If you are not a Christian do you go to heaven or hell?

Answer 1

In the answers which follow, several contributors answer the question, from their own points of view, or from the point of view of their particular branch of Christianity.

Other opinions and points of view exist - and must not (on this site) be shouted down or over-written.

There are many, many sects and branches of Christianity - each with its own take on how The Bible is to be interpreted - and as far as this site is concerned - all are equally valued.

Opinion

You go to Hell. Mark 16:16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

Opinion

I am not Christian, I believe in many of the main religions(such as Judaism, Muslim, Buddhism, Bahia, etc.) and I believe that one day, we will all end up in the Kingdom of God. I think that you misinterpreted the Mark 16:16, I think it means if you believe in god, not just Jesus. Besides, if you were a true Christian, why would go around telling people they're going to hell because they do not believe in Jesus. I have never understood that. All in all, I agree with most of what Answer #1 had said.

Opinion

John 14:6 " I am the way and the truth and the life. No One comes to the Father except through me. 7. If you really knew me you would know my Father as well.

A "true Christian" , Testifies to the Truth....Jesus IS Truth. Do you understand any better now?

Opinion

Okay... We are NOT God to judge... I am a Greek Orthodox Christian... But anyways... I cannot remember exactly where it says this in the Bible but it does say "Jesus is the pathway to heaven." I don't think it necessarily means if you're an Islam, or a Hindu, or whatever other than Christian that you go to Hell, the place of the wicked. But it does mean that LOST people go to Hell. (That means Atheists.) Obviously Satanists go to Hell.

It also says in the Bible false teachers are SEVERELY punished in God's court room.... You don't know who's going to Heaven or Hell because you're not God. So don't go around telling Jews, or Buddhists, or whoever they're going to Hell... It says in the Bible to tell them the truth is Christianity in a gentle and loving way. In my eyes though, I think this means it's harder for you to get to Heaven if you're not a Christian... But I'm not God... That's something you would have to ask him; and don't be focusing on who's going to Hell and who's not...

Opinion

I turned them down(church) and told them why. "The church has been lying to us," I said. "They say that all good people will go to heaven. But I have read the Bible, and I am convinced that only 144,000 persons will go to heaven. Other righteous people will live on a paradise earth."-Matthew 5:5; Revelation 14:l1, 3.

Opinion

The world's religions offer differing answers to these questions. Some teach that if you live a good life, you will go to heaven but if you live a bad life, you will burn in a place of torment. Other religions teach that at death, people pass on to the spirit realm to be with their ancestors. Still other religions teach that the dead go to an underworld to be judged and are then reincarnated, or reborn in another body.

Such religious teachings all share one basic idea-that some part of us survives the death of the physical body. According to almost every religion, past and present, we somehow live on forever with the ability to see, hear, and think. Yet, how can that be? Our senses, along with our thoughts, are all linked to the workings of our brain. At death, the brain stops working. Our memories, feelings, and senses do not continue to function independently in some mysterious way. They do not survive the destruction of our brain.

Opinion

Simply,when you die,you return to dust and you have the hope of living in a paradise earth if you obey God.

Opinion

The only religion that will take you to heaven is Islam. I am glad I am a Muslim and I'm happy I'm going to heaven because I follow the right religion.

Answer 2

Jews believe they go to heaven too. Muslims go to Paradise, as do Zoroastrians. Others are reincarnated, until they have lived a good life and achieved perfect knowledge, after which they join the Immortals in heaven. The view of atheists is that there is no heaven and no hell - when we die, that is the end, no matter how comforting it is to believe in a further existence.
When I was quite young, growing up in a Christian country where knowledge of Islam was almost nil, I learnt a beautiful poem about a Muslim who would go to heaven as a reward for his righteousness. I have forgotten the poem, but remembered the message, which to me is that not all Christians wish for eternal punishment for those who do not share their beliefs.

Answer 3

As strange as this may sound to most readers, the Bible clearly tells us that no human except Jesus has ever gone to heaven:

John 3:13Contemporary English Version (CEV)13 No one has gone up to heaven except the Son of Man, who came down from there.

Yes, some have had dreams or visions of being taken to heaven (the 3rd or highest heaven of the spirit world and Throne of God) but they were never there physically. The teaching of going to heaven or hell upon death is not biblical but manmade, heavily influenced by Greek, Egyptian and Babylonian teachings. Indeed, Dante's Inferno is closer to most in Christendom's ideas/teachings of heaven and hell. The Bible is clear when we each die our bodies return to the ground from whence it was made from and the 'spirit in man' will ascend to God for safekeeping - from the evil one and his demons in the spiritual world:

Ecclesiastes 12:7New King James Version (NKJV)7 Then the dust will return to the earth as it was,
And the spirit will return to God who gave it.

Psalm 146:4New American Standard Bible (NASB)4 His spirit departs, he returns to the earth;
In that very day his thoughts perish.

The Scripture consistently tells us that when we die our consciousness stops. When the 'reign of mankind' comes to a violent end stopped by the 2nd Coming of Christ, a 1,000 year reign by Him and His saints (firstruits now resurrected to spiritual sons and daughters) called the Millennial Rule will establish the Kingdom of God on Earth - a peaceful productive period free of the evil god of this world and his demons. Ezekiel 37 tells us about the Israelites being raised first to live and learn in this Kingdom:


Ezekiel 37:11-14New King James Version (NKJV)11 Then He said to me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They indeed say, Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. 13 Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up from your graves. 14 I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and performed it, says the Lord.

At the conclusion of the 1,000 year reign of the Kingdom of God, the Great White Throne Judgment process will begin. All who were dead (except the incorrigibly wicked who refuse to repent and those who committed the 'unpardonable sin' - see Hebrews 10:26-28)) will be given a new body and God's Spirit within them to live by God's Law as He originally intended Adam & Eve to do in Paradise. Sometime afterwards, Satan will be released to temp many away from the Law of God. He will be defeated again and cast into the Lake of Fire along with the incorrigible and unpardonable (these physical beings will face the 2nd death of Scripture:


Revelation 21:8New King James Version (NKJV)8 But the cowardly, unbelieving,abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.

The vast majority of humankind will then be converted into spiritual sons and daughters of the God Family. The entire physical creation will be purged by fire - the vastly increasing Lake of Fire spoken of in the parable of the Rich Man in Luke 16:19-31. Peter was inspired to tell us of this future event:


2 Peter 3:10New King James Version (NKJV)The Day of the Lord10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.

Peter continues on saying we are to look for the new heaven and the new earth promised in 2 Peter 3:13. This will come true in Revelation 21. God the Father, His Son and all the spiritual beings which humankind has become will start the next chapter in God's Plan:


Revelation 21:1-4New King James Version (NKJV)All Things Made New21 Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. 2 Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. 4 And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.

Answer 4

The question neglects to clarify who is deciding the answer; as this is a contentious question

There is a doctrinal divide among Christians between whether salvation is only through belief in Christ and, therefore, Non-Christians are damned to hell or if righteous Non-Christians can have a place in heaven. Among Non-Christians, there are some groups like Jews, Muslims, Zoroastrians, and others that have "good afterlife places" and "bad afterlife places" that they believe in that are similar to heaven or hell. They also believe that they go to the "good afterlife places". Other religions and Atheism reject the question outright, arguing that there is no afterlife at all.