Comments on: On the Description of Heaven

By: Anthony Mator

Anthony Mator — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 03:10:30 +0000

I worked with a non-Christian who had a “near-death” experience. He told me that his disembodied spirit watched his friends jump into a public pool to rescue him, and that he afterward chastised them for jumping into the pool and swimming when it would have been faster to run around to the other side. But the most compelling part of the story was his experience of the spiritual world, which was brief and to the point. As he explained it, “There was no light at the end of my tunnel.” He knew in that moment that he was headed for hell. Until God sent him back.

By: Steve

Steve — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 20:09:23 +0000

“I’m not saying it can’t be done at all, but it seems to me that other than through full-on revelation (as in the book of that name), the sublimeness of heavenly things can only be approached from the side or seen from the corner of the eye.”

But even with full-on revelation like St. John’s, we still only get a partial picture (hence all the confusion over interpreting something like the Revelation).

Whether it’s St. John, or this little boy, or anyone else describing heaven, we always have a finite person with a finite mind trying to grasp something infinite. This side of heaven, we’ll never fully comprehend it. We’ll have to wait to experience it ourselves.

By: Raymond Takashi Swenson

Raymond Takashi Swenson — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 00:36:06 +0000

N.T. Wright, in his book Surprised by Hope, reminds us that, following a period after our deaths, we will be restored to bodily, physical life, but in an immortal state, and “the meek shall inherit the earth,” albeit an earth that has itself received an eternal, though physical, upgrade. The principal part of heaven where we resurrected beings shall live is the earth where we live now. God the Son, and the righteous resurrected, and the earth will all be both physical and eternal. Contrary to the Greek philosophies adopted by Christianity, immaterial beings, which we would be without resurrection, are less in God’s eyes than eternal material beings. That is why the Son went to so much trouble to ensure our resurrection. Christ demonstrated that an eternal physical body is not demeaning to God, but is in fact an aspect of his full glory. Yes, heaven will be like this earth, because it IS this earth.

By: salmon guild

salmon guild — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 19:34:09 +0000

Sort of surprised that there are no comments here yet. Or maybe not. It seems to me that nothing in Christianity is more poorly described than Heaven, or Hell. According to my faith, though, that is where everyone is heading, like it or not. In my fits of honesty, I would admit that I want Heaven to be all of the things I love her on earth, only eternally. And without boredom. The Bible does say that we will glorify God forever in Heaven, and that’s what we’re supposed to do here on Earth. I suppose that I’ll do a better job of it there than I do here.
When it comes down to it, I must say that I can’t even imagine what Heaven, or Hell for that matter, would be like. Perhaps no one else can either, really. I don’t dispute the accounts of those who say they’ve seen Heaven. I just haven’t read any 1st person accounts of Hell. Maybe you can leave Heaven, but not Hell?
Anyway, my early reading about 1st person afterlife accounts was shaped by Dante. Dante’s Hell was interesting, if polemical. The other two places were rather boring, I confess I skimmed them. They seemed colorless.
I don’t spend much time thinking about either place, I guess. I figure God has the whole thing under control, and he’s the Gatekeeper anyway. Nobody will get to go to Heaven or stay out of Hell unless He says so; so in a sense, for me, why get crazy over it?