If heaven or hell is a place on earth?

Question

There was a story read out in assembly when I was about 15 (a long time ago now!), that said:-

A man visited hell, everyone was starving even though there was a table full of food, all that were their had a five ft pair of chopsticks each.
A man visited heaven, everyone was well fed, yet they also had a table of food and five ft chopsticks.
The answer was simple, in heaven they were feeding each other.

What is your ideal world, how would you make heaven a place on earth?

Answer 1

Nubile young vixens taking care of my every need on an island paradise.

Answer 2

Organize nations into being like-minded communities. The Christians can all live together in one, Jews have theirs, Muslims have one, pagans have one, atheists, Buddhists, etc and then each nation can elect a representative for when peacekeeping conventions are held. No nation can tell any other what to do, as long as rules of benevolence are followed.

Potential conflict I see is Satan-worshippers conflicting with Jews as the Satan-worshippers (not to be confused with Satanists because I am unaware if it's part of that established religion or not-but you get the point) will think any ol kind of animal sacrifice is ok

I think it's wrong to think that everyone can follow the same religon and be happy. You can't make a zebra be a horse, they're just a little different. There are different types of animals, different types of humans.

I see religious/societal organization as the most essential factor in a perfect world.

Answer 3

Thanks for sharing such a lovely story! It is indeed very effective and allegorical. This does make me think though. How would I for example, make sure that the world is a heavenly place with dining tables full of food, and each diner with a pair of five feet long chopsticks, trying to feed one another? But could there be the full purpose to those long chopsticks? Could that be to ensure that a person after feeding others is himself being fed too? This is what I would do to make life into heaven – to ensure, using five feet chopsticks of course, that I am being fed too while I feed others. I think it is fair :)

Answer 4

The story comes from Dante's inferno and the only rule
is: You can eat as much as you like but you can only use the chopsticks.

It's simple... Heavan has always been here on earth it's just that some people have closed there eye's to the truth within!

Heavan cannot be a state of mind becasue there is to much suffering here... Anybody who thinks otherwise is living in a dream world which is not reality!

Answer 5

Life is made easier if you work with people who work with you rather than against you. Unfortunately, sometimes people cannot see that what you do is good for everyone in the long term. They see only short term consequences, which can mean conflict. Long term solutions require everyone looking to the same future so that people work together.

Hell is a place where people do not share the same vision about the future. Heaven is a place where people have the same goals.

Answer 6

at latest there are 3 levels of Heaven. 1st point is the ambience, the air, that's why devil is spoke of as the prince of the air. 2d point is area. third point is the universe. The third heaven is the place our spirits pass as quickly as we die if we are in Christ. After Jesus 2d Coming, God brings Heaven, the hot Jerusalem right down to earth which Jesus restores, refurbishes, renews. Jesus reigns and regulations in this New Jerusalem on renewed Earth = Heaven. at latest hell is someplace different than Heaven or earth and could be solid into the Lake of hearth after the super White Throne Judgment, alongside with devil and everyone who refused Jesus and His salvation for us. wish this facilitates

Answer 7

I do not mean to hurt anyone ...... but do want to honestly say what I feel.

This kind of idealistic stories and ideas are appeasing to start with but fail to sustain in the real world. I believe 'virtue of selfishness' is a better practical approach........ one must realise that nothing comes free and everything needs to be earned........... that is the universal law, the irrefutable cause-effect chain. We need to be taught to co-operate rather than help each other ....... we need to learn to work together for the benefit of all rather than work for each other's benefit........ that is the natural path which alone can be practically sustained. Wisdom is to realise that our self interest is dependent on others rather than to idealistically believe that we should value others more than self.

Answer 8

I used to beleive that this existence we are in was hell, and leave for heaven when we die, like learn what we are supposed to and then go back home. But now I kinda think that heaven is outside of this existence (like another demension) and our real home. Hell is the state that we put ourselves in when we do things we subconsously think are wrong, like we knowingly or unknowingly taint ourselves. I think heaven (home) is always accessible, but it's depends on our own accesibility whether we get back home.

Answer 9

I think we have all been feeding each other all along and one day someone opened their eyes to see who was feeding the other persons body, then all hell broke out in the world. and so the story goes, keep your head down and your eyes closed, eat what is placed before you , don't grumble or bite. don't even fight or you may find yourself out of a life. A.M.H.

Answer 10

Heaven on would be this planet living in peace. Where you could go walking alone without constantly looking over your shoulder, Where children can be safe in the streets and on the web, Where there is no war over religion.
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Answer 11

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