Christian Forums

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

  • Focus on the Family

    Strengthening families through biblical principles.

    Focus on the Family addresses the use of biblical principles in parenting and marriage to strengthen the family.

  • Guest, Join Papa Zoom today for some uplifting biblical encouragement! --> Daily Verses
  • The Gospel of Jesus Christ

    Heard of "The Gospel"? Want to know more?

    There is salvation in no other, for there is not another name under heaven having been given among men, by which it behooves us to be saved."

Let's talk About Heaven

2024 Website Hosting Fees

Total amount
$905.00
Goal
$1,038.00
We are told that in the resurrection man will be as the messengers (angels), neither marrying or giving in marriage, but that DOES NOT mean we won't have the ability to sin. We are told in scripture that angels have that ability, so the theory that we will be "glorified roboti saints" really leaves a lot to be desired.

We must stop underestimating the potential we all currently have to live WITHOUT sinning. Remember, WE ARE CREATED IN THE IMAGE AND LIKENESS OF GOD! The fact that we sin is a reflection of poor decision making NOT because we are "only human."

We will be higher than angels therefore our sin nature could be removed. To me, having no sin nature and being around others who have no sin nature would be paradise.
 
Yes that’s what i believe will happen. We shall be ruling this earth. Some will rule 1 city while others will have 10 cities under their control as in the parable of the Minas All Praise The Ancient Of Days

I followed this whole thread with great interest. But as always I am full of questions. Such as - Who are we? How many are we? Who is living in the cities that will be ruled by we? What happens if there is more we than cities? Believe me, I do not post this as a joke, I really want to know. Thank you.
 
I am interested in seeing scriptural evidence that suggests that a heavenly inheritance is promised to all believers. From what I read in the scriptures, Heaven was mentioned as a reward very sparingly and in fact not until Jesus in the NT brought it up in reference to the Kingdom. It seems like the heavenly promise was made by Jesus to a select group as opposed to all believers of all time. The hope of the righteous that Jesus made possible according to how I currently understand scripture is not Heaven, but rather LIFE.

(Jn 10:10b).... I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.

(Jn 5:39-40).. "You search the Scriptures, because you suppose that in them you will find the Life of the Ages; and it is those scriptures that yield testimony concerning me; and yet you are unwilling to come to me that you may have Life.

(Jn 6:68)..."Master," replied Simon Peter, "to whom shall we go? Your teachings tell us of the Life of the Ages.

(Jn 11:25)..."I am the Resurrection and the Life," said Jesus; "he who believes in me, even if he has died, he shall live;

(Rom 6:21-23)...What fruit had ye then in those things of which ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from the tyranny of Sin, and have become the bondservants of God, you have your reward in being made holy, and you have the Life of the Ages as the final result. For the wages paid by Sin are death; but God's free gift is the Life of the Ages bestowed upon us in Christ Jesus our Lord.

(1 Jn 2:24-25) .... As for you, let the teaching which you have received from the very beginning continue in your hearts. If that teaching does continue in your hearts, you also will continue to be in union with the Son and with the Father. And this is the promise which He Himself has given us--the Life of the Ages.
 
A lot of people make the mistake of reading John chapters 14-17 then taking the words of Jesus and applying those words to you, I, and everyone when in fact He was addressing a very specific group. I will totally admit that the whole Heaven promise or should I say invite is difficult to grasp and I am still studying and trying to further my knowledge on the subject, but as I currently understand it, it seems that the Heavenly inheritance was a promise limited by Jesus to an elect few.

It seems the main hope of the human race given in scripture is a resurrection as opposed to a heavenly inheritance. I know we have been taught in religion that after death, heaven awaits, but as one studies the scriptures it seems like it can be correctly concluded that the invitation to heaven was a limited one.

I disagree with your theology.
Yes, Jesus was speaking to the apostles & the chosen generation, but the promise of heaven is reiterated in John 17 to all believers who would (in the future) believe in Him.
And if the hope was only the spiritual rebirth or resurrection on earth- then there would be no point in believing in Jesus' resurrection - if there wasn't a heaven after we too die to be resurrected to!

And why would the apostles write about themselves going to heaven exclusively?

Who would care about such a limited idea of faith?

And Peter & Paul come to mind also about the heavenly inheritance & the eternal house in heaven which the Spirit is our guarantee of bc of faith.

If you want to not believe Jesus' words in John 17, the end of the Holy Spirit & God's plans for mankind's redemption & salvation has ceased- then good luck with that kind of faith.
I choose to believe in God's promises for all believers. And that includes a resurrection at the end of this earthly life to a heavenly inheritance.
 
I disagree with your theology.
Yes, Jesus was speaking to the apostles & the chosen generation, but the promise of heaven is reiterated in John 17 to all believers who would (in the future) believe in Him.
And if the hope was only the spiritual rebirth or resurrection on earth- then there would be no point in believing in Jesus' resurrection - if there wasn't a heaven after we too die to be resurrected to!

And why would the apostles write about themselves going to heaven exclusively?

Who would care about such a limited idea of faith?

And Peter & Paul come to mind also about the heavenly inheritance & the eternal house in heaven which the Spirit is our guarantee of bc of faith.

If you want to not believe Jesus' words in John 17, the end of the Holy Spirit & God's plans for mankind's redemption & salvation has ceased- then good luck with that kind of faith.
I choose to believe in God's promises for all believers. And that includes a resurrection at the end of this earthly life to a heavenly inheritance.
AMEN!
 
We are told that in the resurrection man will be as the messengers (angels), neither marrying or giving in marriage, but that DOES NOT mean we won't have the ability to sin. We are told in scripture that angels have that ability, so the theory that we will be "glorified roboti saints" really leaves a lot to be desired.

We must stop underestimating the potential we all currently have to live WITHOUT sinning. Remember, WE ARE CREATED IN THE IMAGE AND LIKENESS OF GOD! The fact that we sin is a reflection of poor decision making NOT because we are "only human."
we are stuck with a flesh nature that does not want to serve God and only wants to satisfy it's desires and we only get free of this flesh nature at death. So it is not possible for us to make ourselves good,our only hope in this life is to practice complete faith in Jesus Christ and His sacrifice.
 
I disagree with your theology.
Yes, Jesus was speaking to the apostles & the chosen generation, but the promise of heaven is reiterated in John 17 to all believers who would (in the future) believe in Him.
And if the hope was only the spiritual rebirth or resurrection on earth- then there would be no point in believing in Jesus' resurrection - if there wasn't a heaven after we too die to be resurrected to!

And why would the apostles write about themselves going to heaven exclusively?

Who would care about such a limited idea of faith?

And Peter & Paul come to mind also about the heavenly inheritance & the eternal house in heaven which the Spirit is our guarantee of bc of faith.

If you want to not believe Jesus' words in John 17, the end of the Holy Spirit & God's plans for mankind's redemption & salvation has ceased- then good luck with that kind of faith.
I choose to believe in God's promises for all believers. And that includes a resurrection at the end of this earthly life to a heavenly inheritance.

We must accurately understand what it means to be resurrected. You mentioned being resurrected to Heaven and that idea is a common misconception for not even Jesus, the Son of God was resurrected to Heaven. He was raised back to life on the same Earth that he died on. He ascended to Heaven some 40 days after his resurrection. The concept of a heavenly resurrection may in fact be totally foreign to scripture.
As far as my "kind of faith", I try to make it fit into what the source of authority the scriptures, say. The hope of mankind ever since Adam sinned has been to overcome the wages of sin and the scriptures tell us that the wage is death. Jesus conquering death made it a reality that Adam's descendants could be raised from the grave and from the curse of sin and death.
Let me again reinterate:

From what I read in the scriptures, Heaven was mentioned as a reward very sparingly and in fact not until Jesus in the NT brought it up in reference to the Kingdom. It seems like the heavenly promise was made by Jesus to a select group as opposed to all believers of all time. The hope of the righteous that Jesus made possible according to how I currently understand scripture is not Heaven, but rather LIFE.

(Jn 10:10b).... I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.

(Jn 5:39-40).. "You search the Scriptures, because you suppose that in them you will find the Life of the Ages; and it is those scriptures that yield testimony concerning me; and yet you are unwilling to come to me that you may have Life.

(Jn 6:68)..."Master," replied Simon Peter, "to whom shall we go? Your teachings tell us of the Life of the Ages.

(Jn 11:25)..."I am the Resurrection and the Life," said Jesus; "he who believes in me, even if he has died, he shall live;

(Rom 6:21-23)...What fruit had ye then in those things of which ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from the tyranny of Sin, and have become the bondservants of God, you have your reward in being made holy, and you have the Life of the Ages as the final result. For the wages paid by Sin are death; but God's free gift is the Life of the Ages bestowed upon us in Christ Jesus our Lord.

(1 Jn 2:24-25) .... As for you, let the teaching which you have received from the very beginning continue in your hearts. If that teaching does continue in your hearts, you also will continue to be in union with the Son and with the Father. And this is the promise which He Himself has given us--the Life of the Ages.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
As circumcision was a mark of the covenant between Israel and The Father, water baptism became the mark of the covenant betwen the called ones and Jesus. The ones who entered into this covenant through baptism were given the gift of Holy breath (the Holy Spirit) as a seal. This (the seal of Holy Breath) was either given miraculously from Jesus himself or by the laying on of the apostle's hands. Those of this covenant were called upon to repent from lifestyles of sin and to commit to righteousness and love for one another and were promised exceedingly great things as they awaited the return of Jesus which they expected to occur within their generation's lifetime.
 
We don't know what heaven will be like BUT it will be so much better than this earth. No more death, no more curse, no sorrows or pain, everything new. And we will get to see God as he is and worship him forever and ever in all his Glory.
 
I followed this whole thread with great interest. But as always I am full of questions. Such as - Who are we? How many are we? Who is living in the cities that will be ruled by we? What happens if there is more we than cities? Believe me, I do not post this as a joke, I really want to know. Thank you.

I find this thread very interesting and somewhat enlightening too Riverwolf. Where do we fit in is a great question. I'd love to get some feedback on that specifically.
 
A lot of people make the mistake of reading John chapters 14-17 then taking the words of Jesus and applying those words to you, I, and everyone when in fact He was addressing a very specific group. I will totally admit that the whole Heaven promise or should I say invite is difficult to grasp and I am still studying and trying to further my knowledge on the subject, but as I currently understand it, it seems that the Heavenly inheritance was a promise limited by Jesus to an elect few.

It seems the main hope of the human race given in scripture is a resurrection as opposed to a heavenly inheritance. I know we have been taught in religion that after death, heaven awaits, but as one studies the scriptures it seems like it can be correctly concluded that the invitation to heaven was a limited one.
I would submit that there is no promise of Heaven for anyone. You're correct, the promise is Resurrection.
 
Let's cut to the chase. Where do middle of the road people go after death. Christian and good, but no saint. I don't believe in hell so what sounds inviting to me is to show up on the door step of my daughter and other loved ones. Where will we be? Don't push the hell thing on me please. I am too anxious and depressed to deal with Dante's Inferno right now.
 
The fallacy is assuming that scripture was directed at future generations as opposed to the contemporaries of the writers. Very little, but some admittedly of what is in scripture is directed at future generation, but the fact is, MOST is not.

Thank you for explaining why I have and always will have some problems with a verbatim belief in the scripture. As we speak I am taking off my veil. LOL
 
Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe Christ said he was going home to be with the Father. So I assume home is heaven. Since it's not really described in the Bible then I am free to imagine what it is. I have many fantasies about heaven. Sometimes I want to do myself in just so I could see it LOL. But I have to be patient. What I do know about heaven is that Jesus and God and the Holy Spirit are waiting for me. I
hope my daughter is also there. Heaven on earth is the joy of knowing Christ and being able to serve him
 
Where do middle of the road people go after death. Christian and good, but no saint.
Based on what I've read and thanks in part to this thread, I'd say they go nowhere. When we die, we are dead, no longer living in any way. The hope of the dead seems to be one thing, a resurrection.
 
Based on what I've read and thanks in part to this thread, I'd say they go nowhere. When we die, we are dead, no longer living in any way. The hope of the dead seems to be one thing, a resurrection.
We are kindred spirits. This is what I believe. Another scenario is in my book, Where Love Abides. After the ups and downs of life we make it to heaven. Heaven 1 is called Angel Heaven and it is where the people who love Christ and follow his will go. They live inside a mansion with many rooms behind a gate of light. Good people who do not acknowledge Christ, but do his will inadvertently, live in Heaven 2. This is a village outside Angel Heaven 1, where they are happy, but do not know the joy of loving and being loved by Christ. The bad people just disappear. Dust to Dust. Nobody knows for sure, which is great, so we can imagine what makes us feel good. On another thread, I was told my feelings don't count only scripture. But I have been depressed all my life and I like feeling loved by God. Have a nice day . . . ❤
 
Back
Top