Clivedurdle

I think it is a new heaven AND earth. They are conjoined. Christ's death affects both and God comes to sit in the new Jerusalem. Dali expresses it well.

http://www.glasgowmuseums.com/venue/...id=4&itemid=68

I have just noted what can only be described as "sea - ism". A detailed look at all references to water in the entire Bible might be enlightening. Remember it starts with the waters of the deep and then has:

What is that about? People from hot desert countries saying that? What are all the sailors to do with themselves?

The other vector is the classic annointing in the holy spirit pentecostal service, when you are glorying in the presence of god - called happy clappy by the ignorant but actually higher than the best heroin!

Singing hosanna for eternity! Every knee shall bow!

Clivedurdle

Continuing with the surreal theme, this is also wonderful about heaven, and should be required reading for everyone here who seriously wants to understand xians!

http://www.dake.com/

-Jay-

Never heard of this one before....

Good link.

regards,

NinJay

Sheshbazzar

I moved into the beautiful hills of Kentucky last year, it wasn't long before a load of Fundies came a'calling, thinking to convert me to their particular brand of insanity, they near suffered apoplexy when I told them that I was already living in my vision of Heaven, and greatly enjoying it, thank ya very much!

SkippyTheSkeptic

Welcome to Kentucky, Sheshbazzar, proud home of a thousand "Hell is Real" billboards.

Ninjay, your A Beka quotations kind of paint heaven as the mothership from Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Employment in heaven, though? Doing what? Does heaven have a thriving manufacturing division or is it mostly service sector? Dare I ask what services?

If you want to get weirder than A Beka, I advise you to have a glance at Sylvia Browne's "Life on the Other Side (or via: amazon.co.uk)". Her vision of heaven, which is something along the lines of Diet Xtianity mixed with the fluffiest New Age goofiness imaginable, is an Elysian city of non-contact sports and magical spirit guides. Your stay there culminates in making up a new self like a D&D character and then planning out your entire next life in advance so you can be more expediently reincarnated. (I'm totally gonna be a halfling next time.)

Jayco

If there's no gin, sex, and Christians to make fun of, then yes.

Chili

It sounds like they can feel the heat.

lpetrich

Consider the "greater good" theodicy for why bad things happen. With zero bad things happening, that alleged greater good would never be produced.

And as to suicide, the theologians decided that it is Pearly-Gate-crashing because otherwise their flocks would get depopulated -- consider why Heaven's Gate no longer exists.

In any case, why don't people make their last words

"See you in Heaven"

?

Or, from The Catholic way of death,
Why isn't that sort of conviction more common? Why do people treat funerals as somber and glum events, rather than celebrations of the dear departed's arrival in Heaven?

Lunawalk

I dom't mean to derail the thread I was wondering why there is no more sea in the new earth?

-Jay-

The A Beka spin seems geared towards making heaven seem familiar.

The whole book is built up basically of Bible passages followed by a little exposition from the author, organized into topical chapters. The author's comments have the flavor of things he just pulled out of his ass, and then tortures the interpretation of the Biblical language to fit his desired interpretation. The space city, for example, relies on his earlier interpretations of heaven as being either the atmosphere, the universe, or God's crib. The funny is that his definitions of heaven are all based on the usage of Hebrew words, and Revelation was written in Greek...

He goes on, a little further, to claim that the New Jerusalem in Revelation is, in fact, the destination heaven for the saved, and it'll hover over Earthly Jerusalem for a thousand years before heading back to wherever it normally stays. (I'll reiterate - a space city ~1500 miles on an edge. For reference, the operational ceiling of the space shuttle is ~350 miles up. In the interest of accuracy, the Bible measures New Jerusalem in terms of stadia, about 606 feet. Bere uses furlongs, 660 feet. When you convert stadia to miles, you get about 1380, so Bere's exaggerating a bit.)

I'll post more nuggets from A Beka as appropriate. It's best in small doses.

regads,

NinJay