What happens after we die?

According to early press reports, Rob Bell (pastor of the
10,000 member Mars Hill Bible Church in Grand Rapids, MI) has taken up the topic in
his newest book, Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived. The controversy over the book has become so
intense that it was reported in the New York Times.

It began when conservative Christian blogger Justin Taylor
responded to early publicity about the book (he hadn’t read the
book, just excerpts) with vehement disagreement over the suggestion that all
people (might) end up in heaven. 

Other Christians chimed in to discuss an array of
theological positions on the topic of our eternal destiny. A traditional
conservative view of the afterlife is simple: people who have acknowledged
Jesus as their personal savior go to heaven. Everyone else goes to hell.
Forever. But, as Mark Galli of Christianity Today pointed out, there has been a
spectrum of beliefs about who goes to heaven and what constitutes hell for
centuries. (I highly recommend Galli’s post as a helpful guide to this spectrum of viewpoints within the Christian tradition.)

In addition to the traditional view is the idea that hell might exist but be empty… or the thought that God, in his mercy, annihilates people who don’t end up in heaven rather than have them suffer the torment of hell(John Stott has advocated this position in the past)… and also the possibility of universal salvation, supported by the theological concept that Jesus’ sacrifice saved every human being one way or another. As Karl Barth reportedly said, “We don’t know if there is universal salvation. But we can hope.” In all of these cases, salvation comes through Jesus and by grace alone.

The spectrum grows wider when you consider non-Christian ideas about the afterlife, including the atheists who believe there is no God and no eternal life, and, on the other end, the person who believes that all religious roads lead to God. (This final position is also a variance of universal salvation, but the salvation here does not come through Christ.)

So what do you think? What happens after we die? Is there a heaven? Is there a hell? Who belongs in each place and why?