I've heard a lot of people say that they look forward to "Going home", which is in reference to heaven. But I'm a little confused about this. Please, just hear me out.
If we're supposed to be in heaven, why did God put Adam and Eve on the earth in a paradise? What would have been the purpose of putting humans on the earth, simply to die and go to heaven? And when someone dies (especially a child), why do people say "God needed another angel"? If God needed an angel, He could just make one...He's God! I mean, where in the Bible does it say that when babies die they're angels in heaven? This just doesn't make sense!
Please, let's try to act like adults and keep this civil. Thanks.
2007-07-19 08:47:13 · 34 answers · asked by Rachel B 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
BLM: In reference to your comment: "No one can answer why people die WHEN they do." Of course we don't know when we're gonna die. Ecclesiastes 9:11,12 says that "time and unforseen occurence befall them all. For a man also does not know his time."
"A baby has a soul and a very aged person has a soul. I would think that each of those souls are equally as valuable to God and equal in comparison to each other. The souls may be ageless." What about in Genesis where God breathed into Adam's nostrils and he "became a living soul"? (Genesis 2:7) Or Ezekial 18:4: "The soul that is sinning- it itself will die." It says the soul dies, which would go along with the scripture in Genesis that said we are "living" souls.
ncangel89: Could you provide me with a scripture or two to support your statement: "In the bible it states that when you believe in Jesus Christ you get to go to heaven and meet the Father, and live with Him forever"?
Thanks to everyone for their answers!
2007-07-19 09:37:53 · update #1
The Bible doesn't teach that when we die we go to heaven...only a small number of people go to heaven and they have a specific role to fulfill there...that of ruling as kings and priests with Jesus Christ, and also they will help in the judgement of mankind.
(Revelation 5:9-10) “. . .And they sing a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll and open its seals, because you were slaughtered and with your blood you bought persons for God out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, 10 and you made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God, and they are to rule as kings over the earth.””
(Revelation 14:3) “3 And they are singing as if a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders; and no one was able to master that song but the hundred and forty-four thousand, who have been bought from the earth.”
(Revelation 20:4) “. . .And I saw thrones, and there were those who sat down on them, and power of judging was given them. Yes, I saw the souls of those executed with the ax for the witness they bore to Jesus and for speaking about God, and those who had worshiped neither the wild beast nor its image and who had not received the mark upon their forehead and upon their hand. And they came to life and ruled as kings with the Christ for a thousand years.”
Just a few Scriptures to back up this Bible truth.
Also...Jesus speaks of humans inheriting the EARTH...
(Matthew 5:5) “. . .“Happy are the mild-tempered ones, since they will inherit the earth.”
Psalms speaks further about this...
(Psalm 37:11) “. . .But the meek ones themselves will possess the earth, And they will indeed find their exquisite delight in the abundance of peace.”
(Psalm 37:29) “. . .The righteous themselves will possess the earth, And they will reside forever upon it.”
Hope this helped to clarify your point.
~wannaknow~
2007-07-19 16:14:16 · answer #1 · answered by wannaknow 5 · 5⤊ 0⤋
Good question Rachel. The reason it doesn't make sense is because it isn't true. I will try to explain:
1) Heaven - The whole idea of heaven being clouds and harps is such a Greek way of thought and it has infiltrated the church through the years. The Bible never taught that. What the Bible did teach about heaven is clear...that it is coming to the earth. (Isaiah 65, 2 Peter 3:13, Revelation 3:12, 21:11-12)
God's plan in the beginning was not that the two realms would be separated, but that they would be one. Only because of Adam and Eve's sin did separation (death) enter the picture. So to answer your first question; God put Adam and Eve on the earth to enjoy fellowship with His creation...forever! Obviously, when sin entered the picture He had to remove them, because He cannot be in the presence of sin! (Genesis 3:22-24)
So when you ask, "What would have been the purpose of putting humans on the earth, simply to die and go to heaven?" The purpose was to live with us, as He did with Adam and Eve before they fell, forever.
To sum up this point: Heaven and earth are coming together...the way they were meant to. God the Father is coming to the earth to live with His creation. (Revelation 21:2-4) Heaven is not going to be clouds and harps and sashes, it will be cooperating with God the Father in carrying out righteousness in the age to come. Of course we don't understand the details of it, our 3 pound brains were never meant to. What we do know is that we will not be standing around in the sky bored, but glad we're not in hell!
2) Babies Becoming Angels- Ok, this is just plain nonsense and shows the ignorance of those that name the name of Christ. Sadly most of us don't care to open His Word and learn about God. If we did, we wouldn't say things like, "God needed another angel".
We have such a higher status than the angels! Why would we forfeit our birthright to only be a servant of God? We are God's CHILDREN! Not mere servants. Angels, strong and mighty as they are, are servants of God...not created to be sons of the Most High. We are heirs to everything...not only what He tells us to do!!! (Hebrews 1:14, 2:16)
There is far more I could write about but I am wary that you will not read if I write much more. My advice to you is to trust in the Lord and ask Him to show you the answers to your questions, through His Word, not us Yahoo's. He is faithful and wants you to know Him...spend some time with Him, alone and your Bible open...He will speak to you.
Blessings...
2007-07-19 10:15:34 · answer #2 · answered by DB 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Adam and Eve were in a place that was similar to heaven, perhaps, in its beauty, peace, calm...
But they messed up by not obeying God. This changed history forever.
Also, babies are not called into heaven to become angels. There are already a set number of angels that God has created. There will be no more, no less throughout eternity. So he has made all of the angels he needs to make. Humans are slightly above the angels who have certain assignments to take care of us (humans) in various ways. I am not a bible scholar, but I have heard this many times and I have come to believe it.
No one can answer why people die WHEN they do. Whether it is a baby or a very aged person, physical death is iminent for everyone. A baby has a soul and a very aged person has a soul. I would think that each of those souls are equally as valuable to God and equal in comparison to each other. The souls may be ageless.
When the Catholic Church announces that they have concluded that a particular human being should be considered a "saint," I find that innapropriate, despite the fact that there are many wonderful human beings.
Asking questions about the Bible, angels, God, Jesus, etc. is GREAT, however, often it just makes for more questions. What does your own personal spirit tell you about heaven and angels?
2007-07-19 09:09:01 · answer #3 · answered by BLM 3 · 0⤊ 5⤋
I think you are aware of the answer to your question already, as you seem to have given this a lot of thought. Certainly God did not put Adam and Eve on earth to return someday to heaven. They were never intended to die, and had they not sinned, would still be alive today and we would have an entirely different world. But, they did sin.
The Bible tells us directly that : Eccl. 9:5: “The living are conscious that they will die; but as for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all.”
Ps. 146:4: “His spirit goes out, he goes back to his ground; in that day his thoughts [“thoughts,” KJ, 145:4 in Dy; “all his thinking,” NE; “plans,” RS, NAB] do perish.”
He told Adam pointedly: Gen. 3:19: “In the sweat of your face you will eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. For dust you are and to dust you will return.”
So, the dead are in the grave. Until when: John 5: 28 Do not marvel at this, because the hour is coming in which all those in the memorial tombs will hear his voice 29 and come out, those who did good things to a resurrection of life, those who practiced vile things to a resurrection of judgment.
It's difficult and emotional when dealing with the death of little ones, but again, we must look at the Bible for direction concerning this matter as well.
Ps. 51:5, JB: “You know I was born guilty, a sinner from the moment of conception.” (See also Job 14:4; Genesis 8:21.)
Rom. 3:23; 6:23: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God . . . The wages sin pays is death.”
So our little ones too are asleep in death, but they are also loveingly tucked in God's memory and when the time comes for the resurrection, they will once again be united with loved ones. But where will that be?? Again the Bible provides the answer:
Ps. 37:9, 11: “Those hoping in Jehovah are the ones that will possess the earth. . . . The meek ones themselves will possess the earth, and they will indeed find their exquisite delight in the abundance of peace.”
Matt. 6:10: “Let your kingdom come. Let your will take place, as in heaven, also upon earth.”
Ps. 37:29: “The righteous themselves will possess the earth, and they will reside forever upon it.
I hope this makes sense to you. Thank you for such a thoughful question.
2007-07-19 09:35:58 · answer #4 · answered by Suzette R 6 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Psalm 115:16 & Isaiah 45:18 shows that God created the earth for a purpose.
2007-07-19 16:37:00 · answer #5 · answered by Ike 2 · 3⤊ 0⤋
It's simply because that is what people learn at church. That when we die, we go to heaven if good or hell if bad. Of course they conclude that children if dead go to heaven because, like you said, "god needed an angel".
Why would god need another angel, if he has millions and millions of legions of them?
And besides wouldn't taking a child away from his parents be a cruel and unloving thing to do? How can that be since God is love? 1 John 4:8
So your reasoning is correct, it doesn't make sense because that teaching doesn't come from the Bible.
2007-07-19 08:57:30 · answer #6 · answered by Vic the Poet 3 · 6⤊ 0⤋
In a way I think I understand what you're saying. The earth use to be like a paradise...however, man seemed to change that because of the choices and decisions we've made over time. We changed the outcome so to speak.
People say God needed another Angel when a child or someone passes because it seems to them to be the right thing to say....hence, they haven't a clue what to say.
Bad things happen, sometimes for a reason but the reason doesn't always make sense or is right. It goes to say....&$##**% happens. Doesn't make it right....but it does happen...
We all try to live life the best we can, or at least we should. We can't always worry about what the other person is doing, we need to worry more so about ourselves...is this selfish? No, I don't think so. We can't worry about what other's think or say, we need to just do what we feel is right. Sometimes we tend to not do something we feel is important because of the backlash of this decision. However, if we feel like it's important enough to do...we should do it.
People die whether it's children or adult because that's life. I hate to be so matter of fact...but for lack of better words.
I still believe in the power of choice, when 'bad' things happen, we have that power to change the way we react to something. When a child dies, we can either go deep into depression or choose to fight against why the child died so that others can be saved....
2007-07-19 08:59:52 · answer #7 · answered by Barb P 2 · 0⤊ 5⤋
Had Adam and Eve remained perfect they would have stayed on earth forever. Nowhere in the Bible doe's it state that Heavean is for everyone. No one is going anywhere except, eternal life on earth if they obey God.
2007-07-19 10:13:08 · answer #8 · answered by girly GuRl 2 · 5⤊ 0⤋
The Garden of Eden was perfect paradise. Adam and Eve knew no sin. They walked and talked with God in the garden. They were in perfect bliss and fellowship with their Creator. When the Lord first created man we were to all live in perfectness, but sin passed down from Adam and it changed the whole course of events. But one day soon the New Jerusalem which is already created in heaven
( Galatians 4:26 ) will soon come to earth as the City of God
( Revelation 21:1-2 ). And in Heaven everything will be restored back to the way God meant it to be without Satan, his demons, and all who rejected Jesus. God needs another angel?? I'm sorry. I do not know what you are talking about. God doesn't need anyone or thing...we need Him.
2007-07-19 09:05:31 · answer #9 · answered by HeVn Bd 4 · 0⤊ 4⤋
Well, I know sometimes I just get tired, and think it would be nice just to be in heaven, no problems, no bills, no pain. Then I think of golden sidewalks and mansions and rethink a bit, since I'd much rather be in Eden I think than heaven. I like earth, I like the beautiful creatues here, the sun and moon, the forests and lakes. I'm personally hoping heaven is much larger and has those things, which according to Enoch, it does, and more we've never even imagined. It is written that God knew us before our births, so I believe that is where they get the "going home" part. Maybe because in heaven, there will be no out of place, or lost feeling, such as we have here, it will feel like home, a place we fit in and belong.
People don't become angels though, angels are a completely different species. The dead sleep until judgment, after which, if they are deemed worthy, they get to reside in heaven. Children under the age of accountability, which differs with each child's understanding, go straight to heaven, though like I said, they do not become angels. It's a nice thought, and one that many people say because it seems to help ease the pain of losing a child, thinking of them as angels.
2007-07-19 09:08:23 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 5⤋