Of this I am sure.

I believe in a literal heaven and hell. I'll say that with conviction and without being wishy-washy. 

I not sure about the particulars, like if hell will be down below us in the center of the earth and have fire and different levels. But I do know it is an awful place. The Bible always says hell has a "weeping and gnashing of teeth". It sounds very sad and very bitter to me.

Heaven will be a shiny place, with streets of gold and a gate that has lots of glittering rocks in it. It will be a wonderful place. And I'm sure I'll just want to trail Jesus around like a puppy. 

What about the people that never heard the gospel, you might ask. My Sunday school teacher in elementary school addressed the subject of purgatory and I have this mental picture of a giant glass container, kind of like a fishbowl, that all the people who haven't heard about Jesus go. They are in this glass container, all stacked up and kind of squished together, and then Jesus comes riding in and they all scramble to look at him. Then they believe and the glass container opens up and they parade up into heaven.

Oh boy, that is embarrassing to have written out my view of purgatory, and even more embarrassing to have maintained that view for so long. I believe God is fair and just. I like to think people can plead ignorance (but only if they really are) in hearing about Jesus. Some people just have not heard about this thing we call Christianity. I think some sort of holding place exists where people are in a waiting place until Jesus returns. I don't think they will go straight to hell, but I don't think they will go straight to heaven either.

But heaven exists, and hell does too. Of this I am sure.