Hey everyone!
I recently was thinking about heaven. What do you guys think about it? Will we be able to eat?
Will there be sports like on television. Will there be events. Will we talk with God in a telepathic way?
Would we still have seasons/holidays like Christmas. Or will there be no time? Will there be kids?
Will new people come? I can ask questions about this for ages.
I always had this small fear about eternity too. It’s a looong time.
(I didn’t really know what topic to put it in. I was deciding between general or open forum general.
Sorry if i did it wrong!)
I will come back and maybe add more thoughts later, but N. T. Wright’s Surprised by Hope is a book you have to read (after you read all the other books we told you to read, ) It made me cry the whole book because it was just so much better than many of the ideas I had.
Haha! That makes 3 books already! I can’t wait to hear/read what you think about heaven! I have to say thanks for being so helpful and supportive in the small time i have been here. Thanks tons!
How can there be a wedding supper of the Lamb without food? And would it really be heaven without chocolate?
I think heaven will be a perfectly redeemed earth: all the good and beautiful and worthwhile things will endure and all the messed-up things will be set right. And I think we will spend our time (if time exists) doing meaningful work that brings glory to God and is ultimately fulfilling and some of our time just enjoying God’s shalom (which is the state of perfect justice and righteousness).
A very interesting thing to wonder about. I agree with others that if there’s a feast, there must be food.
I used to imagine it as just a bunch of spirits flitting around, having left our bodies behind on earth – but then I’m not sure how we could eat food. I often wonder about how our relationships to each other will play out. If there is no marriage in heaven, does that mean we’ll all be like brothers and sisters to each other, no matter what our relationships on earth? Will we all be the same age we were when we died, or will we be ageless?
I’m just trying to imagine spirits playing football (either kind – though given the international flavor, the Americans may need to have their own little corner to have American football in. Plus side … spirits probably don’t concuss easily. And I can already think of some good cheers for some of the spectators if there are any: “We’ve got spirit … how 'bout you?”
More seriously, though; since the Bible speaks more of heaven coming to earth than it does of us flying away to some heaven, and since we are to get new bodies … it does raise the question: would we have to take care of those bodies? Being immortal, wouldn’t that do something weird to our usual habits of physical activity?
One thing seems theologically certain … whatever the case is; it will be significantly different (in good ways) from how things are now.
No. First part is just me making schput. When I start talking about physical bodies, I’m being more scripturally serious. But even there what we know is vastly outweighed by what we don’t. So I’m glad I don’t have to have all these details nailed down. Jesus is a trustworthy keeper of my future.
Throughout much of history, most of humankind has struggled hard to eke out a living from this earth, and so it was easy to interpret Genesis as implying that work is the curse for disobeying God. One of the good points of modern society is that an ever greater percent of humans can find purpose and pleasure from ‘making a living’. Like you, Christy, I cannot contemplate a Heaven where there is no useful occupation. Postulating that the Scriptural reference to the Kingdom of God could take place on a “redeemed earth” seems orthodox to me. But if , as I hope is the case, the majority of humankind eventually is found worthy of heaven, this planet will be awfully crowded even with resurrected bodies than no longer need nourishment.
Is it too unorthodox to postulate that the spirits that now inhabit our bodies will, upon our demise, enliven other bodies that are created on other planets–perhaps to conscious creatures whose predecessors never fell from God’s grace? Such creatures would have a jump start on the return journey from Alpha to Omega.
Al Leo
) It made me cry the whole book because it was just so much better than many of the ideas I had.
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