Is 'Heaven' an empty promise?

Question

No one knows what happens when we die. In reality we can only hold speculation. Why promise the gift of the afterlife when no-one has ever come back from the dead and told us?

Is it something just to keep sheeple christians in line?

Answer 1

I think it's far more than that, friend. It's fear of the "unknown".

People fear what they do not understand. That's human nature. The "invention" of the biblical Genesis was just such a situation......a NEED to explain where we came from. Of course, with today's knowledge, it's easy to see that they were very wrong.......we didn't just "pop" up, we evolved.

Fear of death is typical, for the simple reason that death is the end of the natural state, AS WE KNOW IT. Yes, there is something after death.......there are more than enough instances of contact from the afterlife to show that. However, the question here goes deeper......once we are dead, are we aware???

If, indeed, there is a "heaven", then we should be consciously aware of it, right? Meaning........we should be able to actually interact (talk, smell, see, etc) with this place of existence if our conscious flow is operational. However, most evidence shows that, short of Hollywood's ideals, virtually all instances of "hauntings" are nothing more than "place memory"......where an action or occurance repeats itself on occasion. They are not deliberate actions on the part of the deceased......they are simply occurances that come with the place itself, and humans are the ones who think we can actually interact with them, not the spirits.

Answer 2

There is no thing such a place call "Heaven"

Most people guided bye experience, the only official source of the True, will agree that here on Earth is both Heaven and Hell.

If you imagine that in Heaven every one is good , healthy and there is no need for nothing, then how can you be good an be able to help, etc.

We come here "To Be" and "To Be Happy".

Learning, trough experience, and following the Rules of Life we became happy, and we evolutionate, then we can help, teach, heal, and be good.

Low evolutioned people are not happy and live in Hell, look their actions, is easy to see why.

It will take several lives. So that will happen when we die, born again to keep our learning process.

Answer 3

no b/c it is something that you can feel in your heart ; things that have happened to you during a lifetime that give you that faith; it is really a feeling within you ; the spark of life that binds each and every person to each other; yes, man has taken it to extremes, but we are warned about this in the bible; people get to be fanatics, priests tell who and who can't come to church to get married, baptized etc; man has corrupted the church on earth but if you take it back to basics ; to the message and leave that in your heart , you know that there are way too many unknowns; way too much we don't know; way too much out there ; way too much that has happened to earth to not acknowledge that there is a higher power that has your back if you want it; unfortuately sometimes, it is just in your heart and faith; why some have difficulty and others do not, I have no answer but even if there is a small part of you to say, let me give it a try and give up a problem totally to God in his time and space, you will be surprised. Heaven is there ; sometimes there is such a great day, it is beautiful out and you feel wonderful now that has to be just a speck of what heaven is like.

Answer 4

Many have experienced NDE and have provided insight to the atmosphere of Heaven and hell.
And aren't you glad we Sheep Christians have a Good Shepherd to keep us in line? At least you know what you get when you come across us.
I am saddened that many who proclaim to be Christian are so uptight and judgemental. Christ was neither. He doesn't judge us- it's our thoughts and actions that condemn us.
Regardless of Heaven and ever lasting life; what I have now surpasses anything I knew before. I prefer to live in joy and love. It makes this whole Earth thing so much more.
I look forward to Heaven and am told I'm much closer to it than I'd planned. No worries. Literally, I have no worries.
As far as no one coming back... Jesus did. I don't suppose you consider Him a viable example.
And if Heaven is all that and a bag of chips- why would we want to come back?
This journey is one we all make alone- unless we love Jesus. Then He is our guide and companion whichever side we're on.
I choose to be His sheep. I choose love. Be blessed brother.

Answer 5

Depends on whether you think of it as a place where you sit on clouds and play harps all day, or if you actually know what and where it will be according to the Word.
Well, whats written is that it will be right here on earth, just like it was in the last earth age.
Thats from the original manuscripts.
No, thats not an empty promise.

Answer 6

Joh 14:1 Do not let your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.
Joh 14:2 In My Father's house are many dwelling places. But if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you!
Joh 14:3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I am coming again and will receive you to Myself, that where I am you may be also.

Jesus died, and rose again. He spoke of Heaven as a real place. I tend to believe Him over the speculations of finite, sinful, foolish humans.

2Co 12:2 I know a man in Christ fourteen years before--whether in the body, I do not know, or out of the body, I do not know, God knows--such a one was caught up to the third Heaven.
2Co 12:3 And I know such a man--whether in the body or out of the body, I do not know; God knows--
2Co 12:4 that he was caught up into Paradise and heard unspeakable words which a man is not permitted to speak.

Answer 7

Why do people need a carrot to do the right thing? I have studied 32 planes, incarnations in form and formless, of which the human plane is only the 4th from the bottom, however I do not need to believe in heaven or the like to have morals and values.

Answer 8

My heaven is what I make of my life right here on Earth. I do not anticipate a heaven after my death - so I maximize my living so I can have a taste of heaven every day.
It takes so little to stop to smell a flower, take a moment longer to look at a sunset, give a small gift to a child, pass a buck or two to someone who is down on his luck. These things are heaven to me - not the fabled pretty version with angels and wings and harps...

Answer 9

You are correct.

Here is an awesome article on conciseness written by Steven Pinker.

He talks about enjoying the life we have here now, at the end.
It is titled: The Mystery of Consciousness
http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816...

Steven Pinker is the Johnstone Family Professor in the Department of Psychology at Harvard University. Until 2003, he taught in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT. He conducts research on language and cognition, writes for publications such as the New York Times, Time, and Slate, and is the author of six books, including The Language Instinct, How the Mind Works, Words and Rules, and The Blank Slate.

Answer 10

Yes. However, No.
There is no hope for me when I know that there is no heaven.
When I tried to believe, I could see my negative thoughts as actually sinful. I could do my best to put on a happier face, etc.
As my last shred of hope that I could rationalize this faith came over me, I couldn't keep my head up.
Finally, the notion of bearing the cross gave me strecngth through metaphor, and that is the closest to heaven I will ever come.
Bearing a goddamned symbolic cross.
Well, the thing is, originally there was no heaven, per se.
You did good things, and you truly prospered here on this very earth.
You did bad things, you got crapped on your whole mortal, earthly life.
Then suddenly there was hope that god would resurrect buried bones, and that god would fix up some dust around them to create bodies and breathe ruach, or wind/spirit, into the people again.
This could not happen unless you had been good.
Butthis paradise was to be here, on this earth.
Later, there were to be 144,000 people chosen to ascend bodily and spiritually into the heavens to be with the mother, Oh I mean, the father, in heaven. That is the first Christian notion of ascension into heaven, into a place that is not bound to occur at a later point in time, on this earth.
And then suddenyl, it wasn't that 144,000 would rise, it would be ALL people who believed and were good enough.
But then if you were a little unpure, you'd have to go to purgatory to become pure.
So then another notion, purgatory, got tacked on. Etc., Etc.
Whatever.
If I could be stupid enough to believe, my dear,
I would never let myself down!