Pick One by mes114 on Polyvore.com
I admire (and accept) what Jewish thought has to say regarding eternity. The idea of Heaven or Hell is not a disturbing or daunting question for them. Heaven after death is not a matter of ultimatums. By this, I mean Jews do not understand Heaven and Hell under a Christian idea of "If you don't believe __, then hell, if you do believe __, heaven".
They are concerned with serving God now, as God has commanded them in the Scriptures, not concerned with "Olam Ha-Ba" or "the world to come". It is simply not a matter of concern, because Jews admit that we cannot know for certain what is beyond this life, and even if we knew, we do not have the ability to determine our destiny, anyway.
What is beautiful about Jewish thought about the Afterlife is that they do not submit to God because of a fear of entering Hell, but from pure love of God and desire to follow his commands. There is no means to an end for them, (in contrast to Christian ideology that says if you believe in Jesus, you will go to Heaven, therefore believing in Jesus would be a means to an end) They believe, what is the point of musing about something we cannot determine for certain? We do not know or have absolute proof about what will happen in eternity; we can only speculate. So let us live our physical existence in the best, most just, caring, loving way possible. Let us live the existence we were made to live, and trust that if we do this, God will take care of the rest.
What is our earthly life if all we are seeking is some Heaven that we don't know anything about? Humanity is created essentially for earth. That is an obvious fact. We are physical-we eat, sleep, laugh, have intercourse, converse, and so forth. We have bones, breath, and bowels. So if God created man to live on earth, and our sole purpose in existence on earth is to help others "secure" what is beyond this life, then what the hell (pun intended) is life?
I believe in Olam Ha-Ba. I do hope it is true. But I say, "Enough!" to living for what is mere speculation that we have absolutely no control over either way.
We are of this world, so let's live in it the best way possible.
