i'm just trying to understand why everyone is so convinced the bible says we are going to heaven if we are good when we die. and here's my brief reasoning using three scriptures (though there are more). ecclesiastes 9:5 says the dead are conscious of nothing. john 5:28,29 says there is going to be a resurrection, and psalm 37:10,11 says the meek will inherit the earth. and just a thought, if we were supposed to go to heaven, why create adam and eve to live forever on earth if they weren't meant to be there?
2006-09-01 01:30:52 · 28 answers · asked by iamalsotim 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
When God comes again, to call up all his people he will destroy heaven and create a heaven on earth, in Jerusalem.
Read the book of Revelations for what is to come
2006-09-01 01:38:13 · answer #1 · answered by rachelle105210 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
The idea of going to Heaven has been revealed to men ansd women since the beginning of time. You have to be a born-again-Christian to munderstand this. I must admit I am amased how you have interrpreted the Scriptures. You need guidance and I suggest going to a Christian Website or Helpline.
Charlie told you about the theif on the cross, (well done Charlie). But that is one of merely thousands of references about Heaven. Go to Bible Study Classes, you can find informal groups, and you will understand the scriptures becoming alive to you as you explore the Word of God. You see the dead in Christ are not concious of heaven, until it's too late.
By the way, God didn't say that if you are a good boy/girl you will go to Heaven. Jesus tells us that only those who accept Jesus as the Christ into their lives, will go to Heaven. Also when sin entered the world in Genesis, every perfect thing was exposed to ruin and destruction and the only way back to God was for Jesus Christ to come and bridge the gap as," All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God", but "Praise The Lord" He has given us a way that avoids death and leads to Heaven. It's real, just try it.
2006-09-01 09:19:55 · answer #2 · answered by patch 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I share your opinion, too. I believe there's afterlife in paradise on the earth. However, there is another scripture saying that about 144,000 chosen ones will go to heaven. That's what my old religion says. Some people go to heaven if God decides to take them. According to other beliefs, all good people go to heaven and bad people go to hell. That's a very common interpretation. But the Bible mentioned about God's purpose for mankind to spend eternality on the earth. Some religions took "paradise" as in heaven. Yet, the meanings in the Bible are not always clear.
2006-09-01 08:55:58 · answer #3 · answered by azngurl 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You have to read the Bible prayerfully. Heaven is as real as you are, and many people quote from the Bible passages that are interpreted the wrong way and they also interpretet it the wrong way. I am sure if you want to know the real reason, put your trust in Jesus Christ and ask Him to guide you through your reading of the Bible and don't forget the theif on the cross, when Christ told the theif, "Today you will be with me in Paradise.
When Christ returns to seperate the believers from the non-believers, and they will be taken to Heaven, to a new Earth and a new Home in Heaven. Adam and Eve repenting of their sins, will be there when we are taken from this life. Just think of all the great Bible Characters we shall meet.......exciting, isn't it......!
2006-09-01 08:47:31 · answer #4 · answered by Charlie 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Heaven is right here on earth, after the day of judgement and God and His army has cleaned up THIS, evil world, it will be like where He dwells (Higher Heaven), therefore if the two places are the same in riches and glory then the NEW earth (world) will be concidered to be "heaven" for its new inherritors.
Bear in mind that only the chosen 144,000 will be abidinding with and amongst our Lord in the "Higher Heaven"
Here on earth will be as God created it to be in the beginning, and remember everything was and will continue to be GOOD
2006-09-01 10:45:15 · answer #5 · answered by kizzy041 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
To answer your first question. The Bible does not say we will go to heaven if we are good. The BIble states in Romans 6:23...."But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 10:13 says, " For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Loord shall be saved." Not whosoever is "good" shall be saved. 1 John 5:11 says " And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life (eternal life) is in His Son." These are just a few of many scriptures that state that believing and accepting Jesus death on the cross as the payment for our sins in the only way to go to heaven when we die.
In 2 Cor. 5:1-2 it says "......... we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we goran, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven." Verses 6-8 says, " Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord." Also, 2 Cor. 4: 14 says, " Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you."
When you read in Psalms that the meek shall inherit the earth, read all of the versus preceeding and following. And then read Revelation 21:1-2.
And for your third question God created Adam and Eve for fellowship. He is omniscient. He knew that they would be tempted by Satan in the garden. He knew that they would fall into sin. God is also omnipotent, He did not have to put the tree in the garden for them to be tempted with it. But just like God gives us free will, He also gave Adam and Eve free will. He can control our every thought, feeling, and act. But, he gives us the opportunity to prove that we will either follow His "rules" or not.
I hope that this helps a little bit.
2006-09-01 10:15:10 · answer #6 · answered by ktjokt 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Well of all the answers you have received so far, I have to echo what Patch and Charlie have told you. You have to be a born-again-Christian to understand what God tells us in His Word.
To do this, you must ask Jesus Christ into your life, ask God to forgive you all your sins and live your life in according to Gods Will. Then you will be Saved and your home from then on will be Heaven. This is Paradise, just think of the most beautiful place you can imagine it and multiply it by billions and you might just be near knowing what Heaven is like, and it's all yours to live forever with Christ Jesus our Lord.
2006-09-01 09:47:03 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Because we want to believe there is a point to living and that at the end something good will be there, i don't believe there is any afterlife though, why bother putting us on Earth in the first place, we could of just gone to Heaven.
2006-09-01 08:39:41 · answer #8 · answered by agius1520 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
The concept of heaven predates Christianity and a lot of what the church teaches in not actually found in the Bible but is based upon traditions going back to earlier times.
The idea of heaven is a mix of the general polytheistic afterlife (valhalla, the otherworld, elysium etc) and the Zotoastrian traditions that infulenced most monotheistic religions.
2006-09-01 08:35:17 · answer #9 · answered by monkeymanelvis 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
The only way you're getting to heaven is if you ask forgivness and repent and ask Jesus Christ to come into your heart, because you get to heaven through Jesus. The Bible is the Word of God. And Jesus is the Son of God, I don't care what anybody says.
2006-09-01 08:44:24 · answer #10 · answered by tracy211968 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋