The Greek philosopher, Socrates, once said: "The quality of our behaviour, during our transient life, will determine
where we will spend Eternity when we die." In other words, our soul's destiny is in our hands. If we want to forfeit Eternal
bliss in Heaven, and spend Eternity in hell, we are free to do so.
THE MOST PRECIOUS THING IN LIFE.
What is the most precious thing in life?
Is it health? Health is precious, but it does not last for ever.
Is it intelligence? Intelligence is precious, but it does not last for ever.
Is it happiness? Happiness is precious, but it does not last for ever.
Is it money? Money is precious, but it cannot buy Eternal happiness.
The most precious thing in life, is our Eternal Soul.
The reward for a lifetime of virtue, kindness and fairness, is Eternal bliss in heaven. The penalty for a lifetime of evil,
injustice, and wickedness, is Eternal damnation in Hell.
Don't let the Devil steal your most precious possession, your Eternal soul.
If your soul is burdened with malice, and evil deeds, you will be held accountable for your wickedness on Judgement Day. God
will ask you to give Him a good reason why you should not spend Eternity in Hell. What will you say? If you try to justify
your wicked behaviour with lies and poor excuses, you will be wasting your time. Mortals can fool people, but they cannot
fool God.
The most precious gift a mortal can receive from God, is the gift of Eternal Bliss in Heaven. This precious gift will not
be handed to us on a platter. It must be earned through a process of continuous self-purification.
Heaven is not a refuge for sinners and impure souls. To be admitted to God's realm, we must prove that we are worthy of the
privilege.
Our temporary life, is simply a "Divine Test". God has given us intelligence, and a wonderful mental tool we call "logic".
Our Creator has endowed us with the ability to discern between good and bad, right and wrong, virtue and vice, kindness and
wickedness. We also know that it is not fair to do unto others what we would not like them do unto us. Moreover, we know that
God abhors injustice, cruelty, wickedness, and evil. With all this innate knowledge in our possession, there is no need to
consult religious books, to discover what our moral obligations are, towards God. By utilising our logic, we can create a
list of ethical rules that our Creator would expect us to observe.
Unfortunately, the Mosaic Ten Commandments are dismally insuficient, because they cover only 10% of the full spectrum of moral
obligations, social duties, and ethical purity. When Moses was in the process of engraving the Ten Commandments, on the top
of Mount Sinai, he must have realised that ten ethical rules would not eradicate injustice, discrimination, racial hatred,
prejudice, exploitation, materialism, prostitution, fraud, immorality, and slavery. One can visualise the formidable predicament
with which he was confronted. He knew that most of his followers had lost faith in him, because they had spent forty years
in the desert looking for the "Promised Land". He could not afford to irritate them further, by overwhelming them with a plethora
of austere Commandments. The result would have been disastrous. He also knew that it would have been physically impossible
for him to descend from the top of the mountain carrying 20 heavy stone tablets, with 100 Commandments engraved on them. What
would have been the Israelites' reaction, if he had told them that eating the flesh of innocent, defenceless, animals is morally
wrong? What would have been their response if he had told them that the practice of animal sacrifice, and the barbarous tradition
of stoning transgressors to death, must be abolished, because God abhors cruelty? It would have been hard for Moses to convince
his people that exploitation, slavery, prejudice, wars, and racial hatred, are unacceptable practices in the eyes of our Creator.
The best solution to the problem was to present the Israelites with only ten, basic, easy to remember, Commandments. The precious
gift of Eternal bliss in Heaven, will be given only to those who have reached a high level of moral purity. To reach the level
of moral purity that would make us "acceptable" in the eyes of God, we must uphold 100 ethical rules. Metaphorically speaking,
the one hundred ethical rules are the 100 steps we mortals must ascend to reach God and receive the precious gift of Eternal
bliss in Heaven.
THE 100 ETHICAL RULES:
1- You must not kill human beings. 2- You must not interfere with the growth of a human foetus. 3- You must not kill the animals
that live on the land, the birds that fly in the sky, and the fishes that swim in the oceans, the seas, the rivers, the lakes,
the streams, and the creeks. 4- You must not eat the flesh of animals or other living creatures. 5- You must not worship statues,
idols, relics, or icons. 6- You must not be profane or blasphemous. 7- You must spend the last day of the week in prayer,
meditation, and rest. 8- You must love , honour, and respect your parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents. 9- You must
not commit adultery. 10- You must not bear false witness. 11- You must not steal. 12-You must not covet the spouse, or the
possesions of others. 13-You must not molest, or mistreat children. 14- You must not be cruel towards humans, animals, birds,
and fishes. 15- You must not lie. 16- You must not be prejudiced. 17- You must not bully, harrass, or intimidate others. 18-
You must not discriminate against others. 19- You must not exploit others. 20- You must not be selfish. 21- You must not conspire
to harm others. 22- You must not be hateful, offensive, or rude. 23- You must not abduct children, or adults, for ransom.
24- You must not be violent, or agressive. 25- You must not be uncooperative. 26- You must not be destructive. 27- You must
not be disloyal. 28- You must not be deceitful. 29- You must not be untrustworthy. 30- You must not be scornful. 31- You must
not be antagonistic. 32- You must not withhold information that could be beneficial to others. 33- You must not practice favouritism.
34- You must not be inconsiderate. 35- You must not be vain. 36- You must not be uncharitable. 37- You must not be unfair.
38- You must not have sex with animals. 39- You must not have sex with children. 40- You must not have sex with your brothers
and sisters. 41- You must not have sex with your close cousins and close relatives. 42- You must not have sex with partners
of similar gender. 43- You must not force your spouse to have sex with you. 44- You must not be vindictive or unforgiving.
45- You must not be disrespectful. 46- You must not use your beauty to tempt, beguile, seduce, enchant and torment others.
47- You must not be uncaring towards people and animals. 48- You must not be greedy. 49- You must not gamble. 50- You must
not have dealings with atheists, Satanists, sorcerers, fortune-tellers, mediums, false prophets, magicians, witches, hypnotists,
and astrologers. 51- You must not use narcotics, or hallucinogenic substances, that affect the normal function of the human
brain. 52- You must not use weapons that are designed to kill. 53- You must not betray others. 54- You must not be unduly
inquisitive, or pry into other people's affairs. 55- You must not cheat. 56- You must not be vexacious. 57- You must not spread
false, or malicious, rumours. 58- You must not make fun of people's handicaps, and physical deformities. 59- You must not
use animals for scientific, medical, or genetic experiments. 60- You must not make weapons of mass destruction. 61- You must
not be slothful. 62- You must not breed when food is not abundant. 63- You must not use derogatory, or insulting language.
64- You must not use mental cruelty, or pshycological warfare, to harm others. 65- You must not read "pseudo-religious" books
that misrepresent the Omnipotent Creator. 66- You must not be apathetic, or callous. 67- You must not commit rape. 68- You
must not have more than one spouse. 69- You must not vandalize the environment by removing the trees and destroying God's
forests. 70- You must not pollute the air we breathe, and the Earth's atmosphere, with harmful gases. 71- You must not pollute
the lakes, the rivers, the creeks, and the streams. 72- You must not pollute the soil and the underground waters. 73- You
must not pollute the seas and the oceans. 74- You must spend a portion of your time, and money, helping the poor, the destitute,
and the homeless. 75- You must protect all species that are threatened with extinction. 76- You must not drink alcoholic beverages.
77- You must not be ostentatious, or pretentious. 78- You must not prostitute yourself. 79- You must not be manipulative.
80- You must not follow leaders who have a low level of moral purity. 81- You must not be a usurer. 82- You must not be a
hypocrite. 83- You must not be a plagiarist. 84- You must not be mendacious. 85- you must not be a sycophant. 86- You must
not be a braggart. 87- You must not be materialistic. 88- You must not be a shirker. 89- You must not provoke, or irritate,
others. 90- You must not be a racist. 91- You must not be recalcitrant. 92- You must not be egoistic. 93- You must not be
avaricious. 94- You must not be ruthless. 95- You must not be self-opinionated. 96- You must not be remorseless. 97- You must
not be cold-hearted. 98- You must not turn a blind eye to injustice. 99- You must not be scheming and conniving. 100- You
must not be jealous.
The "STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN" is a non-profit, non-denominational, spiritual organisation, administered by volunteers. We
do not receive any financial assistance from the Government, and do not accept donations. As a consequence, we do not have
any substantial funds to advertise, and disseminate, our spiritual message to the world. Our main aim is to make people realise
the importance of being righteous and kind. We believe that the Omnipotent Creator of the Universe is genderless, omnipresent,
omniscient, omnipercipient, omnific, righteous, infallible, and eternal. We also believe that death can be the start of a
wonderful adventure in Heaven, or a horrible experience in Hell; depending on the level of kindness, or wickedness, of the
deceased. Lastly, we believe that good behaviour will, eventually, create a better world. If you think that this website has
the potential to save souls, and reduce the crime rate, please tell your friends, and earn a few "HEAVENLY CREDITS" for your
trouble.
God bless you.
John Romer
|
 |
|
The administration of "The Stairway to Heaven" wishes to thank the host of this webpage (www.tripod.lycos.com/) for kindly
providing the facility, and the e-mail service, free of charge.
|
|
|
|
Author's personal profile:
I was born with an enquiring mind. From a very early age I could not understand why there is so much cruelty, injustice, wickedness,
and apathy in our world. Although I was not around when the horrors of the Second World War occured, I witnessed "man's inhumanity
to man" in the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, and, more recently, the U.S. led war against Afghanistan and Iraq.
Although torture is immoral, unethical, and illegal, it is still practiced by many "so-called" civilized nations in the world!
I also watch with great dismay, and sadness, the suffering of the Palestinian civilians who have endured a brutal occupation
since 1948. I keep asking myself the same question, over and over again: "How can some people be so cruel and so wicked?"
In the past 60 years, the world has witnessed many horrific massacres, in many countries of our planet. The more recent ones,
occured in Bosnia, Rwanda, Palestine, Kurdistan, and East Timor. Innocent men, women and children were shot, gassed, beheaded,
and hacked to death. Who can forget the horrific "kamikaze style" attacks in the U.S.A on 11-9-2001? I often ask myself the
following questions:
1- How can two-legged creatures, who behave like vicious, bloodthirsty, monsters, claim to be human beings?
2- How can cruel, sadistic, cold-blooded, barbarians, claim to be civilized people?
3- How can individuals who have rejected God, and embraced the Devil's wickedness, claim to be Christians, Jews, and Moslems?
Those 3 religions believe in an Omnipotent Creator who stands for love, compassion, justice, kindness, and divine providence.
Their respective Holy Books, clearly state that God rewards good behaviour and punishes wickedness. So, why do millions of
people willingly forfeit Eternal bliss in Heaven and choose to spend Eternity in Hell? What is so attractive about Eternal
damnation? Are those people incredibly stupid?
Ironically, most people who reject their religion, and become atheists, claim to do so on the grounds that their religion
insults their intelligence! Do those religions misrepresent God? Do those Holy Books contain too many myths, illogical legends,
improbable stories and nonsensical "fairy tales"? Is this the reason why so many people become disillusioned with their religion
and decide to become atheists? Is this the reason for the rapid decline of mainstream religion? Is the solution to the problem:
"radical theological reform"? Is Spiritual education a better alternative for understanding God?
OUR LONG TERM FUTURE. A person's level of moral purity is as high as the number of ethical rules he, or she, upholds.
I believe that wars, violence, poverty, injustice, and crime, can be eliminated with proper spiritual education. The unfettered
proliferation of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons of mass destruction has turned our planet into a huge time bomb.
We now have enough of those weapons to destroy every human being ten times over! Many politicians believe that a third world
war is inevitable. Unfortunately, the major religions of this world have not taken any steps to protect the human species
from a global holocaust that will destroy all life on our planet. Perhaps they are too busy making money. Thinkers, and philosophers,
all over the world are asking the following questions: 1- Does the human race deserve to become extinct? 2- Has God turned
His back on the human race? 3- Is the Devil trying to destroy us before God destroys him? 4- If the human race becomes extinct,
who will benefit from our senseless self-destruction? Will our planet be taken over by morally, and intellectually, superior
extraterrestrial entities? 5- Are human beings "hybrid simians", genetically engineered by extraterrestrials, millions of
years ago? 6- Is "human cruelty" a hereditary trait we have inherited from our simian cousins? 7- How can we stop the rapid
decline of mainstream religion? 8- Can Spiritual education replace Traditional Religion? 9- Is the poor Spiritual performance
of many religions responsible for the many human problems we are facing today? 10- What can we do to preserve the human species?
11- According to statistics, marriage is rapidly becoming a failed institution. Is there a remedy for this matrimonial cancer?
12- Is the low level of our moral purity responsible for the high crime rate?
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
I would like to know your views on those subjects. Please send me an e-mail and let me know. eternalbliss1@lycos.com
THE BEST INVESTMENT!
Good deeds will earn you "Heavenly Credits".Investing in your soul is the wisest and most beneficial investment you will ever
make.
|
|
|
|
|
