Heaven

[ThirtyThree]

Through the years, I have addressed many Christians regarding Heaven and they each seem to have a plethora of different perspectives on the subject. First, some believe Heaven is where they will do the best of things possible on Earth. Some believe they will have motor vehicles, mansions, go fishing or hunting with their deceased relations and so on. Others believe they get to rule their own planet, marry, have offspring and the list goes on.

However, none of this is based on scripture and it often surprises me that those who consider themselves Bible believing born again Christians can subscribe to lies of this form. Am I missing something in my study of the New Testament here? Do believers get jet skis, mansions and space ships in which they can zip around Heaven forever and ever?

Then, my knowledge of Heaven is that it is where believers worship their lord day and night, forever and ever, where there is no gender, no procreation and so on. Am I incorrect?

 

[Aštra’el]

It seems to me that many people within the Abrahamic religions expect the happiest areas of their subconscious mind to somehow manifest into their experience of Heaven, which is understandable. However, when it comes to Abrahamic perspectives, I think I am more intrigued by the things that those who practice Judaism have had to say to me when discussing "Heaven".

 

[ThirtyThree]

It seems to me that many people within the Abrahamic religions expect the happiest areas of their subconscious mind to somehow manifest into their experience of Heaven, which is understandable. However, when it comes to Abrahamic perspectives, I think I am more intrigued by the things that those who practice Judaism have had to say to me when discussing "Heaven".

Do tell?

 

[psychoslice]

You are correct, and doesn't sound boring ?.

 

[moorea944]

Through the years, I have addressed many Christians regarding Heaven and they each seem to have a plethora of different perspectives on the subject. First, some believe Heaven is where they will do the best of things possible on Earth. Some believe they will have motor vehicles, mansions, go fishing or hunting with their deceased relations and so on. Others believe they get to rule their own planet, marry, have offspring and the list goes on.

However, none of this is based on scripture and it often surprises me that those who consider themselves Bible believing born again Christians can subscribe to lies of this form. Am I missing something in my study of the New Testament here? Do believers get jet skis, mansions and space ships in which they can zip around Heaven forever and ever?

Then, my knowledge of Heaven is that it is where believers worship their lord day and night, forever and ever, where there is no gender, no procreation and so on. Am I incorrect?

Good post. When I read scripture, I see nothing on the subject of heaven going. I do believe in heaven, but that is where our Creator dwells.

So what happens in death then? Do we go somewhere? Scripture tells us that we are dead until the resurrection. No afterlife, just death. Jesus comes back to raise the dead and judge. When that is finished, then he starts with other things, but that can be for another post.

There is no verse, that tells us that when we die, we go to heaven. Not one, yet Mainstream Christianity tells us that. I think the reason why people believe in that is, that they are afraid of death. They dont want someone to tell them that when they die, they are dead. They want to hear that they still live and go somewhere else. The moment you go away from what God says, "you shall surely die", and get down to what "I think", then your in trouble, you go down a different path. And that is most of "Mainstream Christianity". Sad...

 

[ThirtyThree]

Good post. When I read scripture, I see nothing on the subject of heaven going. I do believe in heaven, but that is where our Creator dwells.

So what happens in death then? Do we go somewhere? Scripture tells us that we are dead until the resurrection. No afterlife, just death. Jesus comes back to raise the dead and judge. When that is finished, then he starts with other things, but that can be for another post.

There is no verse, that tells us that when we die, we go to heaven. Not one, yet Mainstream Christianity tells us that. I think the reason why people believe in that is, that they are afraid of death. They dont want someone to tell them that when they die, they are dead. They want to hear that they still live and go somewhere else. The moment you go away from what God says, "you shall surely die", and get down to what "I think", then your in trouble, you go down a different path. And that is most of "Mainstream Christianity". Sad...

Thank you. I have found no bit of scripture in the Tanakh which guarantees a place in Heaven for the faithful. I also can not find an adequate description of Heaven in the New Testament.

 

[Kelly of the Phoenix]

However, none of this is based on scripture and it often surprises me that those who consider themselves Bible believing born again Christians can subscribe to lies of this form. Am I missing something in my study of the New Testament here? Do believers get jet skis, mansions and space ships in which they can zip around Heaven forever and ever?

*scratches head* The only thing I can come up with is that, at least in the bible, Jesus said God has made our own mansions or whatever. However, instead of taking that literally, I think it's more like Contact or whatever where the reality is there, but how it looks to you will be different. I might see a large corporate tower and you have to walk up lots of flights of stairs to reach the CEO (God). Another person might see Snake Way or something from Dragonball, LOL. Another person might see that Light at the End of the Tunnel. All share a vision of a path with a destination, but the imagery is based off your own quirks.

 

[ThirtyThree]

*scratches head* The only thing I can come up with is that, at least in the bible, Jesus said God has made our own mansions or whatever. However, instead of taking that literally, I think it's more like Contact or whatever where the reality is there, but how it looks to you will be different. I might see a large corporate tower and you have to walk up lots of flights of stairs to reach the CEO (God). Another person might see Snake Way or something from Dragonball, LOL. Another person might see that Light at the End of the Tunnel. All share a vision of a path with a destination, but the imagery is based off your own quirks.

Would you provide the scripture where mansions are mentioned in this context?

 

[Kelly of the Phoenix]

John 14

2In my Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.

Not much into John (find him blasphemous, for the most part, but like Michael Bay, he has a cool set of images to think upon LOL).

 

[ThirtyThree]

John 14

2In my Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.

Not much into John (find him blasphemous, for the most part, but like Michael Bay, he has a cool set of images to think upon LOL).

By its metaphorical definition: "metaph. of the God the Holy Spirit indwelling believers". Your opinion?

 

[MattersOfTheHeart]

The bible mentions enough times that our spirit *can live infinitely. That our body dies (our flesh).
If we are not saved, we don't in fact have an eternal soul, and if we die in that condition, our entirety goes to rest in the grave or wherever until judgement day.
For those that are saved, they reside in heaven while earth is finishing its course. Then those in heaven will participate in the judgement or the ending actions.

Revelation teaches us about current saints in heaven, along with angels watching over the world at times. Especially at the ending.

The letter to the Corinthians teaches us about our body, and what becomes of our spirit if saved, and so forth.

To me beyond just looking for verses to describe a specific heaven, there are other ways to approach the topic.
We know that a carnal body (like we have now), (tainted basically) can not exist in the full presence of God, for it is not worthy.
So we have a choice here, we can try to think or examine heaven based on the senses our body are beholden to (taste, touch, etc, etc...) and we end up with a heaven still full of distractions taking us away from God, because our carnal minds demands that by nature of being carnal.
We can deduce that as spiritual beings in heaven, we won't be beholden to the carnal senses that currently heavily influence our focus.

If we end up focusing on a heaven where just our spirit and a different type of spiritual body to go with our spirit (Letter to Corinthians) we conjure up a much different heaven. Our thoughts/deductions will still be limited because we just don't have all the info at this time, but we can certainly examine the difference for example of two metaphorical islands, one nothing but spiritual beings with spiritual bodies not beholden to carnal flesh and the many weaknesses that come with it, and the other island full of what we currently see around us in today's world. A world full of greed, anger, betrayal, blended with acts of love and generosity, etc etc...

This is why Jesus mentions that heaven is not about getting married and doing the stuff we carnally do while on earth, but rather an existence free of distracting, destructive barriers to a peaceful eternal life. Exactly what we do for eternity, I think if we try to define that now, we end up with something that everyone will say "I don't want to do that forever infinitely"
These notions are heavily tainted by our carnal way of thinking, so it has to be near impossible to think of heaven as a purely spiritual and infinite happy place, because our minds won't cooperate with that right now. (Hence the freedom of "Faith".)

At the end of the day, if we follow what our heart tells us about this or that, it is my belief we will then come closer and closer to the truth, and possibly a better understanding of what it means to be worthy to live for ever.

 

[Hawkins]

Through the years, I have addressed many Christians regarding Heaven and they each seem to have a plethora of different perspectives on the subject. First, some believe Heaven is where they will do the best of things possible on Earth. Some believe they will have motor vehicles, mansions, go fishing or hunting with their deceased relations and so on. Others believe they get to rule their own planet, marry, have offspring and the list goes on.

However, none of this is based on scripture and it often surprises me that those who consider themselves Bible believing born again Christians can subscribe to lies of this form. Am I missing something in my study of the New Testament here? Do believers get jet skis, mansions and space ships in which they can zip around Heaven forever and ever?

Then, my knowledge of Heaven is that it is where believers worship their lord day and night, forever and ever, where there is no gender, no procreation and so on. Am I incorrect?

Jesus ever said that if we cannot even believe what concerning us in our earthly world, it's no point to put what heaven is into details.

Bible is not the book intended to put heaven into details. You may have a sneak peek though.

According to Isaiah, it can be a place sharing similarity with earth, where there could still be Lions which won't bite. I myself believe that it can be a kind of fantasy world where there are tons God's creations not located on earth, including plants and animals. The only animal species can be found common to what being on earth are those in Noah's Ark.

 

[Demonslayer]

I'm told only humans make it to heaven. If I don't see my childhood dog again when I get there, I'm going to kick God in His giant shin.

 

[TheInfiniteLight]

Through the years, I have addressed many Christians regarding Heaven and they each seem to have a plethora of different perspectives on the subject. First, some believe Heaven is where they will do the best of things possible on Earth. Some believe they will have motor vehicles, mansions, go fishing or hunting with their deceased relations and so on. Others believe they get to rule their own planet, marry, have offspring and the list goes on.

However, none of this is based on scripture and it often surprises me that those who consider themselves Bible believing born again Christians can subscribe to lies of this form. Am I missing something in my study of the New Testament here? Do believers get jet skis, mansions and space ships in which they can zip around Heaven forever and ever?

Then, my knowledge of Heaven is that it is where believers worship their lord day and night, forever and ever, where there is no gender, no procreation and so on. Am I incorrect?

Heaven is a place of servitude. There is no flesh in heaven. No eating, no drinking, no procreation. Male and female appear as one. There is communion between souls, however, everyone is at rest (with themselves and everything else). Those with knowledge can act as physicians of souls in order to complete union between God and man.

 

[Demonslayer]

Heaven is a place of servitude. There is no flesh in heaven. No eating, no drinking, no procreation. Male and female appear as one.

Sounds awful.

 

[Akivah]

Do tell?

There isn't a lot in the Tanakh directly referencing Heaven. Most of our beliefs come from the Talmud on this matter.

 

[rusra02]

The Bible reveals that heaven is where God resides. Psalm 115:16 says; "As for the heavens, they belong to Jehovah, But the earth he has given to the sons of men." I believe a very limited number, "bought from the earth" will serve in Jesus' messianic kingdom in the heavens. Revelation 5:10 says about this group "you [Christ] made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God, and they are to rule as kings over the earth.” IMO, the vast majority of humans will have the prospect of living forever on earth, under the Kingdom rule of Jesus and those "144,000, who have been bought from the earth." (Revelation 14:1)

 

[TheInfiniteLight]

Sounds awful.

Sounds awful, only if you're dependent upon your flesh.

 

[wizanda]

Am I missing something in my study of the New Testament here?

John says people will receive a mansion in Heaven.

A lot is muddled up, as Yeshua talks about the coming of his kingdom, so people think that only means Heaven, when he was referring to the Messianic age, and a new earth.

 

[Demonslayer]

only if you're dependent upon your flesh.

I like my flesh.