First off I don't believe there is a heaven or hell, but I know that Christians do, and have often wondered about this....


Lets say, I'm the perfect Christian by God's standard. I have a friend who is not perfect and is a nonbeliever, but I love my friend.

We both die and God says that my friend can not enter heaven. What do I say? What do I do? I don't want to enter heaven without my friend.

Does god reward my loyalty and allow my friend to enter?

Personally if god cut me no slack on this I would be very very angry and go wherever god sends my friend instead.

What would you do?

I often wonder why Christians don't always think of things like this, as I have asked them and they say they never thought about what they would feel if a nonbeliever was not allowed into heaven and they happened to be their friend, their brother sister whatever.

That amazes me. To be Christian I would have to have a heart of steal to ignore the fact that my god will not allow my life long associations into heaven.

Do Christians disown their non believing friends and family so they don't have to think about the guilt they might feel? Or do they just accept that they will enter and others will not, and feel ok with that?

Anyway what would you do?

You could do what my ex-boyfriend's mum did and ban your son from associating with non-believers.

I am a christian and I have lots of friends who are not. I them as much as I love my christian friends

dont sleep on it cause you can sleep when you die....you and your friend be friends till the end...touchy subject

No such thing as a perfect Christian. Shoots any of that stuff to heck!!!
Of course we think of things like this. But, as God made us with FREE WILL, we as individuals must make our own decisions.
And, I don't think for one moment that God wouldn't allow an unbaptised child into heaven just because the parents had yet to get around to it or wouldn't do it.
This is one bucket of worms and there will be 1,000,001 versions of definitions and aspects, so I'm stopping now.

I doubt there will be a choice. Religion shouldnt dictate entrance to "heaven" anyway.

That doesn't exactly answer the question. A baby is a baby, too young to be a nonbeliever. Maybe I shouldn't have said a perfect christian, but I think you know what I am getting at, your just not willing to answer it.. grin! Free will doesn't answer the question either.

What would you do if your life long friend or non believing family member was not accepted into heaven and you were? Would your loyalty to God be more of a pull then you loyalty to your family member or friend?

I do understand your question. But believe me, this will not be an issue when you see the other side. Trust me on that if you want. There is no way of proving it. The only reason I know it to be absolutly true is the fact that I have seen the other side.

you pray for your friend. you reach out to them. you tell them things about jesus and discuss things.

buy him/her a bible for christmas. ask them to church if they seem receptive.

i asked my uncle a few years ago when we had this same discussion about my grandma. my grandma has the biggest heart Ive ever known anyone to have. she has probably never done anything BAD in her entire life. so i asked my uncle knowing this but knowing that she doesnt go to church and doesnt really seek God out...are you trying to tell me she wont go to heaven??

the idea made me so mad and seemed so absurd.

circumstances and events changed over the past few years. my grandma now goes to church and even prays.

and if you get unto heaven and your child does not and you have to go through eternity knowing that your child is burnning for eternity, then realy what kind of heaven is that anyway?
And if you say well you'll forget them. What if I don't want to forget them?

near death experiance?

dying and comming back, happens to alot of people, most of the time you can not remember the other side much at all if at all, for some reason I was able to more than most I guess.

The early Christian theologian Tertullian had no problem with the Christians being in Heaven while horrendous pain and punishment was being inflicted on non-believers. He said that he actually looked forward to the day when, after joining the elect in heaven, he would see all those who had opposed Christianity burning in the flames of hell. He wrote:

"How shall I admire, how laugh, how rejoice, how exult, when I behold so many kings and false gods, together with Jove himself, groaning in the lowest abyss of darkness! so many magistrates who persecuted the name of the Lord, liquefying in fiercer flames than they ever kindled against Christians; so many sage philosophers, with their deluded scholars, blushing in raging fire!" What a fine example of Christian love and charity!"

ya ive done some research and wrote soem papers about NDE's...its very interesting.

and actually I coded a lady that remembered most of it slowly after we brought her back....mostly she just remembered us standing by her bedside taking care of her. and she was thankful...a few cracked ribs and some pain..but she couldnt stop hugging me.

Come on guys, wer'e dead already, this isn't about what to do before we die.. lmao I know that my friends who are non believers are not going to be receptive to being given a bible, or speaches. I don't blame them I don't want them either, been there done that.

Again, the questions is what do you do.. remember wer'e dead.. grin

i would go to heaven and be with God.
without thinking twice.
knowing that i had tried at LEAST once to talk with my lifelong friend before we had died.

I dont believe in any of this of course but hypothetically no, I would refuse to go anywhere except where my friend was heading.

I'd think that once I'm standing at the pearly gates, about to meet the Lord on high, everyone else is just going to have to take a back burner to that...

Ah-ha, Seamonster gets the question. Of course understanding we aren't talking about children or live people here either...

Krisma gets it, yeah..

AllenAqua, so you are saying you will be so star struck by God that your friends won't matter? Ack, glad I am not your friend..

I have to wonder how a god can be more important and more valued than your friends and family that have spent a life time with you. That amazes me, and kinda sad too. I personally have never seen your God, never felt his arm around me, nor felt his laughter or tears etc etc etc, but I have felt all range of emotions with my friends. I would never allow anyone to separate me from that. I don't care who they are. And a God that would expect that is no much of a god IMHO.

Marty, I didn't quite get your response. Got the ND part but this is a hypothetical question, even if you don't believe such a situation would occur after all. The ND issue is very interesting but I have yet to be convinced it's anything supernatural. I remember the one time I experienced acid, I was outside my body, and that was something I never forgot, but if I could have that experience while alive, then it seemed to me that ND could just be something our mind is already capable of. If that makes any sense.