the case of murder, you normally cannot bring someone back to life. So, the only way to make restitution is to forfeit you own life. In our Doctrine and Covenants it states that murderers must be destroyed in the flesh and then delivered unto Satan for buffeting. So, murderers do go to Hell, but after they have paid for their sins they get out and go to the lowest heaven.

Even if a man lived to be 120 years old, that is only a few hours of God's time. What sin could a man commit that would be terrible enough to deserve torment that lasts for millions of years? I can agree with some punishment for sins that are not repented of prior to letting someone into Heaven, but I am having a real problem with the idea of eternal torment!