Are there different levels of heaven?

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Riman643 said:
So if I remember correctly there are definitely multiple levels of hell.
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Source on that? Far as I know, there’s nothing clear about that in e.g., the Bible

RE: Heaven - we have this … But there’s not much else…

2 Corinthians 12:2-4 2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know-God knows. 3 And I know that this man-whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows- 4 was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell.
 
My own two cents.

This is my simple minded approach.

All of us in heaven will experience the beatific vision differently depending on our individuality.

For those who lived on earth not for themselves but for God will truly be what they were meant to be in heaven. This is in agreement with what the Bible says. Those who lose themselves will find themselves.

Just like flowers in the garden, that all receive the same sun but are all different and respond differently.
 
While I think the terms levels or placement is likely not quite right, they are as close as we can manage. I think there are definitely different levels of placement. There are different choirs if angels, this denotes function and placement. The seraphim and cherubim are the closest to God. We know there are is one who will sit at the right hand of God. We know Mary is crowned queen.
It doesn’t make sense to me that there would not be additional levels. We will all be happy with what we have, but why would we all have the same thing?
 
I guess.

My point is, each of us will experience heaven differently just like all of us experiences life differently.
 
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Jesus: Store up treasures in heaven. (Matthew 6:33)
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Just as there are different levels of treasures stored up on earth, there will be different levels of treasure stored up in heaven. And, I expect that it will count for much more and endure much longer (perhaps forever).
 
Riman643 said:
So if I remember correctly there are definitely multiple levels of hell. I was curious if this also meant that there are also different levels of heaven. If so, what does it take to achieve the highest level of heaven? Would this also mean that everyone who goes to purgatory goes to the bottom level of heaven?
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After the fall of Eve and Adam, the gates of Heaven closed. From that point on, just souls who died, but destined for Heaven, were sent to await the Messiah in Limbo.

Following Jesus’s death, He re-opened the gates of Heaven, making Him the “First-born” from the dead to enter Heaven, and He released the souls in Limbo.

Now there remain three kingdoms: Purgatory, Heaven, and Hell.

Purgatory, a temporary dwelling place that precedes Heaven, is where souls undergo purification to reach perfect Love.
 
Limbus puerorum is more than speculation. It actually is between sententia communis and sententia ad fidem pertinens.

Many respected theologians from different centuries reached the same conclusion: it exists. Furthermore, Pope Pius VI deffended it when some bishops tried to discard it in the 16th century.
 
And Pope Benedict XVI said it was a theologoumenon. One could technically say that any theological theory that isn’t a dogma is speculation.
 
That would be Limbo of the Fathers, which is distinct from Limbo of the Infants.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
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Is there an official Church source for Hell “definitely” having levels or degrees of punishment?
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Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, Ludwig Ott lists these:
  • The punishment of the damned is proportioned to each one’s guilt. (Sent. communis.) – p. 482
  • The degree of perfection of the beatific vision granted to the just is proportioned to each one’s merits. (De fide.) – p. 479
See “according to the diversity of merits” and “punishments of different kinds”.

Council of Florence in the Bull “Laetentur coeli,” July 6, 1439 A.D., De novissimis:
… And that the souls of those, who after the reception of baptism have incurred no stain of sin at all, and also those, who after the contraction of the stain of sin whether in their bodies, or when released from the same bodies, as we have said before, are purged, are immediately received into heaven, and see clearly the one and triune God Himself just as He is, yet according to the diversity of merits, one more perfectly than another. Moreover, the souls of those who depart in actual mortal sin or in original sin only, descend immediately into hell but to undergo punishments of different kinds.
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Also from the earlier Council of Lyons II 1274 A.D.:
The souls of those who die in mortal sin or with original sin only, however, immediately descend to hell, yet to be punished with different punishments.
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False.
In theological usage the name is applied to (a) the temporary place or state of the souls of the just who, although purified from sin, were excluded from the beatific vision until Christ’s triumphant ascension into Heaven (the “limbus patrum”); or (b) to the permanent place or state of those unbaptized children and others who, dying without grievous personal sin, are excluded from the beatific vision on account of original sin alone (the “limbus infantium” or “puerorum”).
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https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09256a.htm
 
Anesti33 said:
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Lunam_Meam:
After the fall of Eve and Adam, the gates of Heaven closed. From that point on, just souls who died, but destined for Heaven, were sent to await the Messiah in Limbo.

Following Jesus’s death, He re-opened the gates of Heaven, making Him the “First-born” from the dead to enter Heaven, and He released the souls in Limbo.

Purgatory, another temporary dwelling place that precedes Heaven, is where souls undergo purification to reach perfect Love.
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In theological usage the name is applied to (a) the temporary place or state of the souls of the just who, although purified from sin, were excluded from the beatific vision until Christ’s triumphant ascension into Heaven (the “limbus patrum”); or (b) to the permanent place or state of those unbaptized children and others who, dying without grievous personal sin, are excluded from the beatific vision on account of original sin alone (the “limbus infantium” or “puerorum”).
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CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Limbo
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I’m aware of these traditional teachings concerning two different ideas of Limbo, and that neither are made doctrinal by the Church, but on the other hand, what does become doctrine doesn’t always mean it’s Truth.

What I understand to be True is there’s only one kingdom called Limbo.
 
Lunam_Meam said:
but on the other hand, what does become doctrine doesn’t always mean it’s Truth.
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That is a very peculiar assertion from a Roman Catholic. Could you give example(s) of “doctrine that is not Truth”?
 
Anesti33 said:
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Lunam_Meam:
I’m aware of these traditional teachings concerning two different ideas of Limbo, and that neither are made doctrinal by the Church, but on the other hand, what does become doctrine doesn’t always mean it’s Truth.
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That is a very peculiar assertion from a Roman Catholic. Could you give example(s) of “doctrine that is not Truth”?
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I did not make an assertion about a particular doctrine(s). I was saying just because the Church teaches something a certain way, it does not mean they’re right. Obviously, they look to God for guidance, but there’s still human error, and so the Church’s teachings should be discerned. And, I’m not talking about dogma.
 
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The Magisterium is infallible. That’s what we believe as Catholics. Peter was given the Keys of the Kingdom.

We don’t “discern” stuff on our own without her teachings.
 
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