Heaven

2) Heaven may also refer to the endless planets, stars, and galaxies of the universe. The Bible says: "When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers.
Table of contents

There is no other way possible to go to heaven but by the Son of God. Here are seven things I wish everyone knew about heaven. Jesus did, indeed, promise that He left the earth to go and prepare a place for those who would eventually follow Him to heaven. On that point, the Bible is unmistakably clear. As Christians, we are right to find comfort in that promise.

Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When we do, this pleases our Lord who has prepared a place there for us. We should be ever-motivated by the anticipation of heaven. Heaven and all that it represents should be a central object of our attention in this life. In the book of Matthew, Jesus reminds us that not everyone will enter heaven.

We are taught in the Bible that in eternity many people will seek to enter heaven, but will be stopped and turned into hell instead. There are three heavens described in the Bible: The first heaven is what is called the firmament or sky that covers the earth. This is the realm of birds and clouds that surrounds the entire earth. The second heaven is where the sun, the stars and the moon reside. This is the space beyond the earth and it covers the entire universe. The third heaven is unseen and is the residence of God, including Jesus Christ.

This is where the dead martyrs and the saints are today. This is the location of the throne of God and where the holy angels surrounding His throne sing day and night, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord our God.


  1. Undersea Colonies.
  2. Golf Etiquette?
  3. Theatre of the Rule of Law (Cambridge Studies in International and Comparative Law).
  4. 2. Will we recognize our loved ones in heaven? Will they recognize us?!
  5. Heaven | Definition of Heaven by Merriam-Webster.

We can conclude that there is such a specific place as the third heaven. It is always spoken of as being above the first and second heaven. In addition, since these first two heavens are actual places we should also conclude that the third heaven is a real place too. Because Heaven is temporary and part of samsara , Buddhists focus more on escaping the cycle of rebirth and reaching enlightenment nirvana. Nirvana is not a heaven but a mental state.

According to Buddhist cosmology the universe is impermanent and beings transmigrate through a number of existential "planes" in which this human world is only one "realm" or "path". According to Jan Chozen Bays in her book, Jizo: Guardian of Children, Travelers, and Other Voyagers , the realm of the asura is a later refinement of the heavenly realm and was inserted between the human realm and the Heavens. In the Mahayana world view, there are also pure lands which lie outside this continuum and are created by the Buddhas upon attaining enlightenment.

Rebirth in the pure land of Amitabha is seen as an assurance of Buddhahood, for once reborn there, beings do not fall back into cyclical existence unless they choose to do so to save other beings, the goal of Buddhism being the obtainment of enlightenment and freeing oneself and others from the birth—death cycle. The Tibetan word Bardo means literally " intermediate state ". The heaven of devas "with power over others' creations". These devas do not create pleasing forms that they desire for themselves, but their desires are fulfilled by the acts of other devas who wish for their favor. Vasavatti , who has longer life, greater beauty, more power and happiness and more delightful sense-objects than the other devas of his world.

The world of devas "delighting in their creations". The devas of this world are capable of making any appearance to please themselves. The world of the "joyful" devas. This world is best known for being the world in which a Bodhisattva lives before being reborn in the world of humans. The ruler of this Heaven is Indra or Shakra, and the realm is also called Trayatrimia.

Beyoncé - Heaven

Ajita the Licchavi army general was reborn here. Any Buddhist reborn in this realm can outshine any of the previously dwelling denizens because of the extra merit acquired for following the Buddha's teachings. The heaven "of the Four Great Kings". In the native Chinese Confucian traditions, Heaven Tian is an important concept, where the ancestors reside and from which emperors drew their mandate to rule in their dynastic propaganda, for example.

Heaven is a key concept in Chinese mythology, philosophies and religions, and is on one end of the spectrum a synonym of Shangdi "Supreme Deity" and on the other naturalistic end, a synonym for nature and the sky. After their conquest of the Shang Dynasty in BC, the Zhou people considered their supreme deity Tian to be identical with the Shang supreme deity Shangdi. Heaven is said to see, hear and watch over all men.


  1. Hard Boiled Eggs and other Psychiatric Tales?
  2. 5 Questions About Heaven - Answered by Billy Graham!
  3. The Fortune-Hunters.
  4. The Undertaking: Life Studies from the Dismal Trade.
  5. What is heaven like & where is heaven? | leondumoulin.nl.

Heaven is affected by man's doings, and having personality, is happy and angry with them. Heaven blesses those who please it and sends calamities upon those who offend it. Other philosophers born around the time of Confucius such as Mozi took an even more theistic view of Heaven, believing that Heaven is the divine ruler, just as the Son of Heaven the King of Zhou is the earthly ruler.

7 Things I Wish Everyone Knew About Heaven

Mozi believed that spirits and minor gods exist, but their function is merely to carry out the will of Heaven, watching for evil-doers and punishing them. Thus they function as angels of Heaven and do not detract from its monotheistic government of the world. Mozi, Will of Heaven , Chapter 27, Paragraph 6, ca. Mozi criticized the Confucians of his own time for not following the teachings of Confucius. By the time of the later Han Dynasty , however, under the influence of Xunzi , the Chinese concept of Heaven and Confucianism itself had become mostly naturalistic, though some Confucians argued that Heaven was where ancestors reside.

Worship of Heaven in China continued with the erection of shrines, the last and greatest being the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, and the offering of prayers.

Primary menu

The ruler of China in every Chinese dynasty would perform annual sacrificial rituals to Heaven, usually by slaughtering two healthy bulls as a sacrifice. Traditionally, Christianity has taught that Heaven is the location of the throne of God as well as the holy angels , [26] [27] although this is in varying degrees considered metaphorical.

In traditional Christianity, it is considered a state or condition of existence rather than a particular place somewhere in the cosmos of the supreme fulfillment of theosis in the beatific vision of the Godhead. In most forms of Christianity , heaven is also understood as the abode for the redeemed dead in the afterlife , usually a temporary stage before the resurrection of the dead and the saints ' return to the New Earth. The resurrected Jesus is said to have ascended to heaven where he now sits at the Right Hand of God and will return to earth in the Second Coming.

Various people have been said to have entered heaven while still alive , including Enoch , Elijah and Jesus himself, after his resurrection. According to Roman Catholic teaching , Mary, mother of Jesus , is also said to have been assumed into heaven and is titled the Queen of Heaven.

The Gospel of Matthew frequently uses the phrase " Kingdom of Heaven ", where the other Synoptic Gospels speak of the " kingdom of God ", one of the key elements of the teachings of Jesus in the New Testament. It is our meeting with the Father which takes place in the risen Christ through the communion of the Holy Spirit. Attaining heaven is not the final pursuit in Hinduism as heaven itself is ephemeral and related to physical body. Only being tied by the bhoot-tatvas, heaven cannot be perfect either and is just another name for pleasurable and mundane material life.

According to Hindu cosmology , above the earthly plane, are other planes: Since heavenly abodes are also tied to the cycle of birth and death, any dweller of Heaven or Hell will again be recycled to a different plane and in a different form per the karma and "maya" i. This cycle is broken only by self-realization by the Jivatma. This self-realization is Moksha Turiya, Kaivalya. The concept of moksha is unique to Hinduism and is unparalleled. Moksha stands for liberation from the cycle of birth and death and final communion with Brahman.

With moksha, a liberated soul attains the stature and oneness with Brahman or Paramatma. Different schools such as Vedanta, Mimansa, Sankhya, Nyaya, Vaisheshika, and Yoga offer subtle differences in the concept of Brahman, obvious Universe, its genesis and regular destruction, Jivatma, Nature Prakriti and also the right way in attaining perfect bliss or moksha. In the Vaishnava traditions the highest Heaven is Vaikuntha , which exists above the six heavenly lokas and outside of the mahat- tattva or mundane world. It's where eternally liberated souls who have attained moksha reside in eternal sublime beauty with Lakshmi and Narayana a manifestation of Vishnu.

However, the Nasadiya Sukta questions the omniscience of this overseer. The Quran contains many references to an afterlife in Eden for those who do good deeds. Beneath it flow rivers. Perpetual is the fruits thereof and the shade therein. Such is the End of the Righteous; and the end of the unbelievers is the Fire. Children automatically go to Heaven when they die, regardless of the religion of their parents. The concept of Heaven in Islam differs in many respects to the concept in Judaism and Christianity.

7 Things I Wish Everyone Knew About Heaven | What is Heaven Like? - Beliefnet

Heaven is described primarily in physical terms as a place where every wish is immediately fulfilled when asked. Islamic texts describe immortal life in Heaven as happy, without negative emotions. Those who dwell in Heaven are said to wear costly apparel, partake in exquisite banquets, and recline on couches inlaid with gold or precious stones. Inhabitants will rejoice in the company of their parents, spouses, and children.

In Islam if one's good deeds outweigh one's sins then one may gain entrance to Heaven.

1. What happens to us in the first minute after we die?

Conversely, if one's sins outweigh their good deeds they are sent to hell. The more good deeds one has performed the higher the level of Heaven one is directed to. It has been said that the lowest level of Heaven, the first one, is already over one-hundred times better than the greatest life on Earth. Houses are built by angels for the occupants using solid gold. Verses which describe Heaven include: Islamic texts refer to several levels of Heaven: According to the Ahmadiyya view, much of the imagery presented in the Quran regarding Heaven, but also hell, is in fact metaphorical.

They propound the verse which describes, according to them how the life to come after death is very different from the life here on earth. On earth, if a person leads a righteous life and submits to the will of God, his or her tastes become attuned to enjoying spiritual pleasures as opposed to carnal desires. With this, an "embryonic soul" begins to take shape. Different tastes are said to be born which a person given to carnal passions finds no enjoyment.

For example, sacrifice of one's own's rights over that of other's becomes enjoyable, or that forgiveness becomes second nature. In such a state a person finds contentment and Peace at heart and at this stage, according to Ahmadiyya beliefs, it can be said that a soul within the soul has begun to take shape. The shape of the Universe as described in Jainism is shown alongside. Unlike the current convention of using North direction as the top of map, this uses South as the top.

The shape is similar to a part of human form standing upright. The Deva Loka heavens are at the symbolic "chest", where all souls enjoying the positive karmic effects reside. The heavenly beings are referred to as devas masculine form and devis feminine form. According to Jainism, there is not one heavenly abode, but several layers to reward appropriately the souls of varying degree of karmic merits.

5 Questions about Heaven Billy Graham Answered

Similarly, beneath the "waist" are the Narka Loka Hell. Human, animal, insect, plant and microscopic life forms reside on the middle. The pure souls who reached Siddha status reside at the very south end top of the Universe.

Interactive menu

The term for Heavens in the Tanakh is shamayim , located above the firmament a solid, transparent dome which covered the earth and separated it from the "waters" above. Yahweh, the God of Israel, lived in Heaven or in the "Heaven of Heavens" the exact difference between these two, if any, is unclear in a heavenly palace. His dwelling on earth was Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem, which was a model of the cosmos and included a section which represented Heaven. The Torah has little to say on the subject of survival after death, but by the time of the rabbis two ideas had made inroads among the Jews: Jewish writings [ which?

Originally, the two ideas of immortality and resurrection were different but in rabbinic thought they are combined: This idea is linked to another rabbinic teaching, that men's good and bad actions are rewarded and punished not in this life but after death, whether immediately or at the subsequent resurrection.

This world is like a lobby before the World to Come; prepare yourself in the lobby so that you may enter the banquet hall. Judaism holds that the righteous of all nations have a share in the World-to-come. According to Nicholas de Lange , Judaism offers no clear teaching about the destiny which lies in wait for the individual after death and its attitude to life after death has been expressed as follows: The only certainty is that each man must die - beyond that we can only guess.

According to Tracey R. Rich of the website "Judaism ", Judaism, unlike other world-religions, is not focused on the quest of getting into Heaven but on life and how to live it. The Nahua people such as the Aztecs , Chichimecs and the Toltecs believed that the heavens were constructed and separated into 13 levels.

Each level had from one to many Lords living in and ruling these heavens. Most important of these heavens was Omeyocan Place of Two. In the creation myths of Polynesian mythology are found various concepts of the heavens and the underworld. These differ from one island to another. What they share is the view of the universe as an egg or coconut that is divided between the world of humans earth , the upper world of heavenly gods, and the underworld.

Each of these is subdivided in a manner reminiscent of Dante 's Divine Comedy , but the number of divisions and their names differs from one Polynesian culture to another.