Did God Make Heaven and Hell Humanity’s Destiny? (Part I)

The general consensus in Christianity is that there are two paths, two destinies that await humanity. First, there is the heavenly bliss of being with Jesus. After all, Jesus himself said he was preparing a place for his followers in heaven and that he would bring us there. Second, there is the fiery torturous eternal existence of hell. This is reserved for everybody else who did not follow Jesus. While this “two destiny” approach may sound simple, it does not stand the test of scrutiny. For starters, the fact is the vast majority of humanity has not known or accepted the name of Jesus. Does this mean God’s careful creation of humanity “in His image” was a resounding failure? And what about planet Earth? If it is doomed for a fiery end, then why did Jesus tell us to pray for God’s kingdom to come on earth? These are just the beginning of some big questions, so let’s see if we can find big biblical answers! Is the earth burned up or not? To best comprehend the eternal destiny of humanity, we need to look carefully at Bible prophecy beginning with earth. Some scriptures seem to indicate the earth will be burned up and every living thing upon it will be destroyed. While this sounds disturbing, the good news is that it is simply not true. On the contrary, we believe the earth will be an eternal habitation in a perfected state in the future. How can we say this when 2 Peter 3:10 reads “…the earth and its works will be burned up.”? The key is understanding what is literal and what is figurative in Scripture. How would we respond to the skeptic who says we can determine something to be figurative to make it fit our narrative? The answer here is to have integrity. Not just personal integrity. We also absolutely need to maintain the clear and consistent teachings of God’s word from beginning to end. The Bible tells us what is true if we allow its message to surface! Check out our April 19, 2021 podcast, “Did God Make Heaven and Earth Humanity’s Destiny? (Part 1)” for more. We dig into several Old Testament prophecies written at different times, in different places by different prophets. We find is a crystal-clear narrative that explains not only what will happen to earth, but why it will happen. These biblical texts are an absolute key in understanding the destiny of humanity in God’s plan. How do you REALLY get to heaven? With the question of earth settled, we next take a scriptural look at heaven.  Who goes to heaven, why do they go and what do they have to do to qualify? The bottom line is: If we want to know where the righteous and unrighteous of humanity go for eternity, we need to understand what is real and what is not according to the Bible. Join us for this revealing two-part discovery series!