Oh, I definitely agree that this life is not the end of growth, but I wonder if it's not so much striving as development or fulfillment...? Once I was pondering what my miscarried babies might be like in Heaven, and it occurred to me that despite their very short lives, they too were created not only with their unique genetic traits, but also fully endowed with a plethora of gifts and talents. And then I pondered all the poor souls throughout history who spent their lives in abject misery due to their circumstances, unable to do anything more than survive. What of their innate gifts? I then had this image of Heaven being the place where, without all the limitations of life and time, everyone was free to become most fully who they were created to be in the eyes of God. What a joy that will be!
I always wonder if God maybe gives unborn souls another shot at life. It would be nice to think so. Although, that would justify abortion to some, so I hope it doesn't become common knowledge if true.
See Urantia Revelation mentioned above Section on the special citrcumstances for growth and healing for pre-born babies and their earthly families. Daune
The only thing I know about heaven is that it will be great. Boredom is a consequence of time. Remove time from the equation and everything will just be great. Not now. Not later. Not even forever. It just will be great.
Not being All That Bright (This being the point where you disagree with me! :-)) it took me until 10-15 years ago to figure out No Time in Heaven. That's why The Bible never really says much about Heaven (or Hell). We have no fame of reference.
This essay reminds me of a passage from The Great Divorce, where the narrator’s guide, George MacDonald, tells him:
"That is what mortals misunderstand. They say of some temporal suffering, ‘No future bliss can make up for it,’ not knowing that Heaven, once attained, will work backwards and turn even that agony into a glory."
Not only will Heaven not be boring, but it will redeem even the boring (or horrid) things of this world—transforming them into something glorious. And from there, as Lewis puts it elsewhere, we go "Further up and further in."
Yup. I do wonder how we humans, trapped in Time, created to strive towards the next goal, will experience Heaven. Maybe this life is a boot camp and there will be new challenges of some kind?
I certainly believe this life is to prepare us for heaven, and I think that's part of why suicide is a sin. Cynical atheists love to tout, "If you know you'll go to heaven, why don't you kill yourself then?" Because if you want sweet fruit, you don't pick it before it's ripe, otherwise it's bitter and sour. Heaven is a place, but it likely requires the correct frame of mind to experience.
Such a strange take from some atheists. Doubt that they have any understanding of Judeo Christianity because suggesting that we avoid living this life that God has specifically created for us would be 100% wrong. So wrong that words fail to express its wrongitude.
What ever Heaven is, it certainly won't be boring, even if it might be repetitive. Maybe that's why Jesus tells us to become like little children again; like two years olds begging to be thrown into the air again, again, and again, never getting tired of it.
The doing/being dichotomy helped me a little with this one.
We shouldn't be concerned with what we're *doing* in the New World, as if what we were looking forward to was what we were going to be doing there, which likely will involve quite a bit of praising and dancing - although, I should point out, the praising and dancing is infinitely more meaningful and enjoyable if you love the one with which you're dancing and whom you're praising, a relationship which presumably did not exist between Satan and the man in that movie. Not to mention, God delights in us as we delight in Him.
No, what's important is not what we're to *do*, but what we are to *be*. We'll *be* in a state of complete love and union with God. Being, being in that state, in itself will be enough, with doing being a mere afterthought.
George MacDonald wrote to his daughter on her birthday: "Darling I wish you life eternal. I daresay the birthdays will still be sparks in the glory." I don't want to miss any part of my eternal life - a big goal...
Your desire for a progressing universe and ever evolving paradise is all core revelation in the Urantia Book. Each paragraph is mind blowing. Book can not be entered by those who are Bible fundamentalists. Inquiring mind necessary. Daune
Oh, I definitely agree that this life is not the end of growth, but I wonder if it's not so much striving as development or fulfillment...? Once I was pondering what my miscarried babies might be like in Heaven, and it occurred to me that despite their very short lives, they too were created not only with their unique genetic traits, but also fully endowed with a plethora of gifts and talents. And then I pondered all the poor souls throughout history who spent their lives in abject misery due to their circumstances, unable to do anything more than survive. What of their innate gifts? I then had this image of Heaven being the place where, without all the limitations of life and time, everyone was free to become most fully who they were created to be in the eyes of God. What a joy that will be!
I always wonder if God maybe gives unborn souls another shot at life. It would be nice to think so. Although, that would justify abortion to some, so I hope it doesn't become common knowledge if true.
See Urantia Revelation mentioned above Section on the special citrcumstances for growth and healing for pre-born babies and their earthly families. Daune
The only thing I know about heaven is that it will be great. Boredom is a consequence of time. Remove time from the equation and everything will just be great. Not now. Not later. Not even forever. It just will be great.
Not being All That Bright (This being the point where you disagree with me! :-)) it took me until 10-15 years ago to figure out No Time in Heaven. That's why The Bible never really says much about Heaven (or Hell). We have no fame of reference.
I’m not exactly the world’s preeminent scholar myself, so I wouldn’t worry about it. That’s why I come here. To learn.
This essay reminds me of a passage from The Great Divorce, where the narrator’s guide, George MacDonald, tells him:
"That is what mortals misunderstand. They say of some temporal suffering, ‘No future bliss can make up for it,’ not knowing that Heaven, once attained, will work backwards and turn even that agony into a glory."
Not only will Heaven not be boring, but it will redeem even the boring (or horrid) things of this world—transforming them into something glorious. And from there, as Lewis puts it elsewhere, we go "Further up and further in."
You’ve given us another something to think and wonder and pray upon. Thank you. This is really an astounding letter.
Yup. I do wonder how we humans, trapped in Time, created to strive towards the next goal, will experience Heaven. Maybe this life is a boot camp and there will be new challenges of some kind?
I certainly believe this life is to prepare us for heaven, and I think that's part of why suicide is a sin. Cynical atheists love to tout, "If you know you'll go to heaven, why don't you kill yourself then?" Because if you want sweet fruit, you don't pick it before it's ripe, otherwise it's bitter and sour. Heaven is a place, but it likely requires the correct frame of mind to experience.
Such a strange take from some atheists. Doubt that they have any understanding of Judeo Christianity because suggesting that we avoid living this life that God has specifically created for us would be 100% wrong. So wrong that words fail to express its wrongitude.
I love that word "wrongitude."
Boot Camp...I like that!
Further up and further in.
What ever Heaven is, it certainly won't be boring, even if it might be repetitive. Maybe that's why Jesus tells us to become like little children again; like two years olds begging to be thrown into the air again, again, and again, never getting tired of it.
The doing/being dichotomy helped me a little with this one.
We shouldn't be concerned with what we're *doing* in the New World, as if what we were looking forward to was what we were going to be doing there, which likely will involve quite a bit of praising and dancing - although, I should point out, the praising and dancing is infinitely more meaningful and enjoyable if you love the one with which you're dancing and whom you're praising, a relationship which presumably did not exist between Satan and the man in that movie. Not to mention, God delights in us as we delight in Him.
No, what's important is not what we're to *do*, but what we are to *be*. We'll *be* in a state of complete love and union with God. Being, being in that state, in itself will be enough, with doing being a mere afterthought.
George MacDonald wrote to his daughter on her birthday: "Darling I wish you life eternal. I daresay the birthdays will still be sparks in the glory." I don't want to miss any part of my eternal life - a big goal...
Your desire for a progressing universe and ever evolving paradise is all core revelation in the Urantia Book. Each paragraph is mind blowing. Book can not be entered by those who are Bible fundamentalists. Inquiring mind necessary. Daune
The new heaven and new earth is going to be a surprise!
Revelation 21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away;