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"'Good enough' never is!" This was a phrase that my sisters and I heard many times from our parents as we were growing up; usually when we were tempted to slack off and put forth minimal effort on some school project or homework assignment. It was never acceptable to say, "Oh, it doesn't matter; this is 'good enough'." Our parents expected our best effort, every time. Although it was annoying at the time in the long run it turned out to be a valuable lesson that continues to prove beneficial even now, some thirty-five years later.

As a committed Christian since age ten I am also intrigued by the ongoing and sadly, often vitriolic debates between Christians and non-believers over many theological questions including whether one can "earn" his way into heaven by being "good." Atheists will argue vehemently that there is "no way that a loving god could ever send 'good people' to Hell." From their purely scientific and logical perspective the concepts of "faith", "obedience" and "God's will" make no sense; and lacking concrete "proof" non-believers are prone to dismiss the Bible and all its teachings as pure mythology.

While the divide between believers and non-believers saddens me it isn't really all that surprising. It is difficult for any two groups with vastly different belief systems, goals, agendas and points of reference to come to agreement or, in some cases, even to discuss important issues in a meaningful way simply because they don't have a common language. It is not only Christians and atheists who have this problem. Author John Grey schooled us in the communication difficulties caused by gender differences in his "Men Are From Mars, Women Are Venus" books. In my role as a corporate research analyst I also see the problem when "tech savvy" IT people try to discuss a project with the business partners. Although we are often looking at the same problem the fact that IT professionals view solutions in a systematic, process oriented way and business partners view solutions in a practical, real world, often "fly by the seat of your pants" kind of way makes even basic communication extremely difficult.

So, the question of whether one can get into heaven by being good becomes especially problematic when you have groups of people who have very different concepts of what heaven is and what it really means to be good.

Most Protestants believe that you cannot get into Heaven by being "good"; while those of the Catholic faith believe in the concept of Purgatory

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