Heaven is for Real – Do you need to die to experience heaven? (What does your faith teach you?)

[Sirach2]

So what do you make of the verse, Paul said, I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago-- whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know, God knows-- such a man was caught up to the third heaven. (2 Corinthians 12:2)???

It is rather easy to understand if one is knowledgeable concerning mystical experiences. Not being Catholic, you may not be familiar with teachings about this type of manifestation. Several authentic mystics have written about these, and our Church has designated them as Doctors of the Church … meaning, their words are true and held as solid formation for others to study. Others, like yourself, can only conjecture about this verse. It is not explainable in layman’s terms.

 

[TruthBearer]

It is rather easy to understand if one is knowledgeable concerning mystical experiences. Not being Catholic, you may not be familiar with teachings about this type of manifestation. Several authentic mystics have written about these, and our Church has designated them as Doctors of the Church … meaning, their words are true and held as solid formation for others to study. Others, like yourself, can only conjecture about this verse. It is not explainable in layman’s terms.

So where can I find the commentary of this verse by the Doctors of the Church who are the authentic mystics???

 

[Matthew_Light]

This new thread I just started might be of interest:

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?p=11909623#post11909623

 

[Sirach2]

So where can I find the commentary of this verse by the Doctors of the Church who are the authentic mystics???

You won’t find it on this particular verse, but I will look for the teachings on mystical graces, which you may not understand.

 

[Publisher]

Heaven, the Kingdom of Heaven, Kingdom of God begins in this life. If heaven exists, it is a continuation of this life, so what we begin in this life is taken with us.

I’ve heard people say…“I’m going to play a piano concert when I get to heaven.”…my question is “Can you play now? If you want to play “there”, you better start taking lessons now.”

We exist and live within the “First Day of the New Creation” We live NOW in the “Easter experience”…the “Kingdom of God” is within us.

In the synoptics the writers use the term “Kingdom of God” or “Kingdom of Heaven”, John the baptizer said the Kingdom of God was at hand.

In John’s gospel, he writes about “eternal life”, “life abundant”, “life” instead of “Kingdom of God”.

Heaven is now, it is an “inward reality” and influences how we live now…we are to live as though the Kingdom of God is fully realized.

 

[Sirach2]

So where can I find the commentary of this verse by the Doctors of the Church who are the authentic mystics???

St. Teresa of Avila, whose order I belong to, wrote a very important book called “Interior Castle” where the soul ascends to God through different stages of its growth. It is to the very advanced stage that I will give you the reference. Although perhaps very few arrive at this stage, some have, and wrote to help the rest of us, if the Lord should grant this favor.

You will note this paragraph explains, like St. Paul, that the soul does not know whether it is in the body or not. The names mystics apply to this favor from God is “flight of the spirit” - “rapture” - or “transport.”

Turning now to this sudden transport of the spirit, it may be said to be of such a kind that the soul really seems to have left the body; on the other hand, it is clear that the person is not dead, though for a few moments he cannot even himself be sure if the soul is in the body or no. He feels as if he has been in another world, very different from this in which we live, and has been shown a fresh light there, so much unlike any to be found in this life that, if he had been imagining it, and similar things, all his life long, it would have been impossible for him to obtain any idea of them.

catholictreasury.info/books/interior_castle/ic21.php

 

[Sirach2]

I missed the time for editing, but I found another reference a little more toward the bottom of the chapter.

Anyone who has experience of this, and possesses more ability than I, will perhaps know how to express it; to me it seems extremely difficult. If **the soul is in the body or not while all this is happening I cannot say; I would not myself swear that the soul is in the body, nor that the body is bereft of the soul.
**

 

[TruthBearer]

St. Teresa of Avila, whose order I belong to, wrote a very important book called “Interior Castle” where the soul ascends to God through different stages of its growth. It is to the very advanced stage that I will give you the reference. Although perhaps very few arrive at this stage, some have, and wrote to help the rest of us, if the Lord should grant this favor.

You will note this paragraph explains, like St. Paul, that the soul does not know whether it is in the body or not. The names mystics apply to this favor from God is “flight of the spirit” - “rapture” - or “transport.”

catholictreasury.info/books/interior_castle/ic21.php

I am going to look into getting this book. Seems very interesting. I am into spiritual writings of other faiths. Thanks for sharing.

I’m thinking of getting this edition.

amazon.com/The-Interior-Castle-Study-Edition/dp/0935216804/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1398102412&sr=8-4&keywords=interior+castle

Is this a good edition?

Do you have any other good spiritual catholic books by others saints that you would recommend?

 

[cheese_sdc]

What does my faith teach me?

This is close enough.

Since there is no way to know for sure if we go any place when we die, very few, if any of us believe in the physical existence of a place called heaven or hell.

uunashua.org/100quest.shtml

I haven’t figured out if I believe in Heaven or Hell. I figure that I’ll do as much good on this Earth during my time as possible and if that isn’t good enough for whatever is out there, then so be it.

 

[Sirach2]

I am going to look into getting this book. Seems very interesting. I am into spiritual writings of other faiths. Thanks for sharing.

I’m thinking of getting this edition.

amazon.com/The-Interior-Castle-Study-Edition/dp/0935216804/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1398102412&sr=8-4&keywords=interior+castle

Is this a good edition?

Do you have any other good spiritual catholic books by others saints that you would recommend?

Yes, anything by Kieran Kavanaugh, OCD, is a sure bet on authenticity of translation and study… All Carmelite communities use these writings in their communities.

If you prefer not to use the study book, there is another one I would recommend, The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila, Volume Two, which contains Way of Perfection, Song of Songs, and Interior Castle in her own writings, all for about $15.0l0 in one volume.

You may be interested in knowing that Edith Stein became a Carmelite after reading St. Teresa of Avila’s Life. It touched her profoundly, and she is now canonized a Saint in the Catholic Church for her holiness of life. She was martyred in the concentration camps. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edith_Stein

I have to bear witness that I, too, was so touched by reading her Life, that I became a Carmelite in the Secular Order.

For lay persons, St. Francis de Sales, also a Doctor of the Church, wrote a classic that is very popular today 500 years later, Introduction to a Devout Life.

I’ll be praying for you as you study her writings. My inner sense tells me that many blessings will granted to you as you read these.

 

[rinnie]

I haven’t seen the movie but I read the book. One of the things that bothered me with the book was the parents acting as if the boy died when he did not. He had surgery and was never near death.

But to better answer your question , I’d say the only way most Christians would say one can view heaven is through death. A rare exception would be a vision given someone (or St John who wrote Revelation) but it seems unlikely a very very young child would have a vision. Regardless, the movie/book portrays it as an out of body experience from a near death experience which doesn’t really add up to me.

I didn’t see the movie yet, but actually almost did Good Friday after Church.

I wanted to see the movie Christ the Son or Son of God, can’t remember but it just left the movies. I really wanted to see it.

But something about this movie rubbed me wrong, so I didn’t see any movie. The other one was God is real. Something about a student who had to convince his professor God is real. That bothered me also, Only the Holy Spirit can do that.

Are we as a society truly that removed from our faith to buy into this stuff.

I know heaven is real. God said he is preparing a place for me. He said if it was not true he would not say so. And NO eye has seen no ear has heard what God has ready.