Moggy wrote: Also:
- What if one of your loved ones doesn’t make it into Heaven? Do they get a free pass into Heaven so that you are happy, or do you have the choice to leave Heaven so that you can be with them?
- What age are people in Heaven? I don’t mean physically, but people change mentally as they get older. Does a very young child in Heaven spend eternity with the personality of a toddler? Does a grumpy old person stay grumpy for eternity?
- If repenting and accepting Jesus is all that is required to enter, could Hitler, Fred West and Ann Widdecombe be there?
Speaking purely for my own church, a Christian denomination:
-There are three degrees of Heaven. There's the Celestial Kingdom (where good people who faithfully followed the Gospel, accepting Christ as the Saviour live); the Terrestrial Kingdom (for people who lived good lives but didn't accept Christ); and the Telestial Kingdom (for the wicked, not to be confused with Hell. Only those who had a perfect knowledge of the Gospel but purposely lived sinfully go there. Barely any mortal goes to Hell). All three kingdoms, Celestial Terrestrial and Telestial, are amazing, all better than we can even imagine.
You get to visit your loved ones in any of the lower kingdoms. If you got to Celestial and Aunt Bessie got to the Telestial, you can visit her.
-When we go into Heaven, our bodies become the best version of itself. Diseases, disabilities etc are gone. Old people will be the best version of themselves, which might or might not mean looking young again, that's a personal individual matter for the person again.
At end times, Christ will walk on this Earth for a thousand years. This is known as the Millennium. People who died before they reached adulthood will get a chance to grow up on Earth during this time so that they can experience what it's like to live a full life.
-When we die we go to a type of purgatory before being sorted into one of the kingdoms. Good Christians will go to spirit paradise. Everyone else will go to spirit prison, where they are taught the gospel and given the chance to repent. Those who do repent will then get to go to spirit paradise and, eventually, the Celestial or Terrestrial Kingdom. If Hitler etc had a sincere repentance then yes they'll get to go there but we can't fake repentance. God knows who we really are.
Preezy wrote:I get that if you're an old lonely person desperately scared of dying then the thought of an afterlife can be comforting and quite harmless (although personally, spending ETERNITY mooching around with my family praising God and Jesus whilst eating Philadelphia sounds a bit tedious). Sure, that old person is probably wrong, but if it comforts them then fine. I wouldn't tell an old relative that they were about to enter the infinite nothingness, I'm not a (complete) knobhead. But if some guy knocks on my door and promises me a Heavenly afterlife I'm going to pick holes in his beliefs without mercy.
The concept of Heaven also raises more of those silly questions I get in my head from time to time, the ones I'd love to ask a priest but would probably be asked to leave
:
- If you're surrounded by family and friends in Heaven, how far back in your family tree does that extend to? I don't know my great-great-great-great-great uncle, but I assume he'd be there waiting for me too?
Everyone since the beginning of time gets the chance to go to Heaven, different parts of it depending on their worthiness. Any of your ancestors who ended up in the same part of it as you will be there waiting for you.- Are there dinosaurs in Heaven? Are there pre-humans like Homo-Erectus? Are there Neanderthals in Heaven? Do they speak English?
I'd assume so. Depending on their cognitive abilities, whether they're capable of free will making good choices etc, whether they're accountable for their actions. If they're accountable then they go to Heaven the same way as us, by making good choices. If they're not accountable, aren't capable of choosing how to act, then they're innocents so they get a free pass to the Celestial Kingdom, the best part of Heaven. Similarly if someone has an intellectual disability severe enough to stop them from choosing how to act, they get a free pass to the Celestial Kingdom.- Are there monster trucks in Heaven? Do they run on petrol or something more eco-friendly?
I do not know. We don't have all the answers - Are you allowed to have sex in Heaven?
Yes. Obviously depends on which kingdom you end up in. End up in the sinner's kingdom (Telestial) and you can have sex with anyone and everyone. End up in the good Christian kingdom (Celestial) and you get the chance to become exalted, a God of your own world, if you're married to someone of the opposite sex. You and your spouse have sex, so that you can produce spirit babies who are sent down to the world you create and get to live mortal lives until one day they get to become exalted themselves. God is a mortal of a previous world who became exalted Himself and we are all His spirit children - What temperature is it in Heaven? Is there air conditioning or central heating?
I do not know - Do you sleep in Heaven? Where are all the beds? Do you get your own room?
I do not know- When you get to Heaven are you the person you were when you died, or do you go back to the "prime" years before you got dementia or lost your legs etc?
Your body becomes perfect, the best version of itself. All diseases and disabilities are gone - Are there animals in Heaven? If yes, are there
wild animals? Do they all hunt each other?
Yes there are animals. I do not know about if they hunt. I don't think we'll ever be hungry in Heaven so animals won't have the instinct to hunt each other but that's my own understanding, not doctrine- When the universe eventually dies as a result of entropy, what happens to Heaven?
Heaven can not die. We'll all be in the afterlife long before the universe dies, if indeed the universe will dieI realise I'm being facetious but I think the more questions you ask the clearer it becomes that any concept of an afterlife that you can think of begins to unravel into fantasy pretty quickly.
Not really