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Heaven is a place, but not a particular space. We must understand the symbolic language of the Bible and the saints as an attempt to communicate the ineffable. We do not understand literally terms such as seeing God “face to face.”. We rejoice in their meaning: that we will be with God, intimate with him, unhindered by our mortal limitations.
- Terrye Newkirk
Terrye Newkirk - Profile. Get Your 2025 Catholic Answers...
- What is Heaven
But there are certain things we can know about heaven even...
- Terrye Newkirk
4 days ago · 14 Questions and Answers About Heaven. 1. Q: Is Heaven a real place? A: Yes, the Bible describes Heaven as an actual “place” that Jesus is preparing for us (John 14:2-3). Revelation 21:1 says there will be “a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.”. The key characteristic of Heaven is that ...
Dec 7, 2015 · If by that word you mean what we generally mean when we use the word here on earth, namely a particular . point in time and space as we currently know it, then heaven can’t really be a place. Heaven is life in perfect communion with God and the saints, and so it is outside the limits of time and space as we know it here in this created and fallen world.
- Heaven is a place. Acts 1:6–11 tells us that Jesus ascended to heaven, indicating His movement from one place (earth) to another (heaven). Furthermore, we know that Jesus continues to have a physical human body after His resurrection, albeit one that is glorified by the Holy Spirit (John 20:24–29; 1 Cor.
- Heaven is the place of God’s throne. The psalms often refer to heaven as the place of God’s throne (Ps. 9:7; Ps. 11:4; Ps. 103:19). Since God is spirit and does not have a physical body (John 4:24), we understand that to some degree this is a metaphor that indicates that God makes His special ruling presence felt most powerfully in heaven.
- Heaven is where the souls of believers go when they die. Paul anticipated in Philippians 1:23 that when he died, he would be “with Christ.” Since we know that Jesus is presently in heaven, this must mean that believers in Christ go to be with Him in heaven when they die.
- Heaven is where believers are presently seated with Christ. Although the Bible is clear that the souls of believers go to be with Christ in heaven when they die, there are also texts that say Christians have already been seated with God “in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph.
- Winging It
- Paved in Gold
- Deepest Longings
- Pain in Heaven?
- Is It A place?
- What Time Is It?
- Will It Be Boring?
The other images our culture gives us of heaven are also problematic. The idea that we will have wings has absolutely no basis in Scripture or Tradition. Neither does the idea that we will become angels. Angels are created beings that are pure spirit and have no bodies (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church328–330). They are a different order of bei...
Scripture employs far more images of heaven in addition to the handful our culture has latched onto. One of the most common New Testament depictions of heaven is a feast (Matt. 8:11; Luke 13:29; 14:15–24), in particular a wedding feast (Matt. 22:1–14; 25:1–13; Rev. 19:7–9) understood as a first-century Jewish wedding feast, not a modern wedding rec...
The fundamental essence of heaven is union with God. The Catechism explains that “perfect life with the Most Holy Trinity . . . is called ‘heaven.’ Heaven is the ultimate end and fulfillment of the deepest human longings, the state of supreme, definitive happiness” (CCC 1024). It also states that “heaven is the blessed community of all who are perf...
A special problem that has been raised by some is the question of pain in heaven. Some have wondered how it would be possible for individuals to enjoy the beatitude of heaven if they knew that some people—perhaps some they were close to in earthly life—are in hell. Others have wondered about apparitions of Mary and other saints in which they are cr...
Disembodied spirits are not extended in space. They don’t have shape or take up space. As a result, some have wondered whether heaven is a “place.” This is a difficult question. Heaven is not a location in the physical universe. One could never travel far enough in any direction in space to arrive in heaven. But it does seem that heaven has somethi...
Related to the problem of space in heaven is the problem of time. We often hear of heaven being described as “eternal” or “timeless.” God himself, in his divine essence, is completely outside of time. For him, all of history exists in an “eternal now” without past or future. But it is not clear that created beings in union with God are completely d...
A question many have is: “Won’t we get bored in heaven?” Some descriptions make it sound as if heaven will be like being in church all the time, and we get bored in church down here. While worship is central to heaven, the worship that takes place there is far deeper and richer than anything we experience on earth, for there we have the beatific vi...
1) The word "heaven" (Hebrew: shamyim, Greek: ouranos) can mean God’s dwelling place. The Bible says: "The LORD has established His throne in heaven, and His kingdom rules over all" (Psalm 103:19). God’s throne is also mentioned in connection with the mountain of God (Ezekiel 28:16). 2) Heaven may also refer to the endless planets, stars ...
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May 15, 2024 · Heaven is a "way of being" and does not take up physical space. At the same time, we do need to use human words to try and describe what is indescribable: The symbol of the heavens refers us back ...
