Any good Christian can tell you your belief in hell can keep you out of jail. Yeah but can your belief in jail keep you out of hell? Well a psychologist at the University of Oregon agrees with the fire and brimstone preachers and there was a study done and it got the attention of the Huffington Post and here is some of what they had to say…

Your Belief In Hell Can Keep You Out of Jail

Religions are thought to serve as bulwarks against unethical behaviors. However, when it comes to predicting criminal behavior, the specific religious beliefs one holds is the determining factor, says a University of Oregon psychologist.

The study, appearing in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS ONE, found that criminal activity is lower in societies where people’s religious beliefs contain a strong punitive component than in places where religious beliefs are more benevolent. A country where many more people believe in heaven than in hell, for example, is likely to have a much higher crime rate than one where these beliefs are about equal. The finding surfaced from a comprehensive analysis of 26 years of data involving 143,197 people in 67 countries.

“The key finding is that, controlling for each other, a nation’s rate of belief in hell predicts lower crime rates, but the nation’s rate of belief in heaven predicts higher crime rates, and these are strong effects,” said Azim F. Shariff, professor of psychology and director of the Culture and Morality Lab at the UO. “I think it’s an important clue about the differential effects of supernatural punishment and supernatural benevolence. The finding is consistent with controlled research we’ve done in the lab, but here shows a powerful ‘real world’ effect on something that really affects people — crime.”

Click here to read more about how your belief in hell can help lower the crime rate according to the Huffpost.

Now if anyone needs proof that a belief in something bigger, stronger and more powerful than you will get you and punish you will keep you on the straight and narrow you now have official studies to back you up. I’m waiting for the study that concludes that colored ink on paper makes a pretty picture.

Now we know what a belief in hell will keep you from doing, I’m curious to see the study of what it will help you joyfully do.

So the next time you hear, “You are going to hell” remember that your belief in hell can keep you out of jail but maybe not out of hell.

Tell others about this interesting article and share it so you don’t go to hell.