# Christians: what is heaven like? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 18, 2013, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-what-is-heaven-like/676654 "2013-12-18T16:13:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2013, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-what-is-heaven-like/676654/1 "2013-12-18T16:13:56Z")
Christians, I’m told you all believe that heaven is what awaits (most of) you after your brain activity fades to zero. What do you believe heaven is like? Either in a general sense, or just subjectively for you? What will you be able to do? What will you want to do? How will you spend your time? Is it possible to do things there that would get you kicked out? ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2013, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-what-is-heaven-like/676654/2 "2013-12-18T16:51:22Z")
If I’m lucky enough to make it there, I’ll try to find some way to let you know, from Beyond. More seriously, I have no idea what Heaven is. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2013, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-what-is-heaven-like/676654/3 "2013-12-18T16:53:54Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > Christians, I’m told you all believe that heaven is what awaits (most of) you after your brain activity fades to zero. We all do? 😉 A lot of us believe there will be a new heaven and a new earth when Jesus returns and the dead will be resurrected at that time (as Revelation 20-21 talks about). Maybe that sounds semantics to you, so I’ll address the rest: > [@](#): > > What do you believe heaven is like? Either in a general sense, or just subjectively for you? What will you be able to do? What will you want to do? How will you spend your time? Is it possible to do things there that would get you kicked out? I have no idea about what activities are at the end, I just believe that there will be a new heaven and a new earth, and God will once again live with His people. I also believe everyone gets to participate in the Age to Come. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2013, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-what-is-heaven-like/676654/4 "2013-12-18T16:55:03Z")
I do not think it is possible for me to know what heaven is “like”, but I do believe that every desire it is right and proper for me to have while I am alive is an image of something that will find its complete fulfilment in heaven. I like the idea that, having once chosen to obey God while it was possible for me to refuse, I will reach a state in which I am no longer capable of desiring to choose wrong over right - which means it is not possible for me to get kicked out, as every want I have will be one that it is proper for me to have. I might say that heaven would be “like” having the freedom and ability to explore every star and planet in the Universe and more than enough time to do so, until I understand every one of them as well as I understand the room I am sitting in right now - but that is not to say that I think that heaven will be literally like that, only that whatever is presently in me that would find the walking-the-stars afterlife utterly fulfilling will _actually_ discover what it was looking for all along, and be able to pursue it at last. Or it’s a giant barbecue with no indigestion and no hangover afterwards, but I don’t rate that as especially likely. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2013, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-what-is-heaven-like/676654/5 "2013-12-18T16:59:57Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > **Christians: what is heaven like?** \*Ain’t never been there, they tell me it’s nice. \* -Joe Walsh _Well, I’ve never been to heaven, but I’ve been to Oklahoma._ -Three Dog Night ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2013, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-what-is-heaven-like/676654/6 "2013-12-18T17:04:39Z")
All I want to know about is the food plan: Can you really eat anything you want without gaining weight? ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2013, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-what-is-heaven-like/676654/7 "2013-12-18T17:06:13Z")
I just figure it will be the absence of hell. So if it’s true that I’d spend eternity in agony if I were to end up in hell, as long as I don’t go there, I’m in heaven. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2013, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-what-is-heaven-like/676654/8 "2013-12-18T18:04:57Z")
> [@ISiddiqui](#): > > We all do? 😉 A lot of us believe there will be a new heaven and a new earth when Jesus returns and the dead will be resurrected at that time (as Revelation 20-21 talks about). > > Maybe that sounds semantics to you, so I’ll address the rest: > > I have no idea about what activities are at the end, I just believe that there will be a new heaven and a new earth, and God will once again live with His people. > > I also believe everyone gets to participate in the Age to Come. Okay, but that’s when Jesus returns and brings pie. But what’s it been like for the past 2000 years and what’s it like NOW? ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2013, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-what-is-heaven-like/676654/9 "2013-12-18T18:23:17Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > Okay, but that’s when Jesus returns and brings pie. > > But what’s it been like for the past 2000 years and what’s it like NOW? Some believe its a “soul sleep” and some believe that maybe the spirits of bodies are in the heavenly plane waiting. I don’t know which is occurring and would be fine with either. ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2013, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-what-is-heaven-like/676654/10 "2013-12-18T19:13:42Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > What do you believe heaven is like? Either in a general sense, or just subjectively for you? I offer only my personal thoughts. Psychologist Abraham Maslow defined the concept of a “[peak experience](http://www.timlebon.com/PeakExperiences.html)” as an occasion where a person feels intense joy and happiness unmixed with any negative emotions. I believe that for those who have entered Heaven, existence consists of permanent peak experiences, nothing else. In our current world, we have all been separated from God by sin. When we enter Heaven, God effects changes within us so that we are no longer sinful, and our natures are entirely in harmony with God’s nature, in the way that God originally intended. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Quatro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bc8723/32.png) [@Mr\_Quatro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Quatro)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2013, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-what-is-heaven-like/676654/11 "2013-12-18T19:25:46Z")
There are no library cards in heaven … there is a war going on down here on the earth. If you want to read it, in fact if you want to read anything, you better read it now. Many people think that when they die they go to heaven, but they don’t go anywhere. It is the Holy Spirit that goes back to where He came from taking your personality with him. Heaven is where you get judged and reassigned. It is not a place of rest, not yet at least. Rest will come later after the war is over. What war? The war for men and women’s souls that’s what war. There is no time or distance in the spirit world … heaven is not all that far away. Many people have had near death experiences that describe heaven as a very beautiful place with a beautiful valley. There is a war going on … Jesus said that the kingdom of heaven has been under attack since the days of John the Baptist. Perhaps a better place to think about is the new Jerusalem that comes down out of heaven at the end of the thousand years of peace. I can’t get anyone else to agree, but I think that it will also go back up taking us with the city. Here is the city as described on the book of revelations near the end of time as an know it. > [@](#): > > Revelation 21:23–22:5 (NKJV) > > 23 The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. 24 And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it. 25 Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there). 26 And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it. 27 But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. > The River of Life > > 22 And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. 2 In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3 And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. 4 They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. 5 There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2013, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-what-is-heaven-like/676654/12 "2013-12-18T19:53:44Z")
Iowa. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2013, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-what-is-heaven-like/676654/13 "2013-12-18T20:44:04Z")
It’s good . As opposed to hell (which is bad).:mad: ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2013, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-what-is-heaven-like/676654/14 "2013-12-18T21:26:31Z")
I imagine that it’s as difficult for us to comprehend heaven as it is for a fetus to comprehend life after the womb. We thought we had it pretty good when we were in the womb because that was all we knew. We couldn’t even fathom light, music, love, food, colors, other people, etc. Same thing with heaven. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Quatro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bc8723/32.png) [@Mr\_Quatro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Quatro)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2013, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-what-is-heaven-like/676654/15 "2013-12-18T21:47:46Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > I imagine that it’s as difficult for us to comprehend heaven as it is for a fetus to comprehend life after the womb. We thought we had it pretty good when we were in the womb because that was all we knew. We couldn’t even fathom light, music, love, food, colors, other people, etc. Same thing with heaven. True: 1 Cor 2:9 “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” ---
**Author:** ![James\_Toothpaste](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e56c9b/32.png) [@James\_Toothpaste](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/James_Toothpaste)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2013, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-what-is-heaven-like/676654/16 "2013-12-18T21:50:43Z")
Perfect ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2013, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-what-is-heaven-like/676654/17 "2013-12-18T22:29:56Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > I like the idea that, having once chosen to obey God while it was possible for me to refuse, I will reach a state in which I am no longer capable of desiring to choose wrong over right - which means it is not possible for me to get kicked out, as every want I have will be one that it is proper for me to have. Yes, I see it that way too. We will see the face of God and know the truth and that’s all we’ll need or want. Our will will be one with God’s so there is nothing to do wrong. As **Happy Lendervedder** says, beyond that ideal I can’t comprehend how it all works but I trust God will take care if it! ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2013, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-what-is-heaven-like/676654/18 "2013-12-18T22:44:24Z")
I’ll tell you what it is like, though I am not christian. It is traveling from star system to star system using FTL technology, meeting wonderful new ‘people’ aka ‘beings’, exploring new places never imagined, and new experiences deep inside the soul that makes sex look like a kindergarten kiss, it is touching souls advanced 1000’s of years past your level of technology and they wish to help you. It is also deeply caring for beings, like we are on earth, for what they will become one day, and that becoming depends on the care shown. On the contrast, in Hell one can expect to stand around the throne of Satan sing to him ‘holy, holy holy’, night and day, and regressions of technology. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2013, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-what-is-heaven-like/676654/19 "2013-12-18T22:46:04Z")
> [@ISiddiqui](#): > > Some believe its a “soul sleep” and some believe that maybe the spirits of bodies are in the heavenly plane waiting. On a treadmill? ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2013, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-what-is-heaven-like/676654/20 "2013-12-19T00:12:41Z")
> [@Mr\_Quatro](#): > > Many people think that when they die they go to heaven, but they don’t go anywhere. It is the Holy Spirit that goes back to where He came from taking your personality with him. Is that the same as the soul? Or does your soul go one place, and your personality to another? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-what-is-heaven-like/676654.md?page=2)