I'm sure this question has been asked on this site many many times 8) but i've a problem with only two "places" you go to after death! either good or bad! is it not more feasible to have many places (realms) that take on heavenly or hellish characteristics where depending on your understanding, knowledge, inteligence, beliefs and influences depend on what realm you will encounter upon death!
Heaven and Hell is too black and white, too good and bad, too right and wrong for me. Variety is the spice of life and maybe Variety is the spice of death! :o
Love and peace :-*
Shroom

I too believe there are many realms, life is too complex to be black or white.  I find it comforting and exciting to know we evolve from world to world to experiece all the wonders that await us.  My biggest wish is to talk to the animals and cuddle the ones I could never cuddle in this life, that would be great.  

There are are many levels of both Heaven and Hell that in effect make the gradations more like you suspect they are.  In a sense the labels "Heaven" and "Hell' are somewhat arbitrarary.  In ancient Judaism it was debatable how to label the  lower levels of Heaven and the upper levels of Hell.  The real divide is this: (a) levels  where a loving God is adored, worshiped, and bonded with to facilitate spiritual service and progress and (b) levels where souls choose to live as if God is irrelevant and are therefore separated from fellowship with God.  In biblical terms this 2nd tier (however mild at its upper levels)  warrants the label "Hell".  Christianity conceives of Hell as a self-chosen condition of separation from God.  As my thread "A Fresh Look at Heaven" progresses in reponding to its 8-fold agenda, I hope to address some of your ethical an spiritual concerns and welcome your participation.

Don (aka Berserk)

Cheers Don for that ;D
I do find this the most amazing subject, as Heaven and Hell are a christian way off dealing with life after death and the fear of the unknown! Heavenly and Hellish states are in all religions and beliefs and even on earth! :o
And i dont accept them as anything other than states of mind the individual has gained through living experiences! Karma is the best way of describing what realm of awareness your conscience will find on death!(Heavenly or Hellish)
eg: If you've had problems dealing with your reality, physical pain, suffering, lack of love and many forms of hatred your more likely to have a hellish mental state,(not necessary Hell)
If you've been able to cope with reality, deal with pain, helped sufferers, given love and try not to hate , I believe you will be in a more heavenly state of conscience on death!(and not Heaven)
If we are to be born many thousands of lifes and each life is recorded on a disc or permenent memory and regression is a form of delving deeper and finding proof and evidence of previous lifes
then why must we have a "Heaven and Hell" and not just states of mind in a short transition period or void for a period of evolvement(death to birth to death)? which i believe depends on the individuals need to be reborn!! :-/
I'm sure for religions a Heven and Hell is an easier and more simple way of getting the masses to be very devout believers and a little fearsome of their actions due to the so called consequences of Heaven and Hell!
I don't mean to offend christian believers or anyone else, but a Heaven and Hell as the two only places after life has got to be far from the reality! Most people on this site have afterlife knowledge of some sort or another but very few would scream a deffinate "Heaven or Hell" only afterlife!
Love and repect to all!!
Shroom ;D

i shouldn't say i have always thought this way, but in the last few years i have come to think of the realms of heaven and hell existing in life as well.

when everything is going great in life it is heaven and when things turn sour it is hell. the ying and the yang.

you learn just as much living in hell as you do living in heaven. i think i appreciate the feeling of heaven much more after tasting the pain of hell.

kip

My vote is for the adjectives over the nouns. Seems like we can have a BST whether here or there.

Didn't this idea of an actual place, as opposed to a state, arise with Emperor Constantine's revision of Christian dogma?

Clinical reports from ast life regressions seem to suggest that it's all a matter of how God-like we are, a continuum of states from ultimate pride to ultimate Oneness in love, joy and awareness.

dave