Between Heaven and Hell

Introduction

Most religions and religious organizations, including most Christian and Muslims denominations, teach that good people go to some sort of paradise, usually heaven, and bad people go to hell after they die. Heaven is usually characterized as a place of unsurpassable happiness—the ultimate paradise. It is commonly taught and believed that all who go there will live joyfully forever. Yet, considering what a wonderful place it is supposed to be, it seems no one is in a hurry to go there. Death, which according to most traditional beliefs is the gateway to heaven, is generally viewed as something to be avoided at all costs. Through medical science we usually do everything we can to prevent death as long as possible. If such a journey to heaven could be by means of some heavenly express, wouldn't we find that almost no one would want to buy a ticket? Wouldn't we find that most people would prefer the continuation of their present life here on earth to any immediate possibility of taking up residence in heaven? Our actions indicate this is the way most of us think.

Similarities

Heaven, the Heavens or seven heavens, is a common religious cosmological or metaphysical term for the physical or transcendent place from which heavenly beings (such as a Sky deity, God, angels, King or queen of heaven, Heavenly Father or Heavenly Mother, heavenly saints orvenerated ancestors) originate, are enthroned or inhabit. It is commonly believed that heavenly beings can descend to earth or take on earthly flesh and that earthly beings can ascend to Heaven in the afterlife or in exceptional cases enter Heaven alive. Heaven is often described as a "higher place", the holiest place, a paradise, in contrast to Hell or the underworld or the "low places", and universally or conditionally accessible by earthly beings according to various standards of divinity, goodness, piety, faith, or other virtues or right beliefs or simply the Will of God. Some believe in the possibility of a Heaven on Earth in a World to come. It is most commonly referred to by Christians and Muslims.

While in many religious traditions, hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations. Typically these traditions locate hell under the Earth's external surface and often include entrances to Hell from the land of the living. Other afterlife destinations include Heaven, Purgatory, Paradise, and Limbo.

Other traditions, which do not conceive of the afterlife as a place of punishment or reward, merely describe hell as an abode of the dead, a neutral place located under the surface of Earth (for example, see sheol and Hades). Modern understandings of hells often depict them abstractly, as a state of loss rather than as fiery torture literally underground, but this view of the concept of a hell can, in fact, be traced back into the ancient and medieval periods as well.[citation needed] Hell is sometimes portrayed as populated with demons who torment those dwelling there. Many are ruled by a death god such as Nergal, Hades, Enma or the Christian and Islamic Devil (Satan or Lucifer). In Islam, the Devil does not actually reside in Hell.

Differences

There are many differences between heaven and hell. The book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible, paints a beautiful picture of heaven as having streets of pure gold, gates of pearl, walls decorated with every manner of precious gemstones. Revelation 21:18-21 says, “The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass. The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of pure gold, like transparent glass.” Nothing impure ever will be in heaven, and the residents shall live eternally in the presence of God and Jesus Christ. It is a place of joy, peace, and love. Jesus Himself has prepared a wonderful place for us. In John 14:1-4, Jesus says, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going." This is the place the righteous shall go for eternity (John 5:24). 

Hell, on the other hand, is described as a lake of fire (Revelations 20:15), the second death (Revelations 21:8), a place where there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth (Luke 13:28), the home of the wicked (Psalm 9:17) and a place of torment (Revelations 20:10). Hell is where those who reject the great sacrifice of Jesus will spend eternity.

Story about differences between heaven and hell

Long  time ago there lived an old woman who had a wish. She wished more than anything to see for herself the difference between heaven and hell. The monks in the temple agreed to grant her request. They put a blindfold around her eyes, and said, "First you shall see hell."

When the blindfold was removed, the old woman was standing at the entrance to a great dining hall. The hall was full of round tables, each piled high with the most delicious foods — meats, vegetables, fruits, breads, and desserts of all kinds! The smells that reached her nose were wonderful.

The old woman noticed that, in hell, there were people seated around those round tables. She saw that their bodies were thin, and their faces were gaunt, and creased with frustration. Each person held a spoon. The spoons must have been three feet long! They were so long that the people in hell could reach the food on those platters, but they could not get the food back to their mouths. As the old woman watched, she heard their hungry desperate cries. "I've seen enough," she cried. "Please let me see heaven."

And so again the blindfold was put around her eyes, and the old woman heard, "Now you shall see heaven." When the blindfold was removed, the old woman was confused. For there she stood again, at the entrance to a great dining hall, filled with round tables piled high with the same lavish feast. And again, she saw that there were people sitting just out of arm's reach of the food with those three-foot long spoons.

But as the old woman looked closer, she noticed that the people in heaven were plump and had rosy, happy faces. As she watched, a joyous sound of laughter filled the air.

And soon the old woman was laughing too, for now she understood the difference between heaven and hell for herself. The people in heaven were using those long spoons to feed each other.

And the short definition about differences between heaven and hell is,

 Heaven is a place where the police are English; the chefs are Italian; the car mechanics are German; the lovers are French and it’s all organized by the Swiss. Hell is a place where the police are German; the chefs are English the car mechanics are French the lovers are Swiss and it’s all organized by the Italians.