I went to Encyclopedia Britannica and Wikipedia to see what
they had to say about Heaven and Hell. These are my concluding
thoughts from these two references, my emphasis added.
1. "...depictions of heaven provide a revealing index of
what a society regards as the highest good. Hence the
study of heaven is, in its broadest application, the study
of ultimate human ideals."
2. "...heaven is the realm of afterlife where good actions
in the previous life are rewarded for eternity (hell being
the place where bad behavior is punished)."
Based on what I have heard and experienced from others during
my life, I suspect that these two conclusions represent the
majority of humans and their thinking. Time magazine, online,
says: "...72% believe in a literal heaven, 58% in a literal hell."
Time's article entitled "What Jesus Really Said About Heaven
and Hell" by Bart D. Ehrman states:
"The vast majority of these people naturally assume this is what
Jesus himself taught. But that is not true. Neither Jesus, nor the
Hebrew Bible he interpreted, endorsed the view that departed
souls go to paradise or everlasting pain.
