2007-10-02 04:09:26 · 15 answers · asked by bulletproofmoth 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
because being "up" is usually a good thing, and being "down" is usually thought of as a bad thing.
2007-10-02 04:14:07 · answer #1 · answered by Raku 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Before people had any understanding of the structure of the earth and the universe, they thought that the earth was flat and only a few hundred miles from edge to edge. Heaven was in the sky which people could see was blue and with clouds. They thought that the "firmament" was a kind of ceiling embedded with the sun and stars, with heaven above the firmament. Hell was under the earth where volcanoes and earthquakes come from. That is why hell is always depicted as hot, with lava and brimstone.
The ideas of heaven and hell were based on ignorance -- another good reason for us to discount their existence in modern times.
2007-10-02 11:19:12 · answer #2 · answered by Sandy G 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Because in the bronze-ages they believed heaven was in the sky, up there in the clouds - a place you could actually travel to if only you could fly - and hell was deep underground.
It was only in modern times theologians uncomfortable with their absense decided to relocate them to other dimensions.
2007-10-02 11:16:52 · answer #3 · answered by Leviathan 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Because Heaven is up in the third firmament where God is, and Hell is in the grave or hades where death is.
2007-10-02 11:13:19 · answer #4 · answered by CR 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Because God was in Heaven which is upward,and when God cast Satan out of Heaven,he threw him down away from God.
2007-10-02 11:13:12 · answer #5 · answered by elaine 30705 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
because since we could understand ourselves in any sense, we associated up with the sun and down with the earth. when we die we return to the earth, and the sun gives us life. the trend just continued to make sense when we developed religion (with few exceptions where gods dwelled in the earth), and then when we developed monotheism.
alternatively, we have a vague mass memory of when the aliens came from the sky and genetically engineered us so we associated up with them, and called them gods, which got filtered down to us as God.
2007-10-02 11:21:25 · answer #6 · answered by nacsez 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I don't really know, but my thought is:
Jesus ascended to Heaven
Satan was cast down to Hell
2007-10-02 11:12:57 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
A lack of inter-dimensional spacial awareness on the part of early Christians, I think.
2007-10-02 11:25:19 · answer #8 · answered by 8Dave 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Because the earth used to be flat.
2007-10-02 11:18:50 · answer #9 · answered by Prof Fruitcake 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
and this is why i don't specifically follow a religion. in reality, heaven isn't really up...it's just another dimension, and there really is no such place as hell.
2007-10-02 11:17:01 · answer #10 · answered by **STARR** 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋