 
          The Garden of Paradise
        
        
          People of Paradise
        
        
          ~ 78 ~
        
        
          PEOPLE OF PARADISE
        
        
          Those who live by the Book of God receive God’s
        
        
          special favours in this world, and are promised
        
        
          heaven in the next world. But they will be granted
        
        
          them solely on the basis of their own actions. People
        
        
          of the Book tend to forget this proviso: they take it
        
        
          for granted that, whether they follow God’s
        
        
          commandments or not, God’s promise to them will
        
        
          be fulfilled, and they will surely enter the kingdom
        
        
          of heaven.
        
        
          True religious spirit makes one realistic. As long as
        
        
          the followers of revealed religions possess this
        
        
          spirit, they will realize that God is just, and will
        
        
          reward people according to their actions alone.
        
        
          On the other hand, when people lose the true
        
        
          religious spirit, they take to wishful thinking. Real
        
        
          actions give way to false hopes. They think that
        
        
          they will be admitted into paradise because they
        
        
          belong to a certain community, whether they do
        
        
          good deeds or not.
        
        
          Success in the hereafter is for those who conform to
        
        
          divine justice on earth; who live according to the