Interpertation of Heaven: Multi-Layered or One

[ForeverRome500]

i been reading on various NDE (Near death experiences) and people have descriped various versions of heaven…

there is 1 overall heaven we go to, a great city, of beauty beyond our imagination…with heavenly towers etc… libraries of knowledge,wisdom etc…

then there is multi-layered ones…which seem… depending on your “vibration”… the lower realms are descriped as being dark… the higher realms, of pure love, light

why would heaven have different layors…i usually believe there is 1 heaven…

 

[ForeverRome500]

anybody…

 

[fbl9]

I see it as flat multi-layered with God in the centre. Those closer to God in this life are closer in heaven compared to those with lesser love.
Those with a shot glass are just as full as those with a mug.

 

[ForeverRome500]

I see it as flat multi-layered with God in the centre. Those closer to God in this life are closer in heaven compared to those with lesser love.
Those with a shot glass are just as full as those with a mug.

will the ones in the lower layers still have a relationship with God?

will one be able to progress to a higher layer?

 

[ConstantineTG]

There is a one-story universe, God exists on the same level where we are. Heaven is not a place that has layers, but rather a state of abiding in God’s love. There are differences in experience of heaven, depending on one’s soul and how they lived their earthly lives.

 

[R_C]

anybody…

Have you read the Diary of St. Faustina Kowalska? She also provides a layered description of Heaven. This would be very sound. I don’t have the exact quote, but I have read that the Interior Castle of St. Theresa of Avila also reflects this. While “heaven” is one state in which we are at the full presence of God (as ConstantineTG describes), it is very fit of God’s order that some would be closer to the Lord.

Thus we are told int he Scriptures that the Lord Jesus “is seated at the right hand of the Father” (Luke 22), the Queen stands at His right hand (Psalm 45), there are several teachings on the angelic hierarchy, the Book of Revelation has one such symbolic description, etc.

On top of that, there’s this one revelation from St. Paul:

I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven.

P.s.: we shouldn’t be troubled by the idea of “many, yet one” All of us in one body, one God in three Persons…God’s ways are truly ineffable!

 

[Nita]

i been reading on various NDE (Near death experiences) and people have descriped various versions of heaven…

there is 1 overall heaven we go to, a great city, of beauty beyond our imagination…with heavenly towers etc… libraries of knowledge,wisdom etc…

then there is multi-layered ones…which seem… depending on your “vibration”… the lower realms are descriped as being dark… the higher realms, of pure love, light

why would heaven have different layors…i usually believe there is 1 heaven…

Catholic teaching is that we experience different degrees of blessedness (not sure of the right word) in heaven – the rewards being proportionate to our works/deeds here on earth.

Council of Florence (1438 AD):
…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.

Mt. 16:27 * He will render to every one according to his works.*
1 Cor. 3:8 * And ever y man shall receive his own reward, according to his own labour.*
2 Cor. 9:6 9:6 *The point is this: he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. *

 

[ForeverRome500]

Catholic teaching is that we experience different degrees of blessedness (not sure of the right word) in heaven – the rewards being proportionate to our works/deeds here on earth.

Council of Florence (1438 AD):
…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.

Mt. 16:27 * He will render to every one according to his works.*
1 Cor. 3:8 * And ever y man shall receive his own reward, according to his own labour.*
2 Cor. 9:6 9:6 *The point is this: he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. *

but everyone will still feel the love of god correct

 

[R_C]

but everyone will still feel the love of god correct

Feel does not render it…it will be more like an ecstasy of love…just think that nobody on earth can feel God’s love as it is felt in heaven without dying of joy and awe!

 

[Gertabelle]

but everyone will still feel the love of god correct

Yes, everyone will fully experience the love of God.

St. Therese of Lisieux described the way her older sister helped her understand the effect of grace in one’s soul and the experience of heaven:

“One day I expressed surprise that God does not give an equal amount of glory to all the elect in Heaven – I was afraid that they would not all be quite happy. She sent me to fetch Papa’s big tumbler, and put it beside my tiny thimble, then, filling both with water, she asked me which seemed the fuller. I replied that one was as full as the other – it was impossible to pour more water into either of them, for they could not hold it. In this way Pauline made it clear to me that in Heaven the least of the Blessed does not envy the happiness of the greatest.”

Whenever my son complains about going to mass, I remind him of his godfather’s encouragement that going to mass makes our souls bigger so we can hold more happiness in heaven – an eight-year-old can understand that, even if it doesn’t change his overall excitement about mass And now we say, “Do you want to be a thimble, or a swimming pool in heaven?”

Great questions, by the way.

Gertie

 

[fbl9]

will the ones in the lower layers still have a relationship with God?

will one be able to progress to a higher layer?

Yes each will have a relationship with God.

Each relationship will be a full as the next so there would no need to move as one would be entirely satisfied as they are.

make this clear what i have posted here is entirely my opinion.

 

[Nita]

will the ones in the lower layers still have a relationship with God?

but everyone will still feel the love of god correct

Yes, everyone will still have a relationship with God; everyone will still feel the love of God.

will one be able to progress to a higher layer

No, we will not be able to progress to a greater degree. The time for merit is while we are still on earth.

 

[mdcpensive1]

but everyone will still feel the love of god correct

The thing we must remember is that Love or Charity is the thing we are to do. This is the supernatural characteristic that allows us to be in the supernatural which is where God is.

This is why when we die, our Charity is fixed because we no longer have the ability to interact with others on earth where we practice the Charity we need to be in Christ. This is why we either merit hell or purgatory (or even heaven) where we “scrub” off our inclinations to things that prevent our relationship with Christ. Our growing in Love is what allows us to see a greater part of the Beatific Vision which in turn gives us a greater happiness.

So we must perfect our ability to Love more while on earth to know ever fuller the happiness of the Beatific Vision and all that means. If by levels you mean the ability to love more then I can agree with that concept or something like it.

If in heaven there are multi level townhouses and small one bedroom apartments, it is still good but who knows ??
mdcpensive1