Who is and Who is Not Going to Heaven

Does that mean that your definition excludes biblical taboos that do not cause harm? I have nearly always seen sin defined as as offense to God, and quite often associated with the phrase "no such thing as a small sin".

I am currently negotiating for the eternal karaoke vendor contract in heaven...altogether no everyone...... "Amazing Grace.....how sweet the sound........

Mesquite writes:


In my opinion, as in all things, attempting to tar an entire group with a narrow brush is almost always sure to result in error. In another thread I just posted my opinion of progressive revelation and how the Jewish and then Christian views of God, rules, laws, regulations etc. have changed. This is demonstrated by putting the passages of the Bible into chronological order. (They are not in chronological order as we find them in the modern Christian Bible). And we have also evolved and learned and grown since the Biblcal canon was closed.

So yes. In deciding whether something is a sin, it always comes down to sin being that which harms oneself and/or others. By the time the Apostle Paul was writing his letters, he had come to that conclusion as well. He wrote "All things are lawful but not all things are profitable." The implication was that one can follow the letter of the Law and still sin when the spirit of the Law is neglected thereby causing harm to oneself and/or others.

I'll tell you right now, I ain't goin to heaven!

You may be really surprised about that Stand Up. I think lots of folks are gonna be really surprised at who shows up in heaven.

I wanna go!!! Count me in!!!

I will be joyful no matter what heaven is like, but I like the idea of it being what we imagine it will be. I'm not sure where I read it, but somewhere it came to me that there would be different levels, or work areas and everyone would only be doing what they wanted to be doing. Work wouldn't be work as we think of it here since we wouldn't need income. It would be more of a labor of love so that we are not idle, if that makes sense.

If so, I want the fields of flowers, vegetable garden and stables and will alternate with the baker on Tuesday and Thursday.

CAn you be a CAlvinist and a Hobbsian at the same time?

I don't know farmerman. Maybe with a personality split enough.

I like Squinney have hopes for heaven. Horses, good bridge, strong coffee, a decent pillow, music, books, dancing, flowers, an ocean and a mountain, and lively conversation. This would be sufficient.

Heaven exists, hell exists. Everyone is partly in the both. You can change the heaven/hell ratio through your behavior.

A nice picture of heaven and hell was painted by a Dutch children's book writer. He said that heaven and hell were alike. They each consisted of an immense hall filled with tables laden with delicacies. The problem was just that all people were too small to reach the food and beverages by themselves. The difference between heaven and hell consisted in the fact that in hell the people cursed their fate and fought amongst themselves, while in heaven they got together to help each other to the food.

When is doomsday?
As to the question who gets to heaven. Let's say opinions vary. They equally vary as to the moment when it will be time for everyone to go. The early Christian believed that all souls remained on earth until doomsday, when all reckoning would be taken care of in one go. Later, when a rather long time had passed, the church postulated that everybody was sent up (or down) right after death (so you had better get those last rites!). Protestants later on would like to be admitted to heaven during their lifetime, and so many tried to figure out when doomsday would actually come. We have been living in the "end time" ever since.

When I lived in the Netherlands during the 1980s, I found a booklet, called "The Final Insight" written by a very clever man who had made a thorough study of the bible, quran, Hindu vedas and pseudo-scientific literature from the likes of von Däniken and consorts and coupled all that with predictions made by everybody from alleged ancient Egyptian priests via Nostradamus to modern day psychics. Compiling all the evidence from the past 2000 years, he was able to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the end of the world would start in September 1984 with an invasion of West Germany by the Soviet Union, which would lead to nuclear holocaust and the return of Christ. (I found the booklet in a rummage sale in 1985 )

Interesting detail was that his research had also come to the compelling conclusion that the Dutch were in fact the 13th tribe of Israel and therefore would be given preferential treatment when it came to getting a seat on the spaceships to heaven. Always nice to know, if you happen to be Dutch.

Hello Foxfyre (Is your pseudo based on the Sami word for Northern Lights, revontulet?),

Do you believe in predestination or in free will? In other words, would it be possible for anyone reaching the pearly gates against the odds, to refuse to enter the kingdom of heaven?

Hi Paaskynen.

My psuedo is a fictious ethereal character in stories I wrote for my granddaughter. I understand it has been appropriated in various computer games on the internet by friends and family.

I'm not sure whether one could refuse to go to heaven. Never thought but that before, but now of course I will have to.

I am definitely, however, a believer in free will and our choices determine our destiny. I also believe the choices we make determine what sort of world we live in. No matter how I work it in my mind, I cannot accept predestination without making human existence into a puppet show mindlessly manipulated by a malicious deity. And as I know God to be in no way malicious or anything other than pure love, the puppet show just doesn't work for me.

There are a number of people who are certain that they are going to heaven with whom I would prefer not to spend eternity. Do you suppose that there are exclusive sections of heaven so that we won't have to associate with the riff-raff?

Can I stake out my own turf and create a personal Paradise? How about if I just drift around exploring the universe for a few thousand years, then join y'all for the End? I wouldn't want to miss the spectacle of Armageddon!

LOL. Well I like to think there will be special exclusive departments in Heaven for those who think they will be the only one's there, just to keep from really disappointing anybody. So those who want to be exclusive might be able to join them.

If you are a post-milleniumist , you'll get to experience Armageddon, so just make sure you latch onto that group.

It's the people who think that they will be the only ones there that I want to avoid ... :wink:

Interesting. The Sami call the northern lights fox fire based on the legend that they are sparks flying off the tail of a mythical fox when it drags in the snow. It is a nicer story than "the luminescence of magnetically charged particles of the solar wind getting caught in the magnetic field of the earth".

Hey I like the concept of a mythical fox. My fictitional character was kind of a modern "Wizard of Oz' who was a hermit like living at the edge of a swamp and dispensing wisdom of dubious quality to the town's children. Being associated with northern lights is much more glamorous.

Ha, the joke's on all y'all. The Jews were right (with apologies to Rowan Atkinson).

Except that the Jews, particularly those who became the Pharasaic Jews, believed in a spirit world and believed in heaven.