Where is Heaven?

  • Thread starter Thread starter CrossofChrist
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
C

CrossofChrist

Guest
Maybe this should go in philosophy? Not sure. But anyway…

Where exactly is heaven? It’s “not of this world” to be sure, and its where we are brought fully into God’s presence and can see him (beatific vision). But if Jesus and Mary both have their bodies in heaven, isn’t it necessarily “of this world”, at least within the physical universe? Or else where are their bodies?

And then there is the good ol’ fashioned time problem. In heaven, we are brought into God, yet God is outside of time. So we are brought outside of time into God? But then we have always existed, which is obviously not true. So is heaven still in this world of time, but God recreates it so that with the time there is no change?

Heaven is so confusing. :whacky:

St. Augustine, pray for us!
 
You got me thinking:
Where is Heaven?
How about, where am I?
Where are these thoughts before they show up on the screen? Are they in this room? Where are they that if I am sitting with another person, our thoughts aren’t combined? Shouldn’t it be like hearing two radio stations at the same time?
My perceptions too, where is my visual world? Is it out there in the room?
My existence, my being, is it part of the world about me? Why don’t our beings merge all the time?
How can I begin to contemplate where heaven is, if I don’t even know where this is?
And, when am I?
How is it that as much as time passes, I remain in the moment? When does this moment begin or end? It is clearly finite, but seems also to have no beginning or end. Things happen, change, words spill out on the page; where did time come from and where does it go while I sit here? While the complexity of all this has a past and is rushing towards a future centred on what the little clock says is 4:45 PM, what does this really mean about when I am, if I now am at 4:46? How am I changing and aging when I seem to be outside of time?
I’ll try to get back to your questions when I sort this all out. 😉
 
CrossofChrist said:
Maybe this should go in philosophy? Not sure. But anyway…

Where exactly is heaven? It’s “not of this world” to be sure, and its where we are brought fully into God’s presence and can see him (beatific vision). But if Jesus and Mary both have their bodies in heaven, isn’t it necessarily “of this world”, at least within the physical universe? Or else where are their bodies?

And then there is the good ol’ fashioned time problem. In heaven, we are brought into God, yet God is outside of time. So we are brought outside of time into God? But then we have always existed, which is obviously not true. So is heaven still in this world of time, but God recreates it so that with the time there is no change?

Heaven is so confusing. :whacky:

St. Augustine, pray for us!
Click to expand...
Heaven is with God. Let HIM worry about all the details! God Bless, Memaw
 
Memaw said:
Both, There has to be a place to park our bodies when they get there and also being, existing, with God. God Bless, Memaw
Click to expand...
The reason I was asking is that our pastor, who has Bible Study for us, said the last time that Heaven was a state, not a place. This didn’t ring exactly right with me. I was wondering why Jesus would have said “In my Father’s house there are many mansions” unless he was not speaking literally. Was just wondering what others thought. Although, I don’t know that our glorified bodies would need an actual place to park.
 
lakotak said:
The reason I was asking is that our pastor, who has Bible Study for us, said the last time that Heaven was a state, not a place. This didn’t ring exactly right with me. I was wondering why Jesus would have said “In my Father’s house there are many mansions” unless he was not speaking literally. Was just wondering what others thought. Although, I don’t know that our glorified bodies would need an actual place to park.
Click to expand...
I think heaven is a state of bliss with God and our dead loved ones.
 
I think Heaven exists, I believe the saintly & justified departed are there with the Trinity. Where is it? I don’t know. There are many things humans don’t know. Perhaps in another dimension that we cross into when we leave our bodies?

However, we DO know that at the Last Judgment there will be a New Heaven and a New Earth, so perhaps then they will both be visible to each other, although I believe that in Revelations, it is indicated that after a “millennium”, earth will pass away, and there will be only Heaven and perhaps Hell will also continue in another place, since it is also Eternal, just as Heaven is.

If you are on an Eternal “clock” where there is no difference between a thousand years and a minute (in our terms), it is obviously not HERE. So, it must be somewhere that has no time as we know it. Glorified bodies should not need a “place to park” since they will also be Eternal.

I don’t truly understand it either, but I know I want to be there!🙂
 
Well, to me it makes sense for Heaven to be a place because our bodies are physical and if our bodies are truly to be resurrected then I think we can assume that Heaven is a physical place otherwise our bodies would just be floating around in a bunch of nothingness which definitely does not seem right. However, it should be noted that with our human minds we cannot totally comprehend what Heaven will be like so perhaps the priest could be right.
 
NFrancis said:
Well, to me it makes sense for Heaven to be a place because our bodies are physical and if our bodies are truly to be resurrected then I think we can assume that Heaven is a physical place otherwise our bodies would just be floating around in a bunch of nothingness which definitely does not seem right. However, it should be noted that with our human minds we cannot totally comprehend what Heaven will be like so perhaps the priest could be right.
Click to expand...
At this point, I just wonder did Jesus ascend to a place or a state of being.
 
Ive heard it described as existing on another ‘plane’ or dimension. Ive often heard people that had NDEs, that said the transition was very similar to switching stations on a radio.

I know the military and some research groups are trying to find ways to open doors to other dimensions, but could you imagine if they figured out how to literally access the dimension where heaven/hell are located!
 
Mike: I don’t think any scientist or any military program could “break into Heaven” by technological means! I think that God has a pretty good “lock” on Heaven, and NO ONE is going to get in until after death, or without His consent and certainly not by science! Just because some of us, myself included, think of Heaven as “another dimension” doesn’t mean it really is! That’s my mental means of thinking of the State of Grace which IS a part of Heaven, and necessary to Heaven. Priests often say that Heaven is not a “place” but a “state”. Since that doesn’t resonate with my unscientific mind, and since I’ve read a lot of good Science Fiction, I think of it as existing “alongside” but “outside” the Universe (physical) which is subject to cause/effect and space/time. So, I often think of Heaven as another dimension. Doesn’t make me right – just my way of dealing with something that none of us really understand in this life.🙂

For centuries people have thought of Hell as “down there”, and usually point to the ground. Knowing more science now, we know that it is probably NOT under the Earth. (Unless it’s inside the center of the Earth, which is pure magma – does sound a bit like Hell, doesn’t it? As humans, we naturally think of Heaven as “up there” and Hell as “down there”, but they are both probably simply “elsewhere”. 😃 Hee, hee, would be funny if they broke into Hell though and took a trip through THAT dimensional “door”!! Don’t think they’d take a second trip!:D:D:D
 
To NFrancis:

Why would our bodies be floating around in a “bunch of nothingness?” If God can create the whole Universe, He certainly can create the Mansions of which Jesus spoke, and park them in empty space, or on a cloud, and with our glorified bodies, we couldn’t even fall off!

Mikekle:
As far as where did Jesus go, I think the correct answer is to a “state of being” which we cannot see or access.
 
mikekle said:
Ive heard it described as existing on another ‘plane’ or dimension. Ive often heard people that had NDEs, that said the transition was very similar to switching stations on a radio.

I know the military and some research groups are trying to find ways to open doors to other dimensions, but could you imagine if they figured out how to literally access the dimension where heaven/hell are located!
Click to expand...
Sounds a bit like the Tower of Babel, God Bless.Memaw
 
Its only as confusing as you make it. Trust God, He has it all planned out.
CrossofChrist said:
Maybe this should go in philosophy? Not sure. But anyway…

Where exactly is heaven? It’s “not of this world” to be sure, and its where we are brought fully into God’s presence and can see him (beatific vision). But if Jesus and Mary both have their bodies in heaven, isn’t it necessarily “of this world”, at least within the physical universe? Or else where are their bodies?

And then there is the good ol’ fashioned time problem. In heaven, we are brought into God, yet God is outside of time. So we are brought outside of time into God? But then we have always existed, which is obviously not true. So is heaven still in this world of time, but God recreates it so that with the time there is no change?

Heaven is so confusing. :whacky:

St. Augustine, pray for us!
Click to expand...
Its only as confusing as you make it. Trust God, He has it all planned out. We don’t need to sweat about such things. God Bless Memaw
 
Aloysium said:
You got me thinking:
Where is Heaven?
How about, where am I?
Where are these thoughts before they show up on the screen? Are they in this room? Where are they that if I am sitting with another person, our thoughts aren’t combined? Shouldn’t it be like hearing two radio stations at the same time?
My perceptions too, where is my visual world? Is it out there in the room?
My existence, my being, is it part of the world about me? Why don’t our beings merge all the time?
How can I begin to contemplate where heaven is, if I don’t even know where this is?
And, when am I?
How is it that as much as time passes, I remain in the moment? When does this moment begin or end? It is clearly finite, but seems also to have no beginning or end. Things happen, change, words spill out on the page; where did time come from and where does it go while I sit here? While the complexity of all this has a past and is rushing towards a future centred on what the little clock says is 4:45 PM, what does this really mean about when I am, if I now am at 4:46? How am I changing and aging when I seem to be outside of time?
I’ll try to get back to your questions when I sort this all out. 😉
Click to expand...
Take your time, God Bless, Memaw
 
Memaw said:
Its only as confusing as you make it. Trust God, He has it all planned out.

Its only as confusing as you make it. Trust God, He has it all planned out. We don’t need to sweat about such things. God Bless Memaw
Click to expand...
I’m not “sweating” about it, just curious. 🙂
 
It’s up, as opposed to down. Perhaps it’s dimension that can intersect with our physical world at any point. Maybe it’s around here:** **** “Shalt thou be able to join together the shining stars the Pleiades, or canst thou stop the turning about of Arcturus?” Job 38:31******

😃
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top