Korean Job Discussion Forums

[fiveeagles]

So what do you think it's going to be like? Do you think you will get in?

Why or why not?

Here's a great book that I read a few years ago and the author's interpretation on Heaven. She died and was taken to Heaven and then after her experience came back to earth to write of what happened.

Within Heaven's gate

For those who don't like the experience of Heaven 1, then we at Heaven inc have created Heaven 2.

Heaven 2

[Nowhere Man]

Yes, my SAT scores put me among the highest of percentiles.

Also, I have an uncle pulling strings...

[Bulsajo]

How many virgins will I get?

[red dog]

I don't know -- I definitely hope there's life after death, but Christian ideas about heaven and hell never seemed very plausible to me (even though I considered myself a Christian for a long time). Maybe we reincarnate, or maybe we just float around as ghosts for a while, but who's to say really?

[mindmetoo]

You don't allow for the possibility people might not even believe in heaven.

[mindmetoo]

[Demonicat]

I never understood the concept of "heaven", and I encourage 5e to explain my discrepancies.
My problem with most standard modern Christianity is that is believes that one must be saved or acknowledge Christ as their personal saviour in order to go to Heaven. Those who do not are condemned to Hell.
That's all fine and dandy, but is that the work of a benevolant diety? Furthermore, what of all the people in lands, or times, where Christ was unknown? Do all the Papuan tribesman go to Hell? Is Moses in Hell? How about Jesus's grandparents (on the mother's side), presumably they did not recognize their child grandson as their personal saviour.
Another issue that I have is that we are to revere Jesus. Why not God himself, the father? What is going on that we are to worship the child and not the parent directly. Fair enough, I understand the concept of the holy trinity (though it is VERY close to polytheism, hehe), but why is the focus always on Jesus? God is frequently thanked, but what of the holy ghost?

[bignate]

Imagine there's no Heaven....

[Troll_Bait]

[daskalos]

To quote my favorite Aunt, who no doubt was paraphrasing someone else, the only reason we don't call Christianity "mythology" is that a lot of people still believe in it. That said, if it could be proven to me that this vengeful, spiteful, blood soaked diety was the real deal and that the afterlife is going to shake out the way the mythology has it, I would insist on leading the parade into Hell. Love me, or burn in Hell? Is that the best the Cosmos can offer up in the way of a god? I don't know, maybe if He spent a lot time in therapy and got past that pathetic need to be worshipped, sung to, praised and knelt to, we might be able to work something out, but ... change isn't the strong suit of personality types such as His. I'll pass, thanks.

[some waygug-in]

[Moldy Rutabaga]

This inevitably opens up a can of worms-- the topic was only what people think heaven is like, not whether it exists-- but here we are.

I like C.S. Lewis' explanation or theory in The Great Divorce. He felt that judgment day is really a time when we judge, not God-- that we always say "your will be done", but in the end God really says "YOUR will be done". Being with God is what we call heaven; being without God is what we call hell. But if people go to heaven against their will, it's not heaven. And, in Lewis' belief, if people go to hell against their will it's not really hellish, because they can forever feel a sense of martyred pride that they can't feel if they chose hell gladly. Why would anyone choose hell? Again, it's not by definition fire and pitchforks, but the simple absence of God; and any number of emotions, mostly defiance, would lead us to not choose Him.

Following this, Lewis argues that people must have the choice of heaven or hell after death, for someone who never had this choice in earthly life would otherwise feel cheated. In other terms, I suppose, Lewis argues that God wants everyone to have an informed decision, if He is a loving God. To me these are the options in belief; we can think of God as a capricious jerk, or as a loving deity who gives us full choice at all times in our existence. Only my 2c.

If anyone's read Paradise Lost, there are similar ideas there; Satan is ejected from heaven after rebelling, so it's possible to leave. And Satan is given the chance later to repent and return and he refuses, making his pride all the more painful to himself.

My idea of heaven? Lewis said that maybe heaven is like the wonderful feeling you get the first time you do something, when it's still risky and fresh. That would be nice. But I'm hoping for some bikini girls too.

Ken:>

[fiveeagles]

[SPINOZA]

[ontheway]

I thought the choices were quite irreverent: "Yeah, man, for sure..."

No vote.