Comments on: Discord In Heaven? You Bet!

By: Michael Currie

Michael Currie — Sat, 05 May 2012 16:58:55 +0000

Heaven is the end for which we were created.
There have been times in my life when I have been overwhelmed by unexpected events; watching my 4th child emerge from his mother, my legs gave out and much to my wifes discomfort, I layed across her for support.
The unexpected presence of a loved one has filled me with joy. The list could go on but my point is that I suspect that heaven will be an unexpected joy, joy far beyond our ability to imagine. All of our categories of experience will not and could not prepare us for heaven. Heaven, I think, will consume us.
On music, I’m rather ignorant on the subject but there is one piece that I have listened to many times and each time it has stirred me. Samuel Barbers “Agnus Dei”. I have heard the orchestral version but the one that lifts me the most is Robert Shaws choral rendition.

By: Raymond Takashi Swenson

Raymond Takashi Swenson — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 18:14:45 +0000

The ancient Christian doctrine of theosis, taught by the Eastern Orthodox churches and acknowledged by many Catholics as part of the heritage of Christianity, holds that salvation consists of becoming like Christ in our natures. That implies that the saved will participate in the things that Christ does for eternity. I have faith that Christ will have other interesting things to do after completing the salvation of our planet and its people.

By: m

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 04:20:28 +0000

Peter Kreeft ‘Christianity Today’ “What Will Heaven Be Like?” was helpful for me.

By: pentamom

pentamom — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 15:57:29 +0000

But we won’t be without a body in the resurrection, which is our ultimate destination.

I think there will be ways of experiencing the sensations of discord and resolution that we can now only experience via pain, that we can’t yet comprehend. A world without sin and death is so utterly foreign to us that we can’t conceive of a joy that is like deliverance, without anything to be delivered from — and yet I do thing such a thing might exist in a wholly different world. I think I’m channeling Lewis now.

By: martine

martine — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 23:40:59 +0000

Without tears, there is no empathy. Without empathy there is no emotion. Without emotion there is no music. Getting the notes just right is meaningless with no audience to understand them. What do you hear when you play Bach? Do you hear sorrow? Inevitability? Loss? Frustration? I do. And triumph. But a very sombre triumph. What about Beethoven? Do you hear anger? How is any of that going to mesh with perfect bliss?
Maybe Heaven will be wonderful. But I expect it still will not have the infinite possibility that life offers. Perhaps we won’t miss it. I am not even sure how its possible to feel joy without a body. After all, it is caused by endorphins.