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Christy Caputo

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If you did not have religion or never exposed to religion; how easy would it be for you to believe in a heaven and hell?

I will start by saying I was raised in a religious home; we attended church 3 times a week whether we wanted to or not. In my mid-30's I started to recognize subtle similarities to various world religions and the religion I grew up believing. This made me wonder...if not all religions teach of a "heaven" or "hell" as where one goes when one dies based on how the person lived on earth...would those who are not exposed to religion believe in a heaven and hell or something similar?

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    Neel Prabhu

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    Dec 27 2011: Hi Christy,
    You have brought in a good topic and the entire human kind might at a conscious or sub-conscious level thought about these things. Every religion would have their narration and going through all religious scriptures would lead to more confusion.

    Though this topic is interesting I would resisit my temptation of detailed explanation in just few words.

    Yes there is life after death. Which life form would one get depends on his actions of the present birth. This is called 'Law of Karma (action)

    Concept of heaven or hell are motivational concepts or detterents in doing any deeds. But again God has his own reward or punishment system which would put in a cozy place called heaven or a less cozier place called hell.

    Finally if someone would challenge the very concept of existence of God the answer would be in simple two words..'Trust and Faith'

    • Christy Caputo

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      Dec 27 2011: Thank you for your reply. I believe in Karma, which in another form is "what comes around, goes around", "reap what you sow"...etc.

      I too believe there is life after death but leaning more to the Egyptian belief of a version of reincarnation versus eternal spiritualistic life in a heaven or hell scenario. I personally do not believe I am a bad person...I swear now and again, I drink wine on occasion, I tell my son that Santa Claus brings him presents (which is a non-truth)...so in the religion I was raised to believe as the truth I would be doomed to hell.

      It is all so confusing at times. I struggle in my way of thinking since it really isn't as simple as some would have us believe.

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