Mainstream church dogma has spent centuries teaching that eternal life in Heaven is reserved strictly for practicing Christians. This narrow doctrine has alienated countless seekers, fueled moral angst, and left everyday readers struggling to reconcile an all-loving, righteous Creator with the automatic condemnation of billions of moral individuals. The core problem lies in human tradition: centuries of ecclesiastical interpretations have conflated institutional allegiance with spiritual truth, obscuring the plain text of Scripture.
Don Herston, author and founder of These Glad Tidings, addresses this issue head-on by challenging long-held institutional assumptions using the Bible itself. Herston demonstrates that biblical salvation through Christ is rooted in character, righteousness, and divine grace rather than denomination or creed. In this executive Q&A, Herston breaks down why church traditions fail scrutiny, explains the critical difference between temporal and eternal judgment, and redefines what it truly means to believe in Christ.
Q: On your platform, These Glad Tidings, you argue that church traditions regarding salvation are fundamentally mistaken. What led you to challenge centuries of established dogma on who enters Heaven?
Don Herston: The longevity of a belief is seen as evidence for the belief. Christians become unwilling to consider other interpretations, no matter how reasonable they are. For example, Christians believe that Satan was cast out of Heaven a long time ago. They believe the devil is in a battle with God.
Jesus said He saw Satan fall from Heaven, but this could have been a vision of a future event. Jesus did not say Satan was exposed as a liar, but only that Satan was a liar from the beginning. When the sons of God came to the earth in Genesis 6, there was no mention of Satan.
This is to show that there is no clear indication of the devil being cast out of Heaven at any time in the past. This is something that Christians refuse to consider, but there is no clear Biblical support for the idea that Satan has already been cast out of Heaven. In Revelation the devil is cast out at the time of the end.
It should be obvious that Satan doesn’t battle with God, that would be like a character in a book doing battle with the author. The devil creates and destroys humans to grieve God since this is all he can do to God.
This is exactly what God had in mind. Without causing suffering, God creates the conditions where the devil creates a world of suffering. God goes with us in life to experience all the emotions of the human journey. It would be essential for a righteous God to experience emotions like sorrow to know what love is. When we are not selfish, hateful or arrogant, God is within us and God experiences our emotions.
Satan is still in Heaven. In the story of the Bible, God redeems us into Heaven and God removes the devil and all evil from Heaven.
If a person can see how Christianity is wrong about Satan and Heaven, then it must be acknowledged that Christianity can be wrong on other fundamental issues.
Q: You assert that “believing in the name of the Son of God” does not mean adhering to a specific religion or creed, but believing in righteousness itself. How does Scripture support the view that moral non-believers, including atheists, receive eternal life through Christ?
Don Herston: In the early centuries of Christianity there were the Gnostics who called themselves Christians. Much of what Gnostics believed was blasphemous. When I say that Jesus redeems us by separating our spirit from our flesh, this is said to be Gnosticism. The Gnostics did believe that good versus evil is a struggle between spirit and flesh, but that aspect of Gnosticism is not blasphemous.
Gnosticism was a distraction.
Jesus carried our sins; He died for our sins, but this doesn’t clearly communicate the means of our redemption. If the ransom theory is true then it is still true that Jesus died for our sins.
The idea of one person taking the punishment for someone else is not common in the Bible. It is hard to find in the stories and parables of the Bible.
Separation and the destruction of flesh are both very common in the Bible. In a burnt offering the lamb is not only killed; its flesh is destroyed. Jesus was crucified, but after this His body must be destroyed. Jesus said He would give up His body for us. If Jesus gives up His body it is reasonable for us to be given the same opportunity.
In the temple there is the altar of incense where incense is regularly burned. Incense is a material object that is destroyed releasing a pleasant vapor. That vapor represents our spirit which is released by the removal of our physical body.
God created the world by separating water from water. God delivered the children of Israel across the Red Sea and later into the promised land by separating water from water.
The Exodus, circumcision, sprinkling, sheep and goats, wheat and tares, much of the Bible is about separating things. Jesus that if your eye offends you then pluck it out. Meaning if a person is part good and part evil, remove the evil part.
Separation atonement is simple. It is fair and reasonable.
Separation atonement redeems all people who possess a righteous spirit even if they are atheists. Our redemption is a result of us having a sinless spirit that becomes a righteous angel once it is separated from our physical body. Does this mean we will be disembodied spirits? We seem to be given a new body.
Q: A central pillar of your writing is separating temporal judgment from the Day of Judgment. Why has mainstream Christianity ignored temporal judgment, and how does recognizing it resolve glaring contradictions across the Old and New Testaments?
Don Herston: Temporal judgment is common in the Old Testament, but it is also found in the New Testament. When Jesus gave sight to a blind man, He said, thy faith has saved you. The blind man was saved from a life of blindness.
Temporal judgment and the Day of Judgment are two essential applications of justice.
The Day of Judgment is to destroy evil. This is bad news for us since we are partly evil. Jesus removes that part of us that is guilty, making us angels of God worthy to enter the kingdom of God.
Temporal judgment is a response to suffering. With temporal judgment those who cause suffering will be punished (eye for an eye), those who experience suffering will be repaid, and those who perform righteousness will be rewarded. This is a measured punishment and reward, as our sin and righteousness are both limited.
There is endless debate between Calvinism and Arminianism. Did God predetermine who goes to Heaven, or is it a result of our free will? If redemption is a result of our free will, what must we do to be saved? Must we do good works, but isn’t repentance a “work”? The Bible can be interpreted to support many different beliefs. This usually requires ignoring or redefining some passages.
Once we understand that judgment is both temporal and eternal, we can see that different passages are talking about different heavens, or different things to be saved from.
Q: When Christians hear your argument that all good people inherit eternal life regardless of their religious identity, the reaction is often defensive. Why do church communities resist this inclusive understanding, and what does it reveal about common views on divine justice?
Don Herston: People want to believe that they are redeemed but often there is a desire to believe that others, perhaps most people, are not redeemed. This is a normal human desire. The Bible can certainly be interpreted that way, but it can also be interpreted in a more inclusive way.
When Jesus told us to love our enemies, He said to be perfect as God is perfect. We are not told to love our enemies just as God loves our enemies. We are told to love our enemies just as God loves His enemies. Satan hates God, but God loves Satan. God may hate what a person does, but God loves Hitler, and God loves Jeffrey Dahmer.
This is not universalism. A problem with universalism is that it seems to deny the existence of evil. Human history has been brutal.
God gave righteousness to some but not to others. God did this to have conscious beings moving through time experiencing emotions in a world of suffering. Those who are evil will not enter the kingdom of God, but God will find a place for them. God will find a place for Satan.
Q: If eternal life is an unconditional gift given by Christ to all good people, what is the actual biblical purpose of repentance and moral obedience during our physical life on Earth?
Don Herston: When Jesus said repent and be baptized for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, He was talking about the kingdom of heaven which is in this life. That is what He meant by “at hand”. The great commission is also for this life, not eternal life. If the bible indicates there is something we must do, it is usually talking about temporal judgment in this life. Eternal life is a gift of God through Christ.
Christians seem to believe if punishment or reward is not eternal there is no reason to repent or be obedient to God. Punishment can be severe even if it is not eternal. A person who commits murder may not be tormented forever, but they may be tormented for a hundred years. A murderer can cause many loved ones to feel great sorrow for decades. A fair punishment will be very harsh.
Just calling someone a fool, or yelling at them, can cause them a lot of pain. We should suffer for the pain we cause, but that is always measured and not infinite.
When Jesus said few will find the narrow gate that leads to life, He wasn’t saying that few people are going to eternal Heaven. A small number of Christians have lived very righteous lives and will be given a heavenly reward, perhaps after death, but before the Day of Judgment. This is also temporal judgment.
Q: For readers who feel disillusioned by rigid institutional dogmas or fearful of eternal damnation, what core truth from your teachings should they take away?
Don Herston: Just as the universe is bigger than the earth, God is more loving than we are. Suffering exists for a loving God to understand what love is. God doesn’t cause suffering and God responds to suffering with perfect justice.
God would not simply separate our spirit from our flesh to redeem us. If God did that, He would be using us like toys. God loves us and God respects us so that He came into the world to justify the separation of our spirit from our flesh.
God experiences all the suffering of all His children, and we cannot begin to understand the suffering that the Lord experienced on the cross. But the suffering on the cross was not to redeem us, we are redeemed by the separation of spirit from flesh.
In a burnt offering the death of the animal does not redeem the person, it redeems the sanctuary. The suffering and death of Christ redeems the ultimate sanctuary which is Heaven itself. At the crucifixion Satan poured out his hatred on Jesus, and Jesus is a witness against the devil. The devil will be cast out of Heaven, and all evil with him.
This is the bread and wine of the Last Supper. The bread is the body of Christ that is given up for us (Separation atonement). The wine is the crucifixion where Christ endured the hatred of all hell to destroy evil.
The Lord is repulsed by evil. We cannot begin to understand the suffering that Christ endured for us.
Herston’s scriptural framework confronts centuries of doctrinal misinterpretation by restoring clarity to biblical justice and divine grace. By demonstrating that temporal consequences apply to this life while eternal salvation remains Christ’s gift to all good people, his insights dismantle institutional gatekeeping and eliminate unnecessary barriers to spiritual understanding.
As readers increasingly seek meaningful, coherent answers outside conventional dogma, platforms like These Glad Tidings offer a vital alternative that bridges biblical text with timeless moral logic. Herston’s perspective invites believers and seekers alike to re-examine Scripture with fresh eyes, showing that true divine love and justice reach far beyond church walls.
To learn more, visit https://thesegladtidings.com/
