SALVATION & MORALISTIC GOD

Guided by conscience, and wishing to minimize or avoid punishment (including self-administered), I seek to live in accord with God-given moral standards. I believe that every person is born with a soul condemned to suffer, but by behaving properly one’s soul can be “saved.” So I often ask myself, “Am I good enough to go to heaven?”  (Note: Some believe that a moralistic God’s favorable judgment can “save” someone. Upon death these souls spend a blissful eternity with God in heaven or paradise. Those souls with unpardonable sins spend an eternity in hell.)

MORAL ARC OF UNIVERSE / KARMA / REINCARNATION Without involving guilty conscience, God, or divine judgment, like many I feel the moral arc of the universe somehow bends towards justice —perhaps in a spiritual version of action / reaction or cause / effect.  (Note: Some extend this with "cosmic justice" where a person’s actions in one life produce karmic forces with consequences in future lives. This requires believing a non-physical essence (soul, consciousness, etc.) in each of us survives death and is part of a continual cycle of birth & rebirth. Some believe that overcoming desire and ego allows escaping this cycle Nirvana.)