Heaven and hell, which is for the other?

This is perhaps the most important question one can ask, to determine their belief about God.

Recently I was most impressed by Alexander the Great’s speech to 9000 legions having completed his world victories.

In it he said:

“IT IS MY WISH, NOW THAT WARS ARE COMING TO AN END, THAT YOU SHOULD ALL BE HAPPY IN PEACE. FROM NOW ON, LET ALL MORTALS LIVE AS ONE PEOPLE, IN FELLOWSHIP, FOR THE GOOD OF ALL. SEE THE WHOLE WORLD AS YOUR HOMELAND, WITH LAWS COMMON TO ALL, WHERE THE BEST WILL GOVERN REGARDLESS OF THEIR RACE. UNLIKE THE NARROWMINDED, I MAKE NO DISTINCTION BETWEEN GREEKS AND BARBARIANS. THE ORIGIN OF CITIZENS, OR THE RACE INTO WHICH THEY WERE BORN, IS OF NO CONCERN TO ME. I HAVE ONLY ONE CRITERION BY WHICH TO DISTINGUISH THEM, VIRTUE.
FOR ME, ANY GOOD FOREIGNER IS A GREEK, AND ANY BAD GREEK, IS WORSE THAN A BARBARIAN. IF DISPUTES EVER OCCUR AMONG YOU, YOU WILL NOT RESORT TO WEAPONS BUT WILL SOLVE THEM IN PEACE. IF NEED BE, I SHALL ARBITRATE BETWEEN YOU. SEE GOD NOT AS AN AUTOCRATIC DESPOT, BUT AS THE COMMON FATHER OF ALL AND THUS YOUR CONDUCT WILL BE LIKE THE LIVES OF BROTHERS WITHIN THE SAME FAMILY. I, ON MY PART, SEE YOU ALL AS EQUAL, WHETHER YOU ARE WHITE OR DARK-SKINNED. AND I SHOULD LIKE YOU NOT SIMPLY TO BE SUBJECTS OF MY COMMONWEALTH, BUT MEMBERS OF IT, PARTNERS OF IT. TO THE BEST OF MY ABILITY, I SHALL STRIVE TO DO WHAT I HAVE PROMISED. KEEP AS A SYMBOL OF LOVE THIS OATH WHICH WE HAVE TAKEN TONIGHT WITH OUR LIBATIONS”.
There are many wise wise ideas here – but one of them relating to this blog is what he said about God: SEE GOD, NOT AS AN AUTOCRATIC DESPOT, BUT AS THE COMMON FATHER OF ALL!

You see, how we see God relates in fact to how we have been conditioned to see authority – when we have been conditioned based on experiential evidence that authority is a despot, we see God as such, but when based on experiential evidence, authority is compassionate, we see God as such.

So, many are the faiths that fear hell.

But in Judaism we believe hell is for heaven.

For a despot really has one motivating factor – his ego.

But God is a mother or loving father – he has but one motivating factor, what is – in your interest!

In Judaism we believe, man cannot be in hell for more than a year for it is not punishment God seeks as the verse states “if you have sinned, have you hurt God?” rather it’s improvement!