One of my friends as a teenager had his mother converting into Judaism; apparently people who convert into the religion have to go through the diet strictures and whatnot extra-strictly. That’s what I meant by “almost impossible to convert into”. My understanding of the Jewish view of the afterlife is that they either go to Heaven or cease existing (Sheol) which is infinitely worse than eternal hellfire, and a decent Christian will still get into Jewish heaven since we’d follow the Noahide laws, so that way I’m covered.
This remark makes it sound even more like you didn’t do much research. The belief that one ceases to exist was historically floating around in some sects but wasn’t a prominent viewpoint from about 100 CE to 1800 CE where it again got picked up by the most weak theistic and deistic strains of Judaism (such as some Reform and Conservative types). Most Orthodox for example believe in a heaven and (temporary) hell pretty similar to that of Christianity (although even this is complicated by the lack of any strong doctrinal statements. There’s a lot more fracturing without anything like the statements of faith or catechisms found in many forms of Christianity). Also, while it is clear that Muslims follow the Noachide laws by most approaches it is actually far from clear that Christians count as such. In particular, the belief in the divinity of a human, Jesus, according to many opinions runs afoul of the prohibition on idolatry. Islam doesn’t have this problem when running into the Noachide laws because no claim is made that Muhammad is divine, indeed quite the opposite.
ETA: Also the thing about converts keeping laws extra strictly is only true in some strains also. Note also that this simply amounts in some strains to actually requiring converts to keep the rules (for example in the United States only about half of all Conservative Jews keep kashrut but it is expected that converts keep some form. The Conservative Movement leaders believes that everyone should keep Kashrut but in practice they can’t get most of their members to actually do so).
Mormonism was rejected because the guy who founded it was a known con man, and the nature of the Book of Mormon is such that if it is true, you can’t not believe in it and go to Heaven, and if it isn’t, then you can’t believe in it and go to Heaven.
That’s not true. Many Mormons believe that non-Mormons can go to heaven. The only caveat is that non-Mormons don’t progress as much as Mormons.
Also, keeping kashrut only seems almost impossible if it’s something you don’t want to do. Obviously, there are a great many people who do it, though the feasibility depends greatly on where you live.
The sort of conversion which seem to be extremely difficult is one which will get you Israeli citizenship.
This remark makes it sound even more like you didn’t do much research. The belief that one ceases to exist was historically floating around in some sects but wasn’t a prominent viewpoint from about 100 CE to 1800 CE where it again got picked up by the most weak theistic and deistic strains of Judaism (such as some Reform and Conservative types). Most Orthodox for example believe in a heaven and (temporary) hell pretty similar to that of Christianity (although even this is complicated by the lack of any strong doctrinal statements. There’s a lot more fracturing without anything like the statements of faith or catechisms found in many forms of Christianity). Also, while it is clear that Muslims follow the Noachide laws by most approaches it is actually far from clear that Christians count as such. In particular, the belief in the divinity of a human, Jesus, according to many opinions runs afoul of the prohibition on idolatry. Islam doesn’t have this problem when running into the Noachide laws because no claim is made that Muhammad is divine, indeed quite the opposite.
ETA: Also the thing about converts keeping laws extra strictly is only true in some strains also. Note also that this simply amounts in some strains to actually requiring converts to keep the rules (for example in the United States only about half of all Conservative Jews keep kashrut but it is expected that converts keep some form. The Conservative Movement leaders believes that everyone should keep Kashrut but in practice they can’t get most of their members to actually do so).
That’s not true. Many Mormons believe that non-Mormons can go to heaven. The only caveat is that non-Mormons don’t progress as much as Mormons.
Also, keeping kashrut only seems almost impossible if it’s something you don’t want to do. Obviously, there are a great many people who do it, though the feasibility depends greatly on where you live.
The sort of conversion which seem to be extremely difficult is one which will get you Israeli citizenship.
Especially since Mormons are in the habit of converting non-Mormons after their deaths.