What exactly is heaven?

Question

And what is hell?

Answer 1

they are both scare tactics to get people to do what the church wants you to do

Answer 2

the bible describes heaven as the dwelling place of god the father & jesus the son , the risen christ . where after the return of jesus , the saints will live for 1000 years having the oppurtunity of viewing the judgment before living on a fully recreated earth.
the kingdom of heaven can also be felt here & now with a small taste by knowing the peace jesus offers through repentance &the holy spirit.
contary to popular culture , hell is not a place of eternal torment . the hebrew word for hell ( from where the old testament was translated ) simply means the grave . so hell is the second death the wicked experiece when fire is rained down & they are put in to the lake of fire (this will start at the end of the thousand years. ) they will only burn until their sinful flesh is consumed
( like a piece of paper , once it's all burnt , the fire will go out )
after this they will be no more , as if they never where , they just cease to exist ( why would a loving god submit his created beings to eternal torment ? )

Answer 3

Heaven an Hell are not places. They are states, concious states. As in the Spiritual state the presence of time and space do not exist. there is no tomorrow or yestyerday in Heaven and Hell. There is only the state of presence. Only physical things respond to time and space.
All sorts of teachings have evolved. Heaven being a reward for being good, Hell a place where you go when God punishes you if you do wrong.The fact is that God wants people to chose Heaven. God does not punish and send people to Hell,a negative state. A person with a free will choses the state he wants to be in after death. People after death will chose the society the are best synchronised with. Thieves will associate with thives and so on,they can only be happy to be with the same kind, people who hate others will associate only with people like themselfs. No person shou;d fear Hell, he or she can make a choice. A believe and will to join Heaven,or peaceful loving people is needed and the believe in the supreme being that is in the spiritual Form of man.religious membership of any church or organisation is irrelavent. A Church is a guide for learning but in itself has no merit whatsoever.
The Hebrew word in the old testament explains the meaning of Heaven as a state. The word Shamayim is two words. The word sha is a prifix and means above, being above or being superior. The word Mayim mean Waters, yes waters, the word water in the plural form. The reason for this is that the ancient people understood the corespondences in the srciptures. Water(s) coresponds to knowledge,selfawarenes, selfconciousnes. So, Heaven,it ltteraly means being in a higher state, a higher conciousnes. The old Hebrew language was different than the modern english. It was customary to call a being by his qualities or abilities. Therefore it was written that God said: Let US make man in our image. No, there were not two gods present or angels. It simply meant the qualties of God. US meant the Love and Wisdom of God.
Also, there are three different words in the original hebrew writings, which we interpret as making and creating. The word BARA was of specific meaning. This difficult word was interpreted as: Let the Earth bring forth... God made things,created things, and the other word means Bring forth, not a good translation. The real meaning is that god provided Evolution. Bring forth means that God created the elements, rain, natural and spiritual laws. The Earth was allowed to be on a sort of automatic pilot.We see the evidence, if it rains things grow, food is produced and so on. It is like when we give a cook ingredients. We do NOT make the meal, we provide the incredients. The cook will bring forth,a good or maybe bad meal, even if the incredients are perfect. If we disturb those laws and cause polution and more we are part of evolution. Therefore people ask, if God created everything and it was very good as is written, why we have poisones snakes, moscitoes, vermins, roaches and the such. Those creatures have not been deliberatly created, like some farmanimals, but are rather a consequence of evolution.Unfortunately religions teach to seperate science and evolution from God.God is the Master Scientist and he allowed evolution so we better understand his work,but we have failed to understand.
If there was no free choice and god had put us all in Heaven and we would have to be obidient as a rule and not as a free personal decision, we would be Robots. We need good and bad positive and negative, to be able to make a choice and differenciate.So we can be disgusted with Theft, immorality, greed violence and deception and more, and be happy to know we can make a choice and reject it. In Heaven, people who not think alike, in a honest and good way, are not allowed to comenear you. At the state the world is in, this thought alone makes the concept of Heaven, a state of peace and absence of evil very desireable.

Answer 4

Heaven:

The word 'heaven' has two meanings:

1.The sky or universe as seen from the earth; the firmament. Often used in the plural.

2. Paradise / Jannah.

The Qur'an contains many references to an afterlife in Eden for those who do good deeds.

Heaven itself is commonly described in the Qu'ran in verse 35 of Surah Al-Ra’d:

"The parable of the Garden which the righteous are promised! Beneath it flow rivers. Perpetual is the fruits thereof and the shade therein. Such is the End of the Righteous; and the end of the unbelievers is the Fire, wherein a person dwells forever."

Since Islam rejects the concept of original sin, Muslims believe that all human beings are born pure and will naturally turn to God, but it is their environment which influences them to choose ungodly ways of life.
In Islam, therefore, a child who dies automatically goes to heaven, regardless of the religion of his or her parents.

The highest level of heaven is Firdaws (فردوس), which is where the prophets, the martyrs and the most truthful and pious people will dwell.

Hell:

Hell is the eternal abode of souls damned by the judgment of God. The souls in hell are deprived forever of the sight of God.

The punishment of hell is generally analogized to earthly fire.

Answer 5

They are whatever you want them to be.

Heaven to everyone is different depending on religion and specific interests. If you are christian and love donuts then your heaven is a giant donut hole with god and jesus sitting on top while you eat only donuts all day but gain no weight.

Hell is the opposite of whatever you love and desire. So using the same example, hell would be a world where there are no donuts and you can only eat..say...cauliflower covered in mustard.

Basically, my bad examples are just saying that it is something left to be determined by the wonderers.

Answer 6

Heaven, I believe, is the present habitat of Father God's throne and the place of construction of the New Jerusalem. It is in the spiritual plane of existence which exist along with the physical world of human beings.It is inhabited by all spiritual beings including Almighty God, Jesus Christ, angels of all ranks. Some at different levels and areas.
Hell is the kingdom prepared for satan and his minions and followers.

Answer 7

It is impossible to know.All i can say is it will be revealed to us after Christ comes to judge the living and the dead.Those who are judged in God 's favor will be with Him.Those who have rejected Him will go to hell.Again no body knows what hell is .I don't think it is the popular conception of fire and eternal burning.I think it is a place of unimaginable loneliness through not being able to see God.Of course these are my thoughts only.

Answer 8

According to the Bible, Heaven is eternal life in the presence of God.

Hell is eternal damnation, or separation from God.

Brightest Blessings

Answer 9

Heaven & Hell are in the other life.
Heaven is for beleivers , those who obey Allah & were good persons in life.
Hell is for nonbeleivers , those who dont obey.

in life each action has its reaction.

in job if u did well ur boss will rewarded u, if u missed up ur boss will punish u.
so it is the way in the other life.

Answer 10

Heaven is often thought of as a place, but I think it's better to think of it as a spiritual state of being in perfect and perpetual union with God.

Hell is also perpetual -- but instead of being in union with God, it involves eternal separation from Him.

.

Answer 11

I married her. Hell would be living without her