Heaven's Balcony Railing

A good woman died and went to Heaven. When she arrived at the Pearly Gates, St. Peter offered to take her on a tour of the facilities. As they walked past the halo depository, she noticed a sort of fence off in the distance

Intrigued, she asked St. Peter if they could look at it. "What's a fence doing up here?" she asked.

"Oh, that's not exactly a fence," he replied. "It's a balcony railing. You see, some folks arrive here and find that certain friends or loved ones aren't here, and realize they must have gone to Hell. So we have an arrangement with the Adversary whereby our folks can stand at the railing and look down and find their loved ones."

So they approached the railing, and the woman looked down. She spotted a group of people wailing and tearing out their hair while demons poked them with pitchforks. "What's the matter with that group?" she asked. St. Peter took a look. "Ah," he said. "Those are Southern Baptists who went to dances."

Then she noticed another group, screaming while they walked on red-hot coals. "What are they being punished for?" she asked the saint. He looked and replied, "Those are old-style Catholics who ate meat on Friday."

Another group caught her attention. They were being whipped with scorpion tails, and screaming. "And their sin?" she asked. St. Peter looked and said, "Oh, those are Episcopalians who used the wrong fork."

[ Author Unknown -- from Thomas S. Ellsworth 'GCF' (good-clean-fun@yahoogroups.com) ]