Can athiests get into heaven?

[flobadob]

Say when an athiest dies and it turns out he was wrong in his assumption and there actually is a heaven, assuming he's been a good guy all his days, can he get into heaven or is he automatically barred because of his beliefs whilst on earth? Furthermore, supposing it's the latter, where would he end up?

[birdie1971]

Isn't God supposed to be all forgiving? I'm sure I read that somewhere. So yes, a “good” atheist should be able to get into heaven.

In a fair and just reality, good people will be rewarded and bad people will be punished. Unfortunately, no one seem to agree on a definition of “good” or “evil”. What's “good” in one religion is “bad” in another.

If heaven exists, it's unlikely humans have understood the minutiae of heaven-sent instructions to the letter. Humans do have a tenancy to make mistakes.

So it's unlikely any of us are going to heaven, even if it does exist.

[birdie1971]

Sorry, I forgot to answer you most important question, “Where would he end up?”.

Maybe we're already in Hell. Maybe the punishment for not getting into heaven is to come back as someone you hated in your previous life. So if you're a fundamentalist Christian who hates homosexuals and thinks that women should be seen and not heard, you come back as a Muslim lesbian.

Now wouldn't that be poetic justice?

[tamborine]

the same place as we all.....dust to dust

[annie0000]

Depends which heaven, for instance all people of jewish persuasion before Christ presumably went to Jew heaven. After Christ, then surely those that believed/believe in him now go to Christian Heaven and presumably people who remained jews still get to go to Jewish heaven? or do those jews before Christ go to the same heaven as Christians do now and people who remained Jews not get to go? This all being academic as there is no such thing, so athiests wont really care.

[Jan1957]

As an atheist, I don't care!

[ELVIS68]

Oooher Bez...surely they go to hell?

[birdie1971]

I wonder if the size of each individual heaven is reflected in the number of earthly worshippers?

So Christian heaven will be the biggest, albeit segregated into its various factions – with some sort of big red line drawn all over the kitchen floors to keep them from stealing each others food.

Islam will be the next biggest heaven but with an absolutely massive extension built on the side to accommodate all the virgins - like some enormous servants' quarters or stables. It's so massive that it's started to block out the sunlight to the Christian heavenly garden and they're not happy about it and are thinking of writing to Allah to complain.

And down and down until you get to the really small religions like the Dogons or the Cargo Cult peoples of the South Pacific who have small, prefab, garden shed type heavens which all the other big religions laugh and point at.

And the atheists and agnostics will live in the heavenly municipal tip; sleeping in cardboard boxes and eating left overs. Dancing at the whim of the Christians or Muslims or any other of the myriad followers of religion.

Dance you scum-bag atheists!

Or possibly none of the above.

[Booldawg]

I've never quite grasped the concept of the 70 virgins thing. Lets be honest, they wont be virgins for long. Bearing in mind the afterlife is for eternity isnt this a fairly short lived fantasy? Or do you get to trade them in when there's a 'fair few miles on the clock' ?

[jake-the-peg]

Dunno

Will Christians get ito heaven when they die and discover that the (Jews / Muslims / Hindus /Budhists/...) were right and they've spent their lives worshiping a false idol?

Is it better to spend your life worshiping the wrong God or not worshiping any God?

I hear him upstairs can be pretty jealous!

[TTG]

Not sure but as long as the angels wear saucy underwear, I for one will be very happy when I go to heaven.

[Ankou]

it’s a bit like saying can an atheist go into church.

of course we can, but after a while we get a bit bored, don’t know any of the lyrics, laugh at the children who misbehave by throwing hymn books on the floor, and others who point with tears and haunted faces at the scary statues and pictures on the walls, wonder why the bloke at the front in a dress is rattling on and on about blood and sacrifices and stuff, have a giggle at the old bird who can’t sing but does sing louder than everyone else (presume this is plus points for godliness), contemplate just how much whiskey the organist has been drinking before and during the mass, then leave quietly and early to go to the pub whilst everyone else is queing up to feast on the blood and flesh of someone they apparently liked.

if this is what heaven is meant to be like, then i'll go the devils arms pub for a couple of spirits.

[Booldawg]

Can a vegetarian go into McDonalds? Of course they can; they're catered for with an unapetising and limited range of food options. So be it for atheists, but dont expect to be on a cloud playing a harp - there's golden gates needing some brasso and the men toilets havent been done in ages!

[heathfield]

If God is all-forgiving, Hell is empty.

[icemaiden]

I am an athiest. I believe that we are all in hell now, and when we pass away, we will all go to a better place.

[Ankou]

yes, answerbank does feel like that sometimes

[rkend123]

The plain and simple answer is no. No matter how \"Good\" you think you are you aren\'t good enough. I know it\'s difficult to understand and had the same misconception when I was in my 20s. I seriously suggest you check out this link (a 2 second Google search) and do some more searching on your own. This explains it better than I can.

http://www.christiananswers.net/q-comfort/heaven-goodenough.html

[Seadragon]

Like Birdie says the concept of 'good' and 'bad' is very subjective and fragile. Society has its laws in regard to this e.g murder, but there are defences to that, even though murdering goes against one of the Ten Commandents. I think of myself as a person with good moral conviction but I did something a few years ago which I laugh at now because I've never told anybody and never will but it was not only illegal but morally wrong and I know its so wrong. The worst thing is, is that if I found myself in that situation today, I would still do the same. I think Heaven is an all-forgiving place it has to be if one believes in a benevolent God.

But since I don't believe in Heaven i suppose in respect of your question, I ended up at the gates of heaven. I mean wow, I would need some time to take it all in and then if there was an alternative other than Hell, like for example haunting others on earth then I would take that option. I would want to have some fun as a ghost and blow people's hair around their necks, topple over their food plates when they sit to eat, move objects around - none of the real nasty stuff though. Yeh I hope get signed up for that. Heaven can wait.

[R1Geezer]

I'm off to paradise mate with 70 virgins, you can shove your heaven!