by Grace Golds

Created on: October 31, 2008   Last Updated: November 01, 2008

Assuming that Heaven does indeed exist, I personally am inclined to believe that faith or belief in God is not necessary as a requirement for entry into Heaven. Many would disagree with me here but I believe that the most important aspect is the moral behaviour of the individual and how they feel about their actions. Using the Biblical reference of "Doubting" Thomas the disciple, he was still accepted by Christ as a follower despite his apparent lack of faith. He therefore obviously showed worthy of being a disciple in some other way, perhaps his nature as a person was enough to carry him onto the right path as it were.

I think it is far more important for a person to have led a moral life than to have led a life believing in God. Anyone can convert to religion and believe in a God but it is much harder for a person to turn around and lead a good life. It is much harder to forgive, love and be kind etc... Many find it hard to let go of things and help those that have hurt them.

A belief in God is not necessarily needed for someone to behave kindly or morally, the individual just needs a good foundation of what they believe to be right and wrong. And yes here we could enter into the whole ethical debate of what is good and what is right? Is it the word of God in the Bible? Is it an innate feeling we have when we do something? Does conscience tell us how to behave? However I think that is irrelevant, if one is truely happy with who they are as a person, and note i use the word truely here, then how can one turn around and tell that indiviudual to behave in a different way, a way that they are not comfortable with? I believe that by nature human beings are compassionate and have an instinct to help others and therefore if someone is satisfied with their efforts then they should be rewarded in heaven. On may however turn around and raise the issue that some people are happy with themselves after killing - psychopaths for example. But in these extreme cases I think that they are misguided in their thinking and therefore need to be accepted into Heaven so they know how they should behave in a loving manner and can be shown what life could actually be like for them.

Also for a non-believer, acceptance into Heaven would allow them to see that they were indeed wrong with their ideas and although one should not need proof to believe in God, some people do find it difficult and one should not be reprimanded for having doubts about such an unknown and unproven thing. We are only human after all.

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