What do we know about Heaven?

[Bloomdido]

Some members of this forum are planning to spend an eternity in Heaven. What do we actually know about the place and how people will 'live' there?

I have spent many hours pondering how a small child or baby will exist in Heaven and how people will cope when loved ones are not with them, knowing that they are possibly burning in the fires of Hell.

Heaven must be a pretty big place to accomodate everyone and what do people do for bodies, or don't they need them? As for our thoughts and personalities, are these stored in our soul somehow?

 

[Storm]

Some members of this forum are planning to spend an eternity in Heaven. What do we actually know about the place and how people will 'live' there?

"Know?" Not a damned thing, as with any point of theology. It's all just groping in the dark.

I have spent many hours pondering how a small child or baby will exist in Heaven and how people will cope when loved ones are not with them, knowing that they are possibly burning in the fires of Hell.

I often wonder this myself.

Heaven must be a pretty big place to accomodate everyone and what do people do for bodies, or don't they need them?

Where did you get the idea that there's anything physical about Heaven? I'm not criticizing, but genuinely curious.

As for our thoughts and personalities, are these stored in our soul somehow?

That's the notion.

 

[Dunemeister]

From a Christian perspective, there's a two-stage post-mortem, niether of which are spelled out in the detail we'd like. So in what follows, there's a mixture of what scripture says about the matter and what I think. And since there's a free range of thought in both directions, I won't bother citing scriptural references unless there's some sort of clamour for them.

The first phase occurs at death when the person enjoys a disembodied existence temporarily. Faithful people (that is, people who are faithful to God and their callings, not adherents to a particular religious creed) go the presence of God -- Jesus called this "Paradise", and the faithless (not atheists necessarily, but those who are unfaithful to God and their callings)...well so far as I know that's not specified. However, I'm guessing that they also enjoy a temporarily disembodied existence.

At some point in the future, again from a Christian perspective, Christ will come to judge the living and the dead. At that time, everyone will be resurrected and the cosmos will be renewed -- resurrected in a way analogous to peoples' literal resurrection. (The jury's out about whether God does this by himself or through the efforts of those who remain after judgment. I favor the latter view.) The faithful will inhabit the earth and the faithless will be banished from it (whatever that entails). But there will be a very real, physical earth, sun, moon, stars, cosmos, etc. But it will no longer be subject to decay and futility. And the people who live there will not be subject to death, and as it says in Revelation, there will be no more tears, sorrow, or suffering.

 

[Bloomdido]

Not much looking at this thread. Anyone still keen on meeting the necessary entry criteria?

 

[Just_me_Mike]

From a Christian perspective

I find it ever so important to state this is "Dunemeister's christian perspective" and not "Christian perspective".
I am not singling you out, but would say that to anyone who claims to be representing Christianity.

 

[Just_me_Mike]

Some members of this forum are planning to spend an eternity in Heaven. What do we actually know about the place and how people will 'live' there?

I have spent many hours pondering how a small child or baby will exist in Heaven and how people will cope when loved ones are not with them, knowing that they are possibly burning in the fires of Hell.

Heaven must be a pretty big place to accomodate everyone and what do people do for bodies, or don't they need them? As for our thoughts and personalities, are these stored in our soul somehow?

Who is we? Christians, Muslims, on and on and on...

 

[Bloomdido]

Who is we? Christians, Muslims, on and on and on...

The christian heaven. The muslim one looks a bit 'tacky'.

 

[Aquitaine]

The Monotheist concept of "Heaven" would be close to my concept of "Hell".

It's all subjective, and in that it's probably non-existent then, just like how a "true/correct" opinion does not "exist", atleast objectively speaking.

I say don't worry about it, when you die - you'll be dead. So you won't have to worry about being in the dark, and wondering what the Hell is going on! ^^

 

[Dunemeister]

Some members of this forum are planning to spend an eternity in Heaven.

See my previous post. "Heaven" generally means a blissful, disembodied postmortem existence. This isn't what the Christian story says is our final destination. If anything, it is only a way station between death and the renewed, and still very physical, cosmos.

What do we actually know about the place and how people will 'live' there?

I'm assuming, given what I said above, that "heaven" refers to the renewed heavens and earth, the final destination as portrayed in the Christian biblical tradition.

If so, the answer to your question is, very little.

I have spent many hours pondering how a small child or baby will exist in Heaven

Again, substituting that final destination for "Heaven", they will probably exist as small children and babies at first, but they will grow to normal maturity but never die.

and how people will cope when loved ones are not with them, knowing that they are possibly burning in the fires of Hell.

Part of the renewal will involve a fully renovated heart such that the person in heaven will fully agree with God's righteous judgment. IF that means that a person has relatives in hell (however defined, there's little consensus), the person will agree with God's judgment. This doesn't preclude a sense of horror at the magnitude of the sins that caused the person to be so consigned or the severity of the judgment.

Heaven must be a pretty big place to accomodate everyone and what do people do for bodies, or don't they need them?

Again, your misconception about the Christian version of heaven peeps through. At the final destination, there will be a physical earth with physical people (resurrected, with glorified bodies -- that is, not subject to decay, death, or sin). See 1 Corinthians 15 as a start for more details.

As for our thoughts and personalities, are these stored in our soul somehow?

Here you must be referring to that "in-between" time between a person's death and resurrection. If so, you might say that the soul "contains" our mental states, including memories, personality, desires, beliefs, and so forth.

 

[Bloomdido]

Thanks for clarifying that Dunemeister. Don't suppose you have any facts to back up your comments as my faith expired many moons ago?

 

[Katzpur]

Some members of this forum are planning to spend an eternity in Heaven. What do we actually know about the place and how people will 'live' there?

We don't "know" anything.

I have spent many hours pondering how a small child or baby will exist in Heaven and how people will cope when loved ones are not with them, knowing that they are possibly burning in the fires of Hell.

Neither of these concepts is an issue in my religion.

Heaven must be a pretty big place to accomodate everyone and what do people do for bodies, or don't they need them? As for our thoughts and personalities, are these stored in our soul somehow?

Yeah, Heaven's a very big place.

 

[Dunemeister]

Thanks for clarifying that Dunemeister. Don't suppose you have any facts to back up your comments as my faith expired many moons ago?

I don't have all the biblical references to hand ATM (I'm good at picking up the main elements of the story but not very good at remembering specific references), but if you start with 1 Corinthians 15, you'll find a detailed exposition on the resurrection body and the sort of existence we can expect upon resurrection. The description implies a renewed physical heaven and earth, otherwise why all the physicality of the resurrection body? Anyway, start there. If you read the NT carefully (and Isaiah in particular in the OT), this idea gets fleshed out a bit more fully.

 

[Bloomdido]

I was thinking more along the lines of communication with dead people, loved ones coming back briefly to tell their family where they had stashed the treasure. Psychics being able to point the police to a kidnapped child. Something from the other side that would support the concept of an afterlife.

 

[Just_me_Mike]

I was thinking more along the lines of communication with dead people, loved ones coming back briefly to tell their family where they had stashed the treasure. Psychics being able to point the police to a kidnapped child. Something from the other side that would support the concept of an afterlife.

Since we are focusing on a Christian afterlife, you are always going to come up short looking for evidence.

Evidence flies in the face of what God demands of us. Which is to believe, through faith.
It is true at times throughout history God manifested himself with signs and wonders, but once the bible was completed, God went completely silent, because his final revelation for mankind had been given. See Rev 22 vs 18 and 19 if I remember correctly.

 

[Bloomdido]

It is true at times throughout history God manifested himself with signs and wonders, but once the bible was completed, God went completely silent, because his final revelation for mankind had been given. See Rev 22 vs 18 and 19 if I remember correctly.

It is true to whom? Signs and wonders or war and suffering. God writes book. God has nothing more to say. Faith must be blind.

 

[Just_me_Mike]

It is true to whom? Signs and wonders or war and suffering. God writes book. God has nothing more to say. Faith must be blind.

I'm sorry can you be more clear?

I will simply add until your next response, that within the bible is everything one needs to obtain eternal life.
It is our unquenchable thirst that keeps us from settling with that. In other words it can be thought about like this. If God were to slap someone in the face (gently) and say WAKE UP, it's me, I am God. Many would still not believe, because we just want more. We are never satisfied, even when we have the truth. We get bored, and begin to NOT BELIEVE, just so we can try to find the truth again.

that is why there is such an emphasis on patience in the bible.

 

[Bloomdido]

This is all there is. We live, we die and that is all. The excuses that people spout to protect their beliefs astounds me. There is no objective truth outside of the laws of science and at a quantum level the theories are pretty scary to even begin to comprehend. We can slowly piece together how we got here and we have the intellect to question what our purpose is but there isn't any apart from surviving as a species and there are times when I hope we don't. One world and we are on the brink of ruining it. God has nothing more to say. The raprure is nigh.

 

[Just_me_Mike]

This is all there is. We live, we die and that is all. The excuses that people spout to protect their beliefs astounds me. There is no objective truth outside of the laws of science and at a quantum level the theories are pretty scary to even begin to comprehend. We can slowly piece together how we got here and we have the intellect to question what our purpose is but there isn't any apart from surviving as a species and there are times when I hope we don't. One world and we are on the brink of ruining it. God has nothing more to say. The raprure is nigh.

To each his own.
I don't disagree with you at all about science and how eerie it can be to see how bizarre our world is.
No need to go around bashing people for what they believe in though, just makes you seem kind of bitter.
Your not bitter are you?

 

[Bloomdido]

Perhaps I am bitter. I wasn't brought up at all religious, just very basic C of E. No church but religious education in school of course. I just had to make my views known. People are being lied to about what is going to happen to them and they are in for a big disappointment when they die.

 

[Storm]

How does one suffer disappointment when one has ceased to exist?