I’m 19 years old and have been a Catholic/Christian my whole life but as of late I’ve been questioning my faith. I’ve read a good number of your books including your depictions of Jesus and Buddha and both of those have really helped my focus on my spirituality. In doing so, I question has arisen in my thinking and may also be a little Christian and Buddhist influenced; If God is Just, Caring, Loving, Understanding, etc. why does being a part of a specific religion influence whether you’re going to heaven or hell? Christians believe that in order to be accepted into heaven you have to become a Born-Again Christian. From what i know about Buddhism, it’s about achieving inner peace within yourself, in turn the earth, and coming to terms with your soul. So what happens to people who aren’t Born Agains and can’t achieve the inner peace to realize that the bigger picture is out there? Do Jews and Atheists just fall into hell because they’re not Born -Agains? And this even works both ways with most religions, they either ask people to convert or to accept what’s happening around them. So where is the actual truth? I’m having a hard time looking through the politics of my question and needed some insight into this. I believe throughout every religion there is an ounce of truth that can be used for the tons. I just don’t understand how a specific religion can be favored into heaven; It seems counter-intuitive for what God offers to us and the gifts he’s already given.
