We all live in the same world. This is a story of just one of our inhabitants. Let’s call her Emmie. She lives in a brothel where she has lived since the age of three. She is now ten. Her parents sold her in exchange for enough money to feed her family for a month.

Her only friends are the other children in her brothel who claim a similar history. Their days are similar to any kid in some ways. They try to find some time each day to just play and kid around. There isn’t much time for such but each day they find a space to fit it in. The food is cheap but she eats regularly. Emmie is very fond of chewing gum. Whenever a client is made particularly happy he will buy her some peppermint gum from the madam. At least one day a week she makes an extra effort for the gum.

The only thing Emmie knows about the world is what her clients tell her. They speak of places and experiences that she can only imagine in her mind. When she has time she ponders these places and imagines what they must be like. She recalls one man telling her about a building in Bangkok that was so tall you couldn’t see the top when standing at the bottom. There are no skyscrapers in her small world…only her imagination of them.

Today is a special day. A group of wealthy businessmen have chosen a few of the girls to be delivered to their compound. There will be lush gardens, a small lake and lots of fruit trees. Emmie has never been further than the next street over from her small shack…ever! Today will be a special day in her life. The madam didn’t even have to awaken her. She was up early to wash with her small frame with a fresh bucket of water before the other kids got it dirty. One of the older girls gave her a used dress with blue flowers on it and she feels special with it draped over her naked body. The sun is peaking through some torn curtains as she dances around in a circle full of expectations.

There are no religious classes in a brothel. Emmie has never even heard of God or Allah or Jesus. Emmie died at the age of twelve. On her one beautiful day by the lake, under a fruit tree in the gardens, a man gave her AIDS. This is the story of one of our inhabitants. God, the creator, Allah, Jesus…didn’t set up a separate set of laws in this physical universe for her. As a human being she existed by the same laws as you. You are the same.

Within your belief system, what you believe about your God…what does your God do with Emmie’s soul? She died.

If she is welcomed into heaven and you believe you must still earn your way there then would you substitute your life for hers? This would be your ticket, your pathway, your guarantee to heaven. Shouldn’t we all line up for such an existence? Don’t you desire to go to heaven? Well, does your belief make her life to God more acceptable than your own? Do you still need to struggle to be acceptable? In this belief, Emmie didn’t. This would be an interesting design by the creator of all things…wouldn’t it?

Maybe Emmie went to hell because of the sinful life she led. Emmie was a prostitute…a whore. She never praised God or Allah or gave any credence to any such idea. Given her sinful existence perhaps you believe your God sent her to hell. If you believe this life is the only chance a soul gets in the physical world then if she didn’t go to heaven wouldn’t hell be the only alternative? Maybe not.

There is one more option. Imagine that your non-physical self, your soul, was designed to survive your physical existence and survive eternally. Upon survival, existing in a non-physical place and existing eternally, wouldn’t it make sense that you could once again choose to re-enter the physical universe again to experience physical life again?

Think about it. Emmie never did. Know which assumption you are making about the very God you believe in. Like Emmie, you too inhabit our world by the same rules. Imagine you are Emmie…because you are!