When you first heard of Heaven what did you think Heaven was gonna be like? (disciples, hell)

[Mopac1980]

When you've first heard of Heaven what did you think heaven was gonna be like?

When I was younger I used to think Heaven was gonna be a white room without much to do there and I used to think that Heaven wasn't such a nice place to be cause what I wanted the most was to be a wealthy person and have all the material rewards I want.

I used to think having an endless supply of money and an endless supply of material rewards was Heaven but now that I'm older I came to realize what an absolutely wonderful place Hevaen really is and that having an endless supply of money and having all the material rewards are useless compared to what you'll be getting in Heaven.

[toosie]

I remember hearing about heaven with all the typical imagery - fluffy clouds, angels, all the dear departed, etc. It always sounded like a bad fairy tale to me - never struck me that I was supposed to believe a place like that existed. So, the whole concept never really took hold with me.

[victorianpunk]

I always understood, as far back as I can remember, that heaven would not be a place that I would go to in body but rather in spirit and hence, the "me" that I am now would not go there. I don't want the "me", with all my human flaws to go to heaven, because otherwise, it wouldn't be heaven after all. I prefer transcendence.

[Huckleberry3911948]

my heaven would be a guaranteed hell for many.

[effie g-tad]

Originally Posted by Huckleberry3911948

my heaven would be a guaranteed hell for many.

again: would be ... !

[Tzaphkiel]

as a small girl, in the forest seeing the diagonal beams and rays of golden sunshine shining down from the sky, through the trees, illuminating the tall trees and bark and birds and vines and dust, that's what I thought "God looked like."

i liked being in the forest and it made sense to me that god would want to come down out of the sky and see the forest too, and play with me, and have as much fun and happiness as I felt in the forest

i didn't think much of heaven as a kid, but i thought a lot about god, especially on those days when god came down into the forest to be with me. looking back (i am 50 now) i was a pretty smart in-tune little kid. It has taken me many decades to get back to that place I was then and discover i was right all along.

[wilvan]

When I was a kid my idea of heaven was a place in the clouds with angels and people dressed in white robes. This idea came to me mainly from mainstream artworks and stories. As time passed I became skeptical and really wanted to know the truth... is there such a thing as an afterlife to be spent in heaven? What is one going to do there for all eternity?

I found the truth in the Bible. It says in the future there will be a resurrection for all humans to face God in the Great White Throne Judgment. Those who received eternal life will live in the New Earth forever! It will be a stunning place even better than the Garden of Eden. There is no more pain or sorrow for God promised he will wipe away all our tears.

Just as Jesus Christ was recognized by his disciples after his resurrection, I believe we will still retain our image but we will be at our prime age and everything about us will be perfect. We will still engage in activities that we love to do, get together with old and new friends, enjoy everything good that we love in this life and much more.

[L'Artiste]

Disney world with no lines , free water and nice weather

[Hueffenhardt]

I grew up Mormon with a Mormon conception of the afterlife, but I also grew up in the South with plenty of Protestant Christians around me so I was very familiar with their beliefs as well. Mormons have a very different view of heaven than mainstream Christians. I always thought mainstream Christian depictions of heaven were lame: an eternity of doing nothing but praising God.

I grew up believing there were 3 kingdoms of glory in heaven. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12:2, "I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a man was caught up to the third heaven." And I was taught that those who go to the highest level of the Celestial Kingdom together with their spouse become gods and goddesses and make spirit children which they send to the earths they create, where those children gain bodies, die, and then may also become gods, generation after generation. I was taught that it was god's work and his glory to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man, where eternal life means god's life, the life of a god.

I mean that is a pretty sweet afterlife. Way better than singing praises to god non-stop, or 72 virgins or what-not. It also gave a reason for the personal growth and the experiences we endure during this life, we were preparing to become gods, with the job of helping our children also become gods. To me, I can't see a reason to develop patience and long-suffering, and compassion, if all one were going to do was sing praises to god for forever.

When I eventually realized Mormonism wasn't true, it was sad to give up belief in that awesome afterlife.

[LargeKingCat]

As A CHILD.......
I thought it was going to be a really nice place, surrounded by loving people and friends, then some things struck me
Also
Someone told me that all the time would be spent worshipping god, well this did not sound like much fun, after all, we already did that twice on Sundays, once on Wednesdays, and two weeks of the year at revivals.......To imagine, having to do that daily? that is not much fun

Then I realized that all the people who claimed to be the ones going to heaven were the really hateful nasty people I tried to avoid in life, not with much success on Sundays. That would include people who laughed at me when I offered a more intellectual or reasonable explanation for life and the universe than what they could understand or believe.....
The guy who told me I was worshipping Satan by eating Chinese food (he stopped laughing at me when I told him I would not be back to his church because I did not want to be like him)
How about that guy who milked my parents for all sorts of money, all the while he was fornicating married women in his congreagation...he claimed HE would be in Heaven
What about the church of christ jerk who called me on the phone once because he heard I was going to a CHristmas Eve Mass......and he wanted to tell me I could not go.....like he had any right or authority to do so......used some nice four letter words too
The list can go on,,,,,,fact is, most CHristians I have met are not people I would take on as friends, much less want to spend an eternity with.

I have to bow out of this one...if there were such a thing as heaven, it would not be a very nice place if they let people like that in. Kind of like the crowd at some biker bars I have visited......not a nice group, and not the kind of people to enjoy their company
'
FORTUNATELY we know that there is no heaven, no hell, no afterlife of ET or ER and no god that is running it all. And thank our founding fathers for giving us a free country in which I do not have to spend any tine in this life around the Christian Hatemongers who have nothing in life going for them except the desperate belief in an afterlife worshipping their racist, sexist diety who will quickly and willingly punish them for all eternity if they mess up along the way.
Tha Cat has Spoken