Is Heaven the end of it all ?

After one gains entry into Heaven then what ? Is it just rolling around the streets of gold singing choir tunes ? Is it all the fried chicken you can hold ? Just what's going on up there ?

Originally posted by buckky
After one gains entry into Heaven then what ? Is it just rolling around the streets of gold singing choir tunes ? Is it all the fried chicken you can hold ? Just what's going on up there ?

What the hell's wrong wit fried chicken?

Originally posted by buckky
After one gains entry into Heaven then what ? Is it just rolling around the streets of gold singing choir tunes ? Is it all the fried chicken you can hold ? Just what's going on up there ?

Eph 2:7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

If you think heaven will be boring, then just look around at this world. It's pretty nice. Do you get bored now? Heaven will be better.

Originally posted by josephw
Eph 2:7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

If you think heaven will be boring, then just look around at this world. It's pretty nice. Do you get bored now? Heaven will be better.

But if one believes that there is nothing beyond eternal life, then that one has nothing to live for beyond his or her endless immaterial existence.
What a drag!

Originally posted by Nordlys
But if one believes that there is nothing beyond eternal life, then that one has nothing to live for beyond his or her endless immaterial existence.
What a drag!

There is nothing beyond eternal.

Try again. Only use reason this time.

Originally posted by josephw
There is nothing beyond eternal.

Exactly. You seem to believe that our life on earth only has value because of what's coming afterwards. What makes eternal life valuable?

Originally posted by Nordlys
Exactly. You seem to believe that our life on earth only has value because of what's coming afterwards. What makes eternal life valuable?

Because we were created to live forever.

I know how difficult it is to believe the story of mans demise in the garden, but it is the most sublime account of the origin of man in the historical record.

Originally posted by josephw
Because we were created to live forever.

That doesn't answer my question.

Originally posted by josephw


I know how difficult it is to believe the story of mans demise in the garden

You don't really believe there was a talking snake, do you?

Originally posted by DoctorScribbles
You don't really believe there was a talking snake, do you?

I've never heard one talk. Wasn't it Satan speaking through the snake?

Originally posted by Nordlys
That doesn't answer my question.

Among the many reasons I can think of as to why eternal life is valuable, the one I think is most important, or at least has the most value, is that we were made that way.

We were made for a reason and a purpose. Only God can show us what that is. Living forever is only a consequence of how we were made.

Now even I am beginning to sound strange to myself.

I believe in eternal life! It's no more complicated than that.

Actually there is much in the Old Testament about Paradise. There will be an abundance of food, peace, animals will be tame, the lion will lay with the lamb, etc. and much much more that is rarely discussed.

Originally posted by josephw
Among the many reasons I can think of as to why eternal life is valuable, the one I think is most important, or at least has the most value, is that we were made that way.

I don't see how being made that way in itself would make it valuable. A creator could create something entirely meaningless. A creator could also create something for xyr own purposes, making it meaningful for xymself, but without making it meaningful for the created beings.

We were made for a reason and a purpose. Only God can show us what that is.

Did he show you, or do you just assume that there is a reason and a purpose without knowing yourself what it is?

Now even I am beginning to sound strange to myself.

Lol.

I believe in eternal life! It's no more complicated than that.

I have gathered as much. But I could think it would be valuable without believing in it, and I could believe in it without thinking it's valuable.

Personally, I value quality over quantity. If life isn't meaningful to begin with, making it eternal doesn't make it any more meaningful. And if something is meaningful, the fact that it doesn't last doesn't make it less meaningful.

Originally posted by Nordlys
I don't see how being made that way in itself would make it valuable. A creator could create something entirely meaningless. A creator could also create something for xyr own purposes, making it meaningful for xymself, but without making it meaningful for the created beings.

[b]We were made for a reason and a purpose. Only God can show us what that is.[/b ...[text shortened]... f something is meaningful, the fact that it doesn't last doesn't make it less meaningful.

Don't take this wrong, but you are over rationalizing.

Eternal life very much adds to the quality of life. Knowing that I have obtained eternal life as a free gift from God only enhances the overall quality of my life now!

Originally posted by josephw
Try again. Only use reason this time.

If people were using reason, this discussion wouldn't even have started. Even if there is a heaven, it doesn't matter because we cease to exist at the moment of our physical death, and so we can never enter it. To believe in a soul that persists beyond physical death is to believe in Cartesian dualism, and there are very good reasons not to believe in that. Look them up, and save yourselves a lot of needless and unproductive angst.