Heaven and Hell is a ridiculous concept.

I personally would align myself with atheism despite being christened and brought up in a somewhat religious family. My grandma is strongly religious, my mother more spiritual and my dad an atheist.

For a long time I’ve debated the idea of heaven and hell, how the media portrays it and would this idea actually be reasonable.

I want to preface this with the fact that I have never read the bible, or seriously looked into each different religions ideas of an afterlife, so will be going off of my pre-existing knowledge of Christianity. If I get things wrong, feel free to correct me or cite sources for me to read into.

Heaven and Hell is a ridiculous theory. How are over 117 billion people being sorted into an afterlife based on how they acted for a few decades, for eternity. Punishment for eternity for 0-10 decades of misbehaviour? Strange.

How do we decide who is good and who is bad? Obviously there is the things which the bible references itself, but with how the world develops this becomes even more outdated. Humans are just not that black and white. We are incredibly complex- the reason why we sin is complex in itself. Is a sin counteracted if the reason we behaved in such a way is justifiable? And if it is justifiable, isn’t that subjective depending on who rules that?

Perhaps I’m just confused or lacking knowledge around the topic in general. I also believe that people who behave purely on the basis of getting into heaven, or fear of eternal damnation are not therefore good people.

If I don’t steal because I fear the law, but would steal if there was no law, then I am still a thief, I have just not acted on that.

Sorry for this being so long, I’m completely open to discussion and probably could be swayed on this. If this offended anyone who believes in an afterlife, I apologise but would love to hear your views on this!