Get a Spot in Heaven

All About Heaven

Originally the term "heaven" referred to the sky or the area above the earth where the "heavenly bodies" are placed. This is the main meaning of the word in the Bible. It was considered the dwelling place of God and his angels. However, with time, the term came to be used also in the sense of the abode of the righteous at some point after death. This is supported by a few verses in the Bible, but the Bible tends to use other terms, such as Paradise, for this. (See below for other terms.) While there are abundant and varied sources for conceptions of Heaven, the typical believer's view appears to depend largely on his religious tradition and particular sect. Generally religions agree on the concept of Heaven as pertaining to some type of peaceful life after death related to the immortality of the soul. Heaven is generally construed as a place of happiness, sometimes eternal happiness. A psychological reading of sacred religious texts across cultures and throughout history would describe it as a term signifying a state of "full aliveness" or wholeness. In ancient Judaism, the belief in Heaven and afterlife was connected with that of Sheol (mentioned in Isaiah 38:18, Psalms 6:5 and Job 7:7-10). Some scholars asserted that Sheol was an earlier concept, but this theory is not universally held. One later Jewish sect that maintained belief in a Resurrection of the dead was known as the Pharisees. Opposed to them were the Sadducees who denied the doctrine of Resurrection (Matt. 22:23). In Christianity, heaven is either an eternally blessed life after death or a return to the pre-fallen state of humanity, a second and new Garden of Eden, in which humanity is reunited with God in a perfect and natural state of eternal existence and[citation needed] generally they believe this afterdeath reunion is accomplished through faith that Jesus Christ died for the sins of humanity on the cross, was resurrected and "bodily" ascended into heaven. [citation needed] Examples of the highly divergent terminology referencing the concept of "heaven", in the Christian Bible are: the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:3), the kingdom of the Father (Matthew 13:43), life (Matthew 7:14), life everlasting (Matthew 19:16), the joy of the Lord (Matthew 25:21), great reward (Matthew 5:12), the kingdom of God (Mark 9:46), the kingdom of Christ (Luke 22:30), the house of the Father (John 14:2), city of God, the heavenly Jerusalem (Hebr., xii), the holy place (Hebrews 9:12; D. V. holies), paradise (2 Corinthians 12:4), incorruptible crown (1 Corinthians 9:25), crown of life (James 1:12), crown of justice (II Timothy iv, 8), crown of glory (1 Peter 5:4) The diversity of references make it probable that the term refers to a direct experience of full spiritual aliveness or unity with God. In Eastern religions (and some Western traditions), with their emphasis on reincarnation and moksha (liberation), the concept of Heaven is not as prominent, but it still is present. [citation needed] In Buddhism, for example, there are several heavens, all of which are still part of Samsara (illusionary reality). Those who accumulate good karma will be reborn[1] in one of them. However, their stay in the heaven is not eternal—eventually they will use up their good karma and will undergo a different rebirth into another realm, as humans, animals, or other beings. Because Heaven is temporary and part of Samsara, Buddhists focus more on escaping the cycle of rebirth and reaching enlightenment (Bodhi). In the native Chinese Confucian traditions Heaven (Tian) is an important concept, where the ancestors reside and from which emperors drew their mandate to rule in their dynastic propaganda, for example. In Hindu belief, likewise, heaven—called Swarga loka—is seen as a transitory place for souls who did good deeds but whose actions are not enough for moksha or merging (union) with Brahman.[citation needed] The popular belief of most faiths is that one enters heaven at the moment of death. This, however, is not part of the doctrine of all of Christianity (see Swedenborgianism for a Christian related religion that does have this doctrine). Some of Christianity along with other major religions maintain that entry into Heaven awaits such time as, "When the form of this world has passed away." [citation needed] Two related and often confused concepts of heaven in Christianity are better described as the "resurrection of the body", which is exclusively of Biblical origin, as contrasted with "the immortality of the soul", which is also evident in the Greek tradition. In the first concept, the soul does not enter heaven until the last judgement or the "end of time" when it (along with the body) is resurrected and judged. In the second concept, the soul goes to a heaven on another plane immediately after death. These two concepts are generally combined in the doctrine of the double judgement where the soul is judged once at death and goes to a temporary heaven, while awaiting a second and final physical judgement at the end of the world.(*" JPII, also see eschatology, afterlife) The idea of Heaven as a physical place has existed since the dawn of religion and human civilization.[citation needed] In some early religions (such as the Ancient Egyptian faith), Heaven was a physical place far above the Earth in a "dark area" of space where there were no stars, basically beyond the Universe. Departed souls would undergo a literal journey to reach Heaven, along the way to which there could exist hazards and other entities attempting to deny the reaching of Heaven. One popular medieval view of Heaven was that it existed as a physical place above the clouds and that God and the Angels were physically above, watching over man. With the dawn of the Age of Reason, science began to challenge this notion; [citation needed] however Heaven as a physical place survived in the concept that it was located far out into space, and that the stars were "lights shining through from heaven". Several works of written and filmed science fiction have plots in which Heaven can be reached by the living through technological means. An example is Disney film The Black Hole, in which a manned spacecraft found both Heaven and Hell located at the bottom of a black hole. [citation needed] In the modern age of science and space flight the idea that Heaven is a physical place in the observable universe has largely been abandoned. [citation needed] Religious views, however, still hold Heaven as having a dual status as a concept of mind or heart, but also possibly still physically existing in some way on another "plane of existence", dimension, or perhaps at a future time. [citation needed] According to science there are unobservable areas of the universe (everywhere beyond earth's Particle horizon), although by their very nature it is not possible to observe them. [citation needed] In Christianity it is believed that Heaven is a spiritual place, unreachable by humans and only to be entered after death. As a spiritual location it could be located somewhere within the known universe and as humans we would be unaware of its presence and unable to see it, or it could be located in another dimension or plane of existence. [citation needed] Many of today's Biblical scholars, such as N.T. Wright, in tracing the concept of Heaven back to its Jewish roots, see Earth and Heaven as overlapping or interlocking. Heaven is known as God's space, his dimension, and is not a place that can be reached by human technology. This belief states that Heaven is where God lives and reigns whilst being active and working alongside people on Earth. One day when God restores all things, Heaven and Earth will be forever combined into the 'New Heavens' and 'New Earth'.