closed His sermon by challenging His hearers to make a choice. People face decisions throughout their lives, choices about diet, medical care, lifestyle, career, relationships, and education, to name a few. But the one that far overshadows all the rest is the choice that fixes a person's eternal destiny. The concluding parable of the Sermon on the Mount reveals two aspects of that decision: its nature and its consequences.Religion thrives in the world because people want to go live after death in heaven, however they define it. Whether conceived of as the nirvana of Buddhism, the paradise of Islam, the eternal progression to godhood of Mormonism, or the freedom from the cycle of reincarnation and union with Brahman of Hinduism, religions offer some form of bliss, happiness, fulfillment, or reward on a higher plane after this life...
