Dear Editor,

Christians look forward to the day when they will be rewarded for being good by being granted a permanent place in heaven. This place, which is supposed to be established in the future, will be the perfect Utopia. There will be no evil of any kind – no death, sickness, stealing, lying or anything that is bad. However, I don’t think I would ever want to go to such a place.

For one thing, I have a problem with the concept of evil. What exactly is it supposed to be anyway? Evil is a very relative concept. What is good for one may be bad for another. Who will determine evil in heaven? God? What exactly are His standards? Will everybody agree to them or will they be forced to? If heaven is going to be a place free from evil, will people living there always do what is considered good?

One of the attributes of being human is the ability to act with free will. While it seems that free will is an illusion, it’s one that we are currently living with. Free will means that people will choose to do what they want. Another aspect of being human is to understand the concepts of right and wrong, whatever those may be. Heaven, it seems, appears to be incompatible with being human.

What if I should go to heaven and decide that I want to use my free will to fornicate? Will I be prevented from doing so? Will such thoughts be stripped from my mind preventing me from thinking like that? What if God does something that I consider wrong? Will I be stripped of my understanding of right and wrong? Will I be programmed to think that what God does is always right? Will I have a choice?

The more I think about it, the more I dread the fate of those who would end up in such a place. The “beneficiaries” of heaven would no longer be human. They would be like zombies – programmed to act and think in ways that only God would see as right. I certainly wouldn’t want anybody controlling me like that!

Michael A Dingwall.

michael_a_dingwall@hotmail.com