Heaven and hell (pt. 1) - Heaven

If you read history you will find that the
Christians who did most for the present
world were precisely those who thought
most of the next. It is since Christians have
largely ceased to think of the other world
that they have become so ineffective in this.
C.S. Lewis

Death is a separation of:
BODY
SOUL
SPIRIT

… “Let us make mankind in our image, in our
likeness…
Genesis 1:26a NIV
…May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept
blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Thess. 5:23 NIV
For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than
any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing
soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the
thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
Hebrews 4:12 NIV

Heaven according to other religions…
Buddhism
• The Buddhist’s notion of heaven would be that of
“Nirvana.”
• Buddha believed that all human suffering was
linked to desire and let go of everything.
• Buddha taught that desire is a flame that burns
us, causes suffering, and keeps us tied to the
cycle of death and rebirth (reincarnation) because
the flame continues burning into the next life.
• What is hoped for is “Nirvana.”
• Nirvana is the cycle of reincarnation and the end
of suffering.

Islam
• Paradise is what Islamic followers call their
heaven.
• Paradise is a garden where the faithful lie upon
couches in a climate-controlled environment
surrounded by “bashful, dark-eyed virgins, chaste
as the sheltered eggs of ostriches.”
• They will drink from crystal goblets and silver
vessels as “immortal youths” hover about them
looking like “scattered pearls.”
• The believers will be clothed in green silk and
brocade and will wear silver bracelets, and they
will “drink a pure draught” drawn from Allah’s
own source as a reward for their striving and
patience.

Hinduism
• Doesn’t really teach of a heaven.
• Believes in reincarnation until that being has reached
enlightenment.
• Death is viewed as a break in the continued events of life
and brings about a change in the form in which the spirit
resides (i.e., reincarnation).
• Hindus believe the afterlife is a passage of time in a
heaven/hell, dependent upon the karma built up in life.
• The judgment about one’s life is based upon the karma that
the individual created in his/her past lives.
• The rebirth of the spirit into the next life, through the
transmigration of the soul, is determined by the developed
karma and the individual’s last thoughts in the present life.
• An individual’s search for eternal happiness and immortality
results in the rebirth of the spirit in different bodies until the
spirit learns that happiness and immortality are not a result
of the fulfillment of desires but are attained when all desires
and needs are no longer important.

Scientology
• Believes in reincarnation.
• Their “souls will be born again into the flesh of another
body.”
• Believe that ever human being is really an immortal spiritual
being known as a “thetan” and that the “meat bodies” we
inhabit are merely vessels we shed upon death.
• When a body dies, its thetan forgets the details of the
former life, though painful and traumatic images known as
engrams remain rooted in its unconscious.
• In order to move up the path of spiritual progression –
known as the Bridge to Total Freedom – one must eradicate
these psychic scars, which cause a person to act fearfully
and irrationally.
• Once a Scientologist has purged them through the
counseling process known as “auditing,” he/she is said to
be “clear.”

Jehovah’s Witnesses
• Believe that heaven has a strict limit to its
admittance.
• Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that exactly 144,000
faithful Christians go to heaven to rule with Christ
in the kingdom of God.
• They, with Jesus, will also perform priestly duties
that will bring faithful mankind to perfect health
and “everlasting life.”
• Those followers outside of the 144,000 will be
resurrected in an earthly paradise, while those
non-believers will not be resurrected at all and
their souls are annihilated.

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust
also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it
were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to
prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that
you also may be where I am.”
John 14:1-3 NIV

C. JESUS is the one preparing
heaven

D. GOD will be there
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now
the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with
them…
Rev. 21:3 NIV
…the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the
city…
Rev. 22:3 NIV

E. No more MOURNING,
CRYING, PAIN, or DEATH
He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be
no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the
old order of things has passed away.
Rev. 21:4 NIV

F. Heaven is a radiant CITY
And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain
great and high, and showed me the Holy City,
Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. It
shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like
that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as
crystal.
Rev. 21:9-10-11 NIV

G. There is a WALL around
the city
It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with
twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written
the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. There were
three gates on the east, three on the north, three on
the south and three on the west.
Rev. 21:12-13

H. 12 foundations = names of
12 apostles of the Lamb
The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on
them were the names of the twelve apostles of the
Lamb.
Rev. 21:14 NIV

I. Size of the city
The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of
gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls. The
city was laid out like a square as long as it was wide.
He measured the city with the rod and found it to be
12,000 stadia in length, and as wide and high as it is
long. He measured its wall and it was 144 cubits thick,
by man’s measurement, which the angel was using.
Rev. 21:15-17 NIV

J. City is made of GOLD
The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold,
as pure as glass.
Rev. 21:18

K. Gates made of PEARLS
The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made
of a single pearl…
Rev. 21:21a NIV

L. Street of GOLD
…The great street of the city was of pure gold, like
transparent glass.
Rev. 21:21b NIV

M. No TEMPLE…the Lord is
the temple
I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord
God almighty and the Lamb are its temple.
Rev. 21:23 NIV

N. No sun/moon…GOD is the
light
The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine
on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb
is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the
kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it.
Rev. 21:23-24
There will be no more night. The will not need the light
of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will
give them light…
Rev. 22:5 NIV

O. Gates are never SHUT
On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be
no night there.
Rev. 21:25 NIV

P. No NIGHT
On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be
no night there.
Rev. 21:25 NIV

Q. Nothing UNCLEAN will
enter heaven
Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who
does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those
whose names are written in the Lambs book of life.
Rev. 21:27 NIV

R. His servants will WORSHIP
Him
…his servants will serve him.
Rev. 22:3b NIV

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust
also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it
were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to
prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that
you also may be where I am. You know the way to the
place where I am going.
Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are
going, so how can we know the way?”
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me.
John 14:1-6 NIV

Heaven and hell (pt. 1) - Heaven

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