Does Heaven Exist?

[Meriweather]

I've always wondered why God protected me when I didn't believe in Him? My family wasn't religious or church-goers. When my sister sneered at me and told me there was no Santa Claus I felt so betrayed I never believed much of anything anybody told me after that....seriously! One thing led to another and without divulging what changed that, suddenly it became apparent I'd be dead and gone but for Divine Intervention. An inch or two either way, a delay in getting onto a freeway, a missed phone call....any or all of which could have led to my death...but it didn't. I could no longer believe in "luck" and hate that word because there is no such thing as "luck"...it's all His hand on us.

Once I had an experience of God's love, and my immediate understanding wasn't, "This is how God loves me," my immediate understanding was, "This is how God loves all--including me." We aren't loved to the capacity we deserve to be loved--nor can we love others to the capacity to which they deserve. The other issue is that we do not have full understanding of one another--so magnify that to the nth degree and we gain the realization of how little we understand God.

God protected you because He loves you, and (I have reason to believe) protecting you in this manner is what was in your best interest, it what was what you required and who you are.

It is funny the reaction people have upon being told the truth about Santa Claus. I was amazed and delighted. As a child I could not imagine adults could not only still play a game of Let's Pretend--they could make it better than any childhood game of mine. I could hardly wait until I grew up and could play Santa. I also developed a different view of adults and adulthood.

 

[Mindful]

I find the concept of being up in Heaven and being an angel kind of.....difficult to fathom. I fully believe in God and I remember my Mother telling me she'd still be looking after me when she was gone. So I always feel her presence when I speak to God...that assures me she lived a good enough life to be with Him. But is she in Heaven or back on earth in a new body with a new soul, yet knowing about me and thinking about me although she has no vivid memory of me in her new mind. Zen teaches us nothing is born and nothing dies; just changes form and I tend to believe that. How can so much knowledge and wisdom and funny stories be gone because our heart stopped beating? I'd prefer to believe it isn't.

I saw my grandpa in a night vision when I was in my thirties. He had passed before I was sixteen. It seemed odd to me because we were sitting on a white porch swing (at that time had never had a white porch swing) and he was telling me, "Everything is going to be alright". At the time I had no clue about so many attacks against us in the works, like my book keepers scheme to embezzle $27,000.00 or a pissed off resentful judge that was mad because he would not be getting a friend of mine's position when the friend retired.

I'll go with the word on a new name and with that comes a new (possibly a temp body) for the living soul that I am.

My deceased mother was holding me in her arms and hugging me. Was that a dream, wishful thinking, a mental aberration?

 

[Meriweather]

If there was undeniable indisputable proof of no God, then you could not be an atheist. You would not need to be.

Except...by definition, one cannot prove a negative. Isn't trying to prove there is no God is in itself an admission that God is?

Example: I don't go around trying to disprove pink unicorns, because there is nothing to disprove. Yet many show up on religion forums with the intent to disprove God. Atheists would make more sense (and perhaps have more of an impact) simply by not trying to disprove what they do not believe exists.

 

[Mindful]

If there was undeniable indisputable proof of no God, then you could not be an atheist. You would not need to be.

Except...by definition, one cannot prove a negative. Isn't trying to prove there is no God is in itself an admission that God is?

Example: I don't go around trying to disprove pink unicorns, because there is nothing to disprove. Yet many show up on religion forums with the intent to disprove God. Atheists would make more sense (and perhaps have more of an impact) simply by not trying to disprove what they do not believe exists.

Yes. Agree.

 

[Sunni Man]

Why don't you ask me if I believe in Heaven and Hell, instead of skating around the issue?
It would be more honest.

So asking a Jew a question about Jewish beliefs is somehow dishonest? ...

If you asked me, "do Muslims believe in Heaven and Hell"?

I would have no problem answering, "Yes, we believe in a literal Heaven and Hell, much like the Christians do".

No wonder the Palestinian people have such difficulty deal with the yahudi who rule Israel. ....

 

[RodISHI]

I find the concept of being up in Heaven and being an angel kind of.....difficult to fathom. I fully believe in God and I remember my Mother telling me she'd still be looking after me when she was gone. So I always feel her presence when I speak to God...that assures me she lived a good enough life to be with Him. But is she in Heaven or back on earth in a new body with a new soul, yet knowing about me and thinking about me although she has no vivid memory of me in her new mind. Zen teaches us nothing is born and nothing dies; just changes form and I tend to believe that. How can so much knowledge and wisdom and funny stories be gone because our heart stopped beating? I'd prefer to believe it isn't.

I saw my grandpa in a night vision when I was in my thirties. He had passed before I was sixteen. It seemed odd to me because we were sitting on a white porch swing (at that time had never had a white porch swing) and he was telling me, "Everything is going to be alright". At the time I had no clue about so many attacks against us in the works, like my book keepers scheme to embezzle $27,000.00 or a pissed off resentful judge that was mad because he would not be getting a friend of mine's position when the friend retired.

I'll go with the word on a new name and with that comes a new (possibly a temp body) for the living soul that I am.

My deceased mother was holding me in her arms and hugging me. Was that a dream, wishful thinking, a mental aberration?

I had many other night visions previously before that so it wasn't just a totally strange thing for me. There is a verse in Job about the Lord putting in those instructions in a Man's dreams to hide his pride(ful nature) as we are prideful creatures here. It wasn't until about ten years later that I truly sought to understand it all (meaning the cumulative of what I had seen both in the spirit and experiences). For some of those things while the holy spirit was with us I really had to question myself what if; was real or not because it was so much that came all in a very brief time (I was very concerned about making mistakes thinking something that was not). I wondered if the things I was seeing like a scroll flying through the air and resting before me was real or not. This is why Jesus said we must examine our selves and that is whether it is just a little or a whole lot. The spirit and how it works is generally a mystery to us but it is most definitely real, more real than the flesh beings (skins) we are now abiding in.

 

[Mindful]

Why don't you ask me if I believe in Heaven and Hell, instead of skating around the issue?
It would be more honest.

So asking a Jew a question about Jewish beliefs is somehow dishonest? ...

If you asked me, "do Muslims believe in Heaven and Hell"?

I would have no problem answering, "Yes, we believe in a literal Heaven and Hell, much like the Christians do".

No wonder the Palestinian people have such difficulty deal with the yahudi who rule Israel. ....

There are no "if"'s, because I'm not going to ask you. I'm not going to talk about the Palestinians either.

The I/P thread is that way--------------->

 

[WillPower]

My deceased mother was holding me in her arms and hugging me. Was that a dream, wishful thinking, a mental aberration?

What do you think it was? I'm 71 and have only been a true Believer for maybe ten years. I was arrogant and self-righteous and then I got wiped out by the Wall Street bastards. And I probably deserved it because I was trying to double my fortune to lure another man's wife to me. I wondered how this could have possibly happened and then it occurred to me I'd been a decent man but not a good man. I started thinking about all the close calls (Vietnam, motorcycles, street fights, encounters with a bear and a cougar, hundreds of women without catching Hep or AIDS) and one day I just sat there laughing and I knew why I was still around and not in a wheelchair or blind, or dead. And I fell to my knees and I raised up my arms and thanked Him and I know He heard me because that day I started making money again and starting my life over.

 

[Meriweather]

My deceased mother was holding me in her arms and hugging me. Was that a dream, wishful thinking, a mental aberration?

Along with other Catholics I believe we can ask anyone (either the living or those who have passed on) to pray with us. One time I was in a bind wondering how I was ever going to make ends meet, so I asked both my grandmothers (who had passed on) to pray with me for a solution. They promptly ratted me out to my mother.

Two days later I received a phone call from my mother (we lived in different parts of the state) and she asked me how I was. I said we were all doing well, and how was she. She said, "If something is wrong, I wish you would tell me. You see, the other night I had a very vivid dream about my mother, and she said you needed my help. Even though it was an extremely vivid dream, I just passed it off as a dream. Then last night I had another extremely vivid dream, and this time it was your dad's mother insisting that you needed my help. So, am I going crazy, or do you need help?" I fessed up, my mom helped me--and after that I was very careful about asking my grandmothers for their prayers (after I thanked them for that time, of course).

 

[Mindful]

My deceased mother was holding me in her arms and hugging me. Was that a dream, wishful thinking, a mental aberration?

What do you think it was? I'm 71 and have only been a true Believer for maybe ten years. I was arrogant and self-righteous and then I got wiped out by the Wall Street bastards. And I probably deserved it because I was trying to double my fortune to lure another man's wife to me. I wondered how this could have possibly happened and then it occurred to me I'd been a decent man but not a good man. I started thinking about all the close calls (Vietnam, motorcycles, street fights, encounters with a bear and a cougar, hundreds of women without catching Hep or AIDS) and one day I just sat there laughing and I knew why I was still around and not in a wheelchair or blind, or dead. And I fell to my knees and I raised up my arms and thanked Him and I know he heard me because that day I started making money again and starting my life over.

Do you think there's a price to pay? A day of reckoning? For all of us? One way or another?

 

[Sunni Man]

There are no "if"'s, because I'm not going to ask you. I'm not going to talk about the Palestinians either.

The duplicity of the Tribe is legendary.

No wonder they have been driven out of countless countries throughout history. ....

 

[RodISHI]

My deceased mother was holding me in her arms and hugging me. Was that a dream, wishful thinking, a mental aberration?

What do you think it was? I'm 71 and have only been a true Believer for maybe ten years. I was arrogant and self-righteous and then I got wiped out by the Wall Street bastards. And I probably deserved it because I was trying to double my fortune to lure another man's wife to me. I wondered how this could have possibly happened and then it occurred to me I'd been a decent man but not a good man. I started thinking about all the close calls (Vietnam, motorcycles, street fights, encounters with a bear and a cougar, hundreds of women without catching Hep or AIDS) and one day I just sat there laughing and I knew why I was still around and not in a wheelchair or blind, or dead. And I fell to my knees and I raised up my arms and thanked Him and I know he heard me because that day I started making money again and starting my life over.

Thank you for sharing. This is the valley (earth) is where judgment and justice takes place. It happens in the flesh and the battle takes place in the spirit. We are given over (subject ourselves). If we are not on the right path something will come along to steer us in that direction; whether we see it or not is a different story. Should add in here that for some its merely a learning experience so one can gain understanding.

 

[Mindful]

There are no "if"'s, because I'm not going to ask you. I'm not going to talk about the Palestinians either.

The duplicity of the Juden is legendary.

No wonder they have been driven out of countless countries throughout history. ....

Stop it!

 

[WillPower]

Do you think there's a price to pay? A day of reckoning? For all of us? One way or another?

Good question. I told a friend of mine that I'd discovered that God had been watching over me all along and he said: "Are you sure he's not just keeping you around to torture you?" I was shocked speechless because he'd insulted me so viciously, yet so nonchalantly, I admit my faith was tested. And he had just joined the MORMON church. He later admitted he did it to keep his wife because that church demands fidelity...they also believe their founder came from outer space. So yes, there will be a reckoning and points will be totaled for and against. Was I kept alive and well to atone for my past behavior? maybe....I won't know until the moment comes and I have some explaining to do. All any of us can ask for is a fair hearing.

 

[Mindful]

Do you think there's a price to pay? A day of reckoning? For all of us? One way or another?

Good question. I told a friend of mine that I'd discovered that God had been watching over me all along and he said: "Are you sure he's not just keeping you around to torture you?" I was shocked speechless not because he'd insulted me so viciously, yet so nonchalantly, I admit my faith was tested. And he had just joined the MORMON church. He later admitted he did it to keep his wife because that church demands fidelity...they also believe their founder came from outer space. So yes, there will be a reckoning and points will be totaled for and against. Was I kept alive and well to atone for my past behavior? maybe....I won't know until the moment comes and I have some explaining to do. All any of us can ask for is a fair hearing.

My daughter is in Thailand, and was invited to a monks' ceremony. She said it was wonderful, and one of the monks said a special prayer for our family.

 

[WillPower]

My daughter is in Thailand, and was invited to a monks' ceremony. She said it was wonderful, and one of the monks said a special prayer for our family.

I took my 5-day leave in Bangkok....beautiful countryside and I'd like to think although we couldn't save the Vietnamese, we probably saved Thailand from the communists. Buddhists have a calm about them you'll never see in a Catholic priest and I think we know why. Although I'm probably a Christian and not Catholic, (I still cross myself before and after I pray) I've had enough teaching in the world of martial arts to have an awe about eastern philosophies, particularly the Zen koan talkers.

 

[SweetSue92]

When most atheists and theists discuss God, one thing that always stands out as an enormous problem is the existence of suffering and evil, despite many atheists not believing in the latter. They argue: how could an all-loving, all-powerful God create such a world of perpetual misery punctuated by brief moments of joy? The short answer to that profound, emotional moral question is: Freedom of the Will and an eternal afterlife of bliss, void of any pain or suffering.

On moral evil, God gives us freedom to choose what to do rather than use us as puppets, rendering us soulless. However, with this freedom, some people unwittingly inflict suffering onto themselves, while others inflict it onto other human beings. As for natural evil (earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, etc), such phenomena are requirements for sustaining a stable, functioning earth, thus maintaining the survival of human creatures lucky to escape the fatal consequences of the above.

For instance, in a Godless universe, a tsunami killing thousands of people is both good and bad: bad for those unfortunate people who suffered and died, but good for the marine life which feasts on the victims who drowned. This brings us on to the subject of Heaven: does it exist and will the victims of tsunamis or other fatal misfortunes, both moral and natural, go there?

For if it does exist, then any Christian who drowned and was killed in a tsunami or any other natural disaster and is redeemed by God, will have his or her earthly sufferings curtailed while entering the bliss of eternal life in Heaven.

Does Heaven Exist?

You know I really love this quote by G.K. Chesterton. Those of us who believe in God, and Heaven, and all that entails...I find we are content enough just to glimpse at the mysteries. Others demand all the answers, NOW. For my part, if I could grasp all the answers, NOW, that would not be a God worthy of my worship, would it?

“The poet only asks to get his head into the heavens. It is the logician who seeks to get the heavens into his head. And it is his head that splits.”

 

[SweetSue92]

There are no "if"'s, because I'm not going to ask you. I'm not going to talk about the Palestinians either.

The duplicity of the Tribe is legendary.

No wonder they have been driven out of countless countries throughout history. ....

Give it a rest.

 

[SweetSue92]

Do you think there's a price to pay? A day of reckoning? For all of us? One way or another?

Good question. I told a friend of mine that I'd discovered that God had been watching over me all along and he said: "Are you sure he's not just keeping you around to torture you?" I was shocked speechless because he'd insulted me so viciously, yet so nonchalantly, I admit my faith was tested. And he had just joined the MORMON church. He later admitted he did it to keep his wife because that church demands fidelity...they also believe their founder came from outer space. So yes, there will be a reckoning and points will be totaled for and against. Was I kept alive and well to atone for my past behavior? maybe....I won't know until the moment comes and I have some explaining to do. All any of us can ask for is a fair hearing.

You are not admitted to Heaven based on points totaled. No one, not ONE of us, could ever "earn" enough points to be holy enough for God. The Bible says all our righteousness is like 'Filthy rags". (Isaiah 64:6) Not only that, but God is so immeasurably holy and perfect that a single stain of sin makes us unfit for Heaven. He does not make it that way to be "mean". It's who He is. It's an immutable characteristic.

The only way we can gain entrance to Heaven is to be perfect, like Him, like we were created. That is impossible for us; it is possible with God. We can "take on" the imputed Righteousness of Jesus Christ. All His righteousness then becomes ours. It is a free gift of salvation.

That is not to say we won't be judged. We will. We will then be rewarded for what we have done, and if we are not fit for Heaven, punished according to what we have done. But on our own, we cannot gain Heaven.

Your friend should not have said that to you, btw. God does not keep people around just to torture them--He takes no pleasure in the suffering of humans. It sounds like that came from a place of sheer unhappiness, maybe animus.

 

[ding]

When most atheists and theists discuss God, one thing that always stands out as an enormous problem is the existence of suffering and evil, despite many atheists not believing in the latter. They argue: how could an all-loving, all-powerful God create such a world of perpetual misery punctuated by brief moments of joy? The short answer to that profound, emotional moral question is: Freedom of the Will and an eternal afterlife of bliss, void of any pain or suffering.

On moral evil, God gives us freedom to choose what to do rather than use us as puppets, rendering us soulless. However, with this freedom, some people unwittingly inflict suffering onto themselves, while others inflict it onto other human beings. As for natural evil (earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, etc), such phenomena are requirements for sustaining a stable, functioning earth, thus maintaining the survival of human creatures lucky to escape the fatal consequences of the above.

For instance, in a Godless universe, a tsunami killing thousands of people is both good and bad: bad for those unfortunate people who suffered and died, but good for the marine life which feasts on the victims who drowned. This brings us on to the subject of Heaven: does it exist and will the victims of tsunamis or other fatal misfortunes, both moral and natural, go there?

For if it does exist, then any Christian who drowned and was killed in a tsunami or any other natural disaster and is redeemed by God, will have his or her earthly sufferings curtailed while entering the bliss of eternal life in Heaven.

Does Heaven Exist?

First one would have to define what heaven is.

My faith teaches that heaven is being eternally united with the Creator of existence.

Everything I have experienced and observed tells me this is possible.