questions

When you are Christian, you accept Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior and thus allow him to stand your place in Hell and atone for your sins. This, I have gathered, is the fundamental principle governing whether or not you go to Heaven or Hell. God, therefore, seems very black and white on this ground; a true deontologist.

So what is the purpose of life? In my opinion, it seems like Christians believe the purpose of life is that it acts as a stepping stone to the afterlife. Live life as a Christian and you will go to Heaven and reap your just rewards there. This life is but an ephemeral moment, a transient state that decides your ultimate destiny. Life has a binary output: Go to Heaven or Go to Hell (I'm probably being too narrow, let us just say purgatory is part of Hell. I'm going for the whole Good/Evil symmetry).

On this note, let me ask a question: What point is there to live a good and just life as a Christian? If we simply go to Heaven when we accept that Christ has suffered for us, what could there possibly be to motivate us to be morally righteous? There is no greed or jealousy in Heaven (or so I assume), so being "gooder" won't get you more rewards in Heaven. What is there separating these two Christians: 1. A criminal who has raped and pillaged, 2. A nun/priest who has spent her/his whole life serving Christ? I see no differentiation posthumously as long as you accept Christ. Of course, God judges your intentions in the end and will obviously see whether you have truly adhered to the principles governing the Christian doctrine, but as long as you have Jesus all your sins are forgiven. What could possibly motivate us to be good people?

Let me then ask another question: If Christianity is based on the premise that an individual stands your place in Hell and atones for your sins, what is to stop another religion from placing another figure in the same situation and stating that their religion is the better one? Why is that, from a Christian point of view, if you believe in something else and not in Christ, you will go to Hell? It seems extremely theocentric to see things this way - if another religion had a similar means of circumventing Hell, would it not be equally valid? Perhaps their doctrine may not follow Love as Christians follow love so ideally, but if this life does not matter, then going to Heaven should be the only concern (if I have an erroneous fallacy and my logic breaks down somewhere between question 1 and question 2, let me know).

If I believe in Joey-ism and that the almighty Joey sent his wife Magdalene to die in your place so you wouldn't have to go to Heck, how is that any less valid than what Christians believe? In Joey-ism, Christians would go to Heck.

What do we live for? What is the purpose of life? What ultimately decides what becomes of us in the afterlife?

Is it our choice where we go and what we become? Is it in the hands of a higher power? And which higher power is appropriate?