Alright this is something I've wondered about for a while. I was raised catholic, and of course we were tought that if you do God's will you get to go to heaven (simplistically putting it).

However, I dont think we ever came across any scripture that actually detailed what heaven is like. I remember hearing something about it 'being surrounded fully by god's love." But for humans that think in more literal terms than that, it's not a very helpful description.

So, I think a lot of us have concocted images of heaven, many of which were borrowed from stories or other religions that give descriptions of the afterlife (greek or norse mythology, bill and ted's bogus journey, etc) and view it as more of a physical place, like a big city in the clouds where we all live in happiness for eternity.

Here's my thing with that. There's no way everyone could ever really be completely happy that way. We cant get along on earth, makes it hard to believe that people would be able to get along in heaven either.

And what if sinning is what makes you happy? Can you run around in heaven having kinky rough anal sex with a group of dutch women?

Although I say I was raised Catholic I really started losing interest by about 7th grade, so Im wondering if someone more versed in the bible can shed some light on what it says about heaven.

And yes, Im only concerned with the biblical religions views on heaven. I dont give a shit about crazy pagan hippie druid crap.

http://tinyurl.com/r4a86

EDIT: TinyURL 4 u.

[This message has been edited by Loc Dogg (edited 09-23-2006).]

Heaven is essentially myth and metaphor.

I sometimes use the phrase "go to heaven," but it is purely a sort of shorthand, meaning "to experience one-ness with Spirit."

Bump to see if anyone else has something to add.

http://local.wasp.uwa.edu.au/~pbourke/fun/heaven/

quote:Originally posted by rent-a-revolution:

http: //local.wa sp.uwa.edu .au/~pbourke/fun/heaven/ (http: //local.wa sp.uwa.edu .au/~pbour ke/fun/hea ven/)

Fuckin A.

That was a good read.