I don't really spend much time thinking about heaven. That may come as a surprise, but it really shouldn't. Looking through the Bible, one does not see much of anything in terms of details when it comes to heaven. In other words, we simply know little to nothing of its details.
First things first. Heaven is not an eternal, disembodied state of clouds and harps. While I'm pretty sure that no one actually thinks of heaven as "flying around on clouds playing harps", I am convinced that this imagery holds the imaginations of many people as containing some seeds of truth.
When God created Adam and Eve, it is interesting to notice the details of how that took place. God formed man from the dust of the earth, breathed into him and THEN he became a living being. What this means is that existing in a bodiless state is unnatural for man. Being bodiless is not what we were meant for. While I am uncertain of the feasibility or possibility of astral projection, I do know that such a feat would be unnatural. Man was not made to exist outside of his body. (This also touches on another subject, that of the relationship between body and spirit, but that will have to be for another time.)
Second, that being said, the Bible and the historic church are not silent, either, in this regard. We do know SOME things about eternity, and we should take great solace in that we do know. We know that at the final judgment, all men will be resurrected (i.e., brought back together with their physical bodies) and will stand before God and give answer for the lives they led. They will not be punished for sins, for Jesus already died for the sins of all men. This is, surely, not to say that all men will enjoy eternity in bliss with God. No, some will be separated from him, by their own choice. They will have formed their souls, so as to want nothing to do with God, for eternity.
After the final judgment and after the separation of the righteous from the unrighteous, the righteous will inherit the earth. In other words, we will get earth back. We will live forever, in a physical/spiritual reality. And even more importantly, we will live forever, free from the horrendous assaults of sin.
That is what we do know. We will be free from the power of sin and the power of death. We will be in perfect communion with God and with those around us.
We dare not speculate on anything else. The simple fact that this blessed state to which we look forward, is beyond anything we have even remotely experienced. It will be completely "other". Any fabrication of our imagination will completely miss the point and, most likely, be structured by our passions and our fleshly weakness.
All we have known, up to this point in our lives, is the wretched, ever present, influence of sin.
To know that we will be free from sin, for eternity, should be enough to motivate us to prepare for that, in whatever way we should.
First things first. Heaven is not an eternal, disembodied state of clouds and harps. While I'm pretty sure that no one actually thinks of heaven as "flying around on clouds playing harps", I am convinced that this imagery holds the imaginations of many people as containing some seeds of truth.
When God created Adam and Eve, it is interesting to notice the details of how that took place. God formed man from the dust of the earth, breathed into him and THEN he became a living being. What this means is that existing in a bodiless state is unnatural for man. Being bodiless is not what we were meant for. While I am uncertain of the feasibility or possibility of astral projection, I do know that such a feat would be unnatural. Man was not made to exist outside of his body. (This also touches on another subject, that of the relationship between body and spirit, but that will have to be for another time.)
Second, that being said, the Bible and the historic church are not silent, either, in this regard. We do know SOME things about eternity, and we should take great solace in that we do know. We know that at the final judgment, all men will be resurrected (i.e., brought back together with their physical bodies) and will stand before God and give answer for the lives they led. They will not be punished for sins, for Jesus already died for the sins of all men. This is, surely, not to say that all men will enjoy eternity in bliss with God. No, some will be separated from him, by their own choice. They will have formed their souls, so as to want nothing to do with God, for eternity.
After the final judgment and after the separation of the righteous from the unrighteous, the righteous will inherit the earth. In other words, we will get earth back. We will live forever, in a physical/spiritual reality. And even more importantly, we will live forever, free from the horrendous assaults of sin.
That is what we do know. We will be free from the power of sin and the power of death. We will be in perfect communion with God and with those around us.
We dare not speculate on anything else. The simple fact that this blessed state to which we look forward, is beyond anything we have even remotely experienced. It will be completely "other". Any fabrication of our imagination will completely miss the point and, most likely, be structured by our passions and our fleshly weakness.
All we have known, up to this point in our lives, is the wretched, ever present, influence of sin.
To know that we will be free from sin, for eternity, should be enough to motivate us to prepare for that, in whatever way we should.
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