Heaven?

[Sufjon]

Hi Everyone: It seems that every week a post goes up about who “goes” to heaven and who does not. The posts are attended by the usual proclamations and such, and these of course tend to be in accordance with what each person believes. I think I understand where most everyone stands on that issue, simply because it’s been discussed so much. But this is not what I’m interested in hearing about in this particular post.

Specifically, I am interested to hear what you think heaven is. Many describe it as a place, but is that what you suppose it is? Where do you imagine it is? Some will undoubtedly say that it’s inside you and all around you, but then revert back to talking about “going” there. But do you really “go” anywhere? Some of you belong to churches that have mapped a lot of that out for you in a good deal of detail, and that’s certainly fine. But what do you think? When you sit down and think about it, what is it that you envision? What do you think goes on there? What does it look like? How does it feel? What do you see when you personally think of heaven?

Than you in advance for being respectful of one another’s beliefs and hopes in regards to this matter.

Your friend,
Sufjon

 

[followingtheway]

Well, I think the fact that most people who read this question won’t be able answer it, because it is, well it’s supposed to be beyond anything the human mind can fathom.

 

[Nine_Two]

Heaven is simply full union with God.

 

[whatsthetruth]

Everyone will love and be loved and we will all worship the Holy Father in His beautiful kingdom beyond our imaginations. It’s truly a great mystery!

 

[Yehuda_Dion]

I believe it to be a place of unimaginable beauty where each of the Lord’s faithful servants are rewarded for their work while on earth. From reading some saints’ accounts of Heaven here are some of the things I expect at my “homecoming”:

1. A large, stately mansion with hundreds of rooms, each with its own peculiar delight
2. Friendship with everyone, but especially with Mary, my patron saints, and my family and friends
3. Food with a billion tastes, each one different in sensation than the other
4. Heavenly music, made up of the most melodious notes not existing on earth
5. We carry over our tastes and hobbies. For me this means I’ll be spending a lot of time reading books, or rather having the books themselves read to me
6. Different kinds of mansions for different creeds and religions, but none so beautiful as the mansions reserved for me and my Roman Catholic brethren
7. Having a close relationship with Mary and having the privilege of taking up much of her time for myself . I believe in Heaven our Sweet Mother will have and exercise the power of bilocation to be with many people at once.
8. Worship services where people of all races, color and creed come together to worship amidst the angels’ shouts of “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord Almighty…”
9. The chief joy of Heaven, the Beatific Vision. I await this one the most! :thumbsup:

 

[Julia_Mae]

I think it depends on what you mean by “Heaven.” Some people think of Purgatory as a separate “place.” Or at least separate existence.

So here’s my personal conception which is what you asked for, I think, of the afterlife. I think there is definite self-awareness and relativity but that, unless one is in the darkest depths, (of which I have really, nothing to say) you also subsist in the whole, which is what we call God: the Light.

The state of your being/soul determines your state of being in the afterlife and how much you subsist in God and that is because we only take love and knowledge and self-awareness with us when we pass. How much we are still attached to earthly things will create for us a subsistence in a more earthlike, but without the flaws, setting, which will be familiar to us. So people of more love and light will be more likely to subsist more completely in God. The perfect soul would actually be completely “oned” with God and lose self-identity, always by that soul’s consent. This is the true Heaven. Everything else is “Purgatory.” The more conformed we are to God, the more we move toward fuller subsistence in God. This is our journey in the afterlife which is a continuation of our journey here. It’s all a continuum yet, not at all linear while still being directional.

I think that souls very damaged by the earthly journey also have a place to be cared for, like a spiritual hospital. I think they have to be helped to exist in the afterlife because their souls are very messed up and need life-support and being that close to the Light could annihilate them. So I see this kind of quiet grey fog they can be at peace in while they get healed a bit and can move to the edges and into more Light as they get strong. (Symbolically-ish)

While all this is what I believe, I also believe they are all right here. I’m not so sure but that we are right there, too, right now, in a state of being that experiences incarnation like some virtual reality. Spiritually aware people become more and more aware of the true Reality, like they already live there. That’s why they know how to bilocate or heal or whatever.

I’m not sure, I just believe there is really no separation between us.

I’d like to develop spiritually in this life very much. And maybe if I did I wouldn’t ever care, but right now, I don’t want to go to some ephemeral existence, I want to see my dogs and cats and my bird and my family. I want to look at everyone as still persons but all together and everyone being in the wonder of the Light/Love that binds us all and always did. I want to stand on the edge and call atheists home so they don’t get lost in the mist. I want to help my daughter through the rest of her life.

Unless I’m doing a lot of contemplation and then I really just want to be oned with God and don’t care.

Schizophrenic spirituality.

 

[meltzerboy]

Hi Everyone: It seems that every week a post goes up about who “goes” to heaven and who does not. The posts are attended by the usual proclamations and such, and these of course tend to be in accordance with what each person believes. I think I understand where most everyone stands on that issue, simply because it’s been discussed so much. But this is not what I’m interested in hearing about in this particular post.

Specifically, I am interested to hear what you think heaven is. Many describe it as a place, but is that what you suppose it is? Where do you imagine it is? Some will undoubtedly say that it’s inside you and all around you, but then revert back to talking about “going” there. But do you really “go” anywhere? Some of you belong to churches that have mapped a lot of that out for you in a good deal of detail, and that’s certainly fine. But what do you think? When you sit down and think about it, what is it that you envision? What do you think goes on there? What does it look like? How does it feel? What do you see when you personally think of heaven?

Than you in advance for being respectful of one another’s beliefs and hopes in regards to this matter.

Your friend,
Sufjon

Judaism frowns upon excessive speculation about the characteristics of heaven, since the Torah does not provide us that information. But still, there are the usual lot of Jewish stories. One involves a setting in which there is an extravagant dinner party with the finest food. However, no one’s arms are long enough to reach the sumptuous dishes. As a result, only those who have learned to feed each other are able to enjoy the heavenly feast, while those who, in their greed, struggle to feed only themselves are constantly hungry and remain in a state of hell.

 

[followingtheway]

Judaism frowns upon excessive speculation about the characteristics of heaven, since the Torah does not provide us that information. But still, there are the usual lot of Jewish stories. One involves a setting in which there is an extravagant dinner party with the finest food. However, no one’s arms are long enough to reach the sumptuous dishes. As a result, only those who have learned to feed each other are able to enjoy the heavenly feast, while those who, in their greed, struggle to feed only themselves are constantly hungry and remain in a state of hell.

Wait but meltzerboy are there certain Jewish groups who believe in afterlife and some who don’t? Or are all Jews sort of agnostic-ish on the whole thing?

I’ve checked sources that gave me the idea that Jews don’t believe in the afterlife. My father’s cousin married a Reform Jew and I asked her “is there a heaven and hell” and she said “no, there isn’t” and her husband said “yeah, Jews believe when you die that’s it”. I asked one teacher (though not Jewish) if Judaism believes in afterlife and he described something like Judaism believing the soul ceases to exist like a blown candle, but sometimes he makes bona fide but still innacurate claims such as yetser hara is the Jewish equivalent of Satan, soul sleep is an entire Christian concept, and when he saw an orthodox icon of the last judgment he said “where’s purgatory?”

But my question is, do some Jewish groups as opposed to others believe in afterlife. Such as Orthodox vs. Reform or Orthodox vs. Conservative and so on?

 

[meltzerboy]

Wait but meltzerboy are there certain Jewish groups who believe in afterlife and some who don’t? Or are all Jews sort of agnostic-ish on the whole thing?

I’ve checked sources that gave me the idea that Jews don’t believe in the afterlife. My father’s cousin married a Reform Jew and I asked her “is there a heaven and hell” and she said “no, there isn’t” and her husband said “yeah, Jews believe when you die that’s it”. I asked one teacher (though not Jewish) if Judaism believes in afterlife and he described something like Judaism believing the soul ceases to exist like a blown candle, but sometimes he makes bona fide but still innacurate claims such as yetser hara is the Jewish equivalent of Satan, soul sleep is an entire Christian concept, and when he saw an orthodox icon of the last judgment he said “where’s purgatory?”

But my question is, do some Jewish groups as opposed to others believe in afterlife. Such as Orthodox vs. Reform or Orthodox vs. Conservative and so on?

Most Orthodox Jews, if not all, believe in an afterlife, as do most Conservative Jews, as a whole. Reform Jews, however, are split regarding an afterlife. Modern Judaism is largely in the Pharisaic tradition (apart from the Karaite Jews), and the Pharisees, as opposed to the Sadducees, believed in an afterlife. Such belief is indeed part of the Thirteen Articles of Faith in Judaism, composed by Maimonides. However, since the Torah Law does not dwell on the afterlife, although there are strong suggestions throughout the Tanakh, the focus of Judaism has always been on the here and now. So this particular article of faith, while believed by many Jews, is not, in my view, an absolute doctrine of faith, and neither is the belief in a Messiah or a Messianic Age. Ask another Jew and you may get a somewhat different response.

 

[fhansen]

Heaven is the presence of God; God is what enthralls the heart, brings ineffable peace, puts everything into it’s proper place, and brings one home. He’s the very center of our being and to be separate from Him is to be in hell, or lost somewhere between heaven and hell.

 

[Sam_777]

Heaven is the presence of God; God is what enthralls the heart, brings ineffable peace, puts everything into it’s proper place, and brings one home. He’s the very center of our being and to be separate from Him is to be in hell,

 

[GaryTaylor]

Heaven is the presence of God; God is what enthralls the heart, brings ineffable peace, puts everything into it’s proper place, and brings one home. He’s the very center of our being and to be separate from Him is to be in hell, or lost somewhere between heaven and hell.

:extrahappy:

 

[wcknight]

The best statement that I’ve ever heard about Heaven, came from a friend in the hospital on the day before he died. He was visited by another friend who had died the year before. He told him, “Heaven is everything as they said it would be”.

The fact that Heaven exists at all, is more than enough for me. I don’t need to know the details, for there to be life after death is a great revelation. There is much fear and terror associated with death and dying, and most of that is because we are so afraid of the unknown. We don’t want to end up in a place of eternal suffering, and we don’t want to disappear into nothingness.

 

[IggyAntiochus]

Specifically, I am interested to hear what you think heaven is.

The state that we enter upon our deaths is not described very much in the New Testament. All we simply know is that it will be a spiritual existence where we are in the presence of Christ, in full and complete peace.

However, what should be stressed within a Christian understanding of eternal life is that, that spiritual existence is temporary! It is not “heaven.” When Christ returns at the end of the age, all things, both the heavens and the earth, will be restored to a state of both physical and spiritual perfection. We will rise in glorified bodies, incorruptible, and immortal, without sin. Our spirits will be reunited in those bodies, bodies as Christ’s body is now. That is eternal life. The separation between our bodies and spirit is unnatural. It’s death. Eternal life will be real, tangible, physical, just as earth is now, but perfect. So, yes, eternal life is a both a place (earth) and a state of existence (sinless perfection).