THOSE three sentences encapsulate the crux of Christian theology, and its deep appeal to 2.4 billion souls on the planet. In contrast, the Prophet Muhammad of Islam (1.8 billion adherents) ascended to heaven on a winged horse, and we don't hear him going back to earth. One would have to be a mujahideen martyr to enjoy 72 virgins in the afterlife. The Buddha dissolved into emptiness, whatever that is, while Hindu's Krishna and his gang of 300 million gods still live in Svar-Loka. Christianity indeed is more clever than the other world religions.
Popular Christianity says that upon dying, our souls will travel via a different dimension to enter pearl-decorated gates to the Good Place. Contrary to this widespread belief, however, nowhere in the Bible does it say that a good person (or a good dog, for dog lovers) will live in a heaven after dying. Indeed, all of the four Gospel accounts of people being brought back to life were intended to be demonstrations of Jesus' divine power in Lazarus' case and that of three of his apostles, in which the dead, being prepared for burial, were awakened into a kind of zombie-like existence.
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