Last month megachurch pastor and best-selling author Rick Warren was interviewed by ABC News about the spiritual state of the union. During that conversation he gave very different answers about how people and dogs get to heaven. In his view, people get to heaven only through faith in Jesus Christ but dogs (as well as cats and other pets) are guaranteed admission into heaven.
So What?
According to recent research
Heaven is a more popular notion than Hell. Nearly two-thirds of American adults (62%) absolutely believe that Heaven exists, whereas barely half (51%) express the same certainty about the existence of Hell (p.26).
Among Christians who believe in heaven, there is considerable diversity of opinion regarding what heaven is and how one experiences it. How would you answer the following questions:
- What is heaven?
- What must a person do and/or believe in order to experience heaven?
- Are there animals in heaven? If so, how did they get there?