Catholic Teaching and Heaven

[Marc_Anthony]

Here is a quote from the Skeptic’s Annotated Bible Refuted website on Revelation 12:7-

“One Skeptic has said of this verse, “Heaven is supposed to be a perfect place; yet [this] says it experienced a war.” I don’t know where he gets the idea that “heaven is supposed to be a perfect place”. Scripture only says God is perfect; it nowhere says that heaven is. Our Skeptic goes on to say that this verse “deals a death blow to the security that all Christians seek” and expresses the notion that if a war happened in Heaven once, it could happen again. Well, I don’t know about other Christians, but I’m not seeking security, and the idea of another war in Heaven doesn’t particularly disturb me.”

Is it okay for a Catholic o believe in the possibility of another war in Heaven? Is this possible?

 

[fish90]

Why would complete and eternal union with God involve warfare?

I think not, but I will yield to an actual apologist.

 

[Fidelis]

Like most objections of this sort, since it displays a lack of knowledge on the questioners part on the nature of God, angels and heaven, to give a thorough answer with all the background information it would require to make it lucid would take a small book.

One thing we can say is that we don’t really know the exact nature of the war in heaven described in Revelation 12. Since angels are purely spiritual beings, the battle didn’t involve physical means like rocks, swords or howitzers.

We can also point out that heaven, as described in Scripture, isn’t located in a static, physical place. The ancients thought in terms of heaven in at least three ways: the heavens that we can see in the daytime where birds flew and clouds passed over; the dome of the heavens where the sun, moon and stars were; and finally the heaven where God dwells.

Another thing to consider is that the Book of Revelation tells us at the end of time, there will be a NEW heavens and a new earth (Revelation 21:1). This in itself should tell us that all previous ideas of heaven will become obsolete. That, and the fact that Satan and his minions will be confined to hell forever (Revelation 20:10), should allay our fears and give us confidence that all things will truly be made new (Revelation 21:5).

Does that help?