why is heaven above...in space there is no above or below?

Answer 1

it was an ancient metaphor; "above" offers a better strategic position, and a better view of ground-level, thus it makes sense to attribute these atrributes to one's deity/ies. Also, the power to defy entrapment on the earthly level would seem quite potent as well.

the ancients had no comprehension of a universe where "above" an "below" were irrelevant terms, any more than they understood gravity.

Answer 2

In the old days it was thought that the universe was spherical. The earth was in the center and the moon, sun and planets floated in clear spheres that were concentric like the layers of an onion. The moon was in the first sphere, then the sun, then each of the planets had a sphere, then the sphere of the stars. The earth was the only place where the Devil had some control, the 'sub-lunary realm', meaning the area inside of the sphere of the moon. Outside that sphere everything was 'the heavens'. All the heavenly bodies were moved by God in perfectly circular orbits in perfectly spherical 'realms'.

Outside the sphere of the stars was -heaven-. In fact when you see pictures done in these days you often see angels and stuff in the corners of the pictures to represent heaven.

This was an Aristotelian view but was adopted by early Jews and Christians, and was believed all through the Middle Ages, at least until Copernicus decided that the Sun, not the Earth, was the center of the universe (which was also wrong but closer to the truth). The Catholic Church fought against the new model of the universe for a century because they thought if people believed it they would lose their faith. But finally the evidence was so great that the Church had to give up the fight. We are having the same fight today over evolution and homosexuality. Science always wins in the end!

Now that we understand better the shape of the universe, 'heaven' is metaphorical. There's nothing to say that it can't be in a parallel universe!

Answer 3

Well... you have to understand the universe that god created, per Genesis. It wasn't very big. It consisted of a pre-existing glob of water which god divided with a solid 'firmament' (the sky)... half on the heaven-side, half on the earth-side. (By the way... this accounts for why the sky is blue... it is a solid, transparent crystalline dome, with about a mile of water all over it.)

From the earth-side water, god caused dirt to emerge... then got busy poofing plants and animals into existence, and fabricating the first man and woman from a dust bunny and a rib. This was about 6 thousand years ago. Meanwhile, just outside the garden gates... in the REAL universe... while god was puttering around the Garden of Eden... the Mesopotamians were busily making beer.

Heaven is 'above' because it is on 'the other side of the (solid) sky'.

Answer 4

Because heaven is only a concept. And how can hell be "below"? Below for everyone on the planet is either outer space, or it's the center of the earth, or the opposite side.

Answer 5

Up above or down below, what is the problem. Heaven and hell both mythical places, who says it is not the other way around.

All this came about because in the bible it says that Jesus arose and later "ASCENDED" to heaven.

I don't see any elevators or stairways in spite of what the song says.

Answer 6

Heaven is above the earth, not outside the earth. It's within the atmosphere of this planet. In the Bible it says that Abraham (old testament) was sitting in front of his tent and God lowered himself out of the sky and became visible to Abraham which means God couldn't have been too far up.

Answer 7

We know that NOW. The concept of heaven dates to a time when the Earth was still flat, before the ancient Greek scholars renovated it and made it spherical.

Answer 8

Here is a little Poem on this subject:

God is telling the Man

You believe me to be High in Sky above on Man of Earth.
You search for me with a Telescope
You are not aware of the truth
I am here, there and in everything that is
search me in your heart
if you don't agree!

Answer 9

Heaven might not literally mean above or hell literally means below. Like you can't see God, he is too clean, you can't see heaven with mortal eyes.

Answer 10

Would it make more sense if someone said the heaven below, or the heaven completely encircling us, or how about the heaven which has arbitrary direction?


Whatever, get over it.