The Problem Of Heaven

Suppose that there are two stages everyone has to pass through before they can go to heaven, a first stage and a second stage. In the first stage people are flawed, in the second stage people are perfect.

Let's say that everyone has to start off flawed, so everyone has to start off in the first stage.

Let's say that to get to the second stage, people need to make a choice; they need to say to God 'I want to be perfect'. Then they enter the second stage and become perfect. After people become perfect they can go to heaven.

Suppose that the choice that gets you into the second stage is something more than just saying to God 'I want to be perfect'. Suppose that it's equivalent in some way to the choice to be a good person.

That kind of choice can only be made over many years of life.

This means that God has to let people spend a lot of time in the first stage before they can go to the second stage. This means that God has to let people spend a lot of time flawed.

Suppose that there is a lot of evil in the first stage as an unintended byproduct of this system. This is because there has to be evil when people are flawed. Not even God can stop this. This is unfortunate, but doesn't really relate to why God made the world.

This shows how there can be a heaven where no one does evil, and yet a long-lasting world where people are flawed.