Is Suffering the Entrance to Heaven?
In January 2000, a well-known ex-televangelist said on a worldwide TV talk show, “I believe that every person who died in the Holocaust went to heaven.” He was very sincere, and if he was seeking the commendation of the world, he surely got it with that statement. Who wouldn’t consider what he said to be utterly compassionate? However, let’s look at the implications of his heartfelt beliefs. His statement seemed to limit salvation to the Jews who died in the Holocaust, because he added that “their blood laid a foundation for the nation of Israel.” If the slaughtered Jews made it to heaven, did the many Gypsies who died in the Holocaust also obtain eternal salvation? If his statement includes Gentiles, is the salvation he spoke of limited to those who died at the hands of Nazis? Did the many Frenchmen who met their death at the hands of cruel Nazis go to heaven also? Perhaps he was saying that the death of Jesus on the cross covered all of humanity, and that all will eventually be saved
