A survey by AARP The Magazine (the AARP was formerly the American Association for Retired Persons) says that 86 percent of Americans over the age of 50 believe in heaven and 70 percent of them believe in hell.

But they aren’t in agreement about what one does to get to heaven. The largest group – 29 percent – say the prerequisite to get into heaven is to believe in Jesus Christ. Other respondents say it requires that one be “good,” or “believe in God.”

Among those who believe in hell, their attitudes about who goes there mirrored the poll’s results about heaven. Forty percent of those who believe in hell said “people who are bad” or “people who have sinned” go there. Seventeen percent said people who do not believe in Jesus Christ are condemned to hell.

Twenty-three percent of those responding said they believe in reincarnation, and more than half of the respondents reported a belief in spirits or ghosts.

Their belief is not entirely based on hearsay evidence, either: 38 percent of all those responding to the poll say they have felt a presence, or seen something, that they thought may have been a spirit or ghost. Respondents from the West (50 percent) were especially likely to say they’ve felt such a presence.

Some other findings:

*Nearly three quarters (73 percent) agree with the statement, “I believe in life after death.”

*Women are a lot more likely to believe in an afterlife (80 percent) than men (64 percent).

*Time has strengthened their attitudes—66 percent of those who believe also told us that their confidence in a life after death has increased since they’ve gotten older.

*40 percent believe heaven is “a place”

*47 percent say it’s a “state of being”

*Of those who think hell exists, 43 percent it’s a “state of being,” and 42 percent say it’s “a place.”

The article above was found on Google and was published originally on www.azstarnet.com