is heaven all its "cracked up" to be?

Question

think about it, in heaven there is no sadness, no sin. therefore no free will.

in the bible it says we will spend all eternity praising god.

we will be praising the very same god who sent our loved ones and family to hell to be tortured for eternity. the very same god who was portrayed as murderous in the bible. and we will be forced to be happy when we do it.

so in all honesty, how does that sound like a place you'd want to go?

Answer 1

i'm going to the summerlands! but no, their heavens sounds very boring and torturous.

Answer 2

The God you're describing is a misrepresentation of God. I don't want to go to heaven because my hope is toi live here on earth when the meek inherit an world free of suffering. We'll al (heavenly creation and earthly) still have free will, but we'll also be free of suffering. Think of this: people become depressed when they retire if they feel useless because we need work. God assigned Adam and Eve work when he placed them in the beautiful, perfect garden of Eden. God's purpose is to restore Paradise conditions on the earth and those who go to heaven will be "kings and priests" with Christ over the earthly subjects. Find out more, talk to Jehovah's Witnesses or check out the website below!

Answer 3

First of all:
Everyone that is in heaven has given up everything to be there, including sin. No one in heaven, therefore, will want to sin and destroy the peace that they have fought so hard to win. "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin..."1John 3:9. God will try people while they are living on earth to see if they will give up sin and no one who will be in heaven that would sin there.

Second:
The wicked do not burn in hell forever. They will burn for a time in proportion to how they lived on earth. Those who have never really known the truth, but who have lived fairly honest lives will not burn very long. Jesus, talking about the punisment of the wicked "And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal." Matt. 25:46 Also look at this "For the wages of sin is *death*; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" Rom. 6:23. So, obviously, the punishment of sin is death as you see in the quote from Romans and in the quote from Matthew, that punishment of death is everlasting. Not the burning. Our God is a God of mercy, he would not let people that he created suffer and burn in hell forever. Take a look at this example from today:
A person was found guilty of murdering his wife and children. The judge sentenced him to death by the electric chair. Now, see, the lasting punishment is death, not the electricution. It's the same thing with hell, it's only a means of death.

My Third Point:
When the righteous are taken to heaven, they will be able to look at the record books that God keeps in heaven about everyone and the life that they led. We will be able to see that God was just and right for sending those that he did to hell.

Fourth Point:
There will be sadness in heaven for those wicked that had to die because of the way that they chose to live. The righteous will know beyond all doubt that heaven is the most wonderful and glorious place to live and they will be sad because the wicked did not want to go to heaven and spurned God's gracious gift. Remember, God sent Jesus, His beloved Son, to die for a world of sinners because he did not want us to die. God could have destroyed the whole world, but He didn't. Instead He sent His Son to die a horrible death on the cross of Calvary. What more could you ask for. Those who are not in heaven are not there because they chose not to be there. Sadness will not last forever. How could it when you are standing at the side of Jesus Christ our Savior?

Always remember:
"Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him." 1Cor. 2:9

"For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." Rom. 8:18

Answer 4

Lets clear up some misunderstandings here shall we? The word heaven in the bible is often wrongly translated from the word meaning paradise. Paradise is a place on earth. When heaven is rightly translated it is often from the word Kosmos, which as any scientist will tell you means 'heavens'. We will not go to the heavens, we will go to paradise.

Secondly, there is always free will. Those who go to the paradise will do so because they chose to love God. They will praise him as a natural response to all the good things he has done for them in getting them out of the trap the adversary has made this world into.

There will be no more tears and sorrow because there will be no thoughts of those who did not make it. (From my understanding of the texts it is apparent that it is so easy to acheive the way into paradise that most will get there without actually knowing they have.) Those that do not will have chosen not to despite every attempt of God to help them. They will be the truly evil ones who have literally sold out to the devil and will rightly and justly deserve their fate.

Hell is not a place of torment and fire,. in both the Greek and Hebrew languages of the bible, the word hell translates as 'gravedom' meaning the grave and by implication death.

Those who are in hell are those who are dead. They are in the grave.

For those who do not make it into paradise it will mean the second (and final) death. Not eternity of suffering, but eternity of non existance. This is why there will be no more memory of them. They will no longer exist.

We will not be forced to be happy. We will be happy becuase of our love for God and each other and becuase of God's love for us, not only to get us out of the adversaries dominion and setting us free, but also becuase of his day to day love for us and the blessings he will continue to confer on us.

The idea of heaven being where everyone goes and hell being a place of judgement comes from a perversion of the truth of God and has been perpetuated by the enemy of God to convince people that God is not love and not just.

It is the enemy's attempt to discredit God by the use of slander and lies.

Anyone who promotes it knowing this is guilty of the same lies and slander.

There will be no sadness in paradise becuase there will be no evil to trouble and hurt people. Not becuase of lack of free will, but becuase no one in their right mind wants pain and suffering. They want to be free and to be peaceful and without pain and suffering.

That is what God will give them. The freedom to be free of pain and suffering, torment and heartache, and all the other hurtful, deceptive and destructive ways of the enemy.

Imagine a world where you are free to let children enjoy their childhood without some monster, pervert or other freak trying to harm them? Where everyone wants to love and help one another and to enjoy their lives without the strife and burdens and fear of today. That is just some aspects of the paradise God is talking about.

So now, in all honesty, where would you rather be?

And more to the point, who would you rather listen to?

Answer 5

c'mon chippy, is that all you get from studying religion?

Answer 6

I'll let you know when I get there.

Answer 7

summerlands will be wonderful.

Answer 8

yes and more