There’s a show playing on the television, which I’m not paying any attention to. It’s about a woman who is kidnapped and raped by a former neighbour. One thing I did hear was that this woman believed that if she died a virgin, she would go to heaven and get a star in her crown. Not being religious, I don’t think I’ve ever heard that you get a crown when you go to heaven. So I certainly never heard about getting a star in it.
Questions: What sect of Christianity teaches this, and is there a biblical reference to back it up?
I’ve spent more than a decade each as a member three different Christian denominations. None of them, or any other I’ve ever heard of, promised anything about heavenly crowns or stars that might go in them. Nor wings or halos, for that matter.
Same here. Grew up as a Catholic, and have, in my adult life, been in an Evangelical church, then Lutheran, and now Methodist. Have never ever heard of this particular thing.
I have no comment on the question in general beyond the fact that, raised as a fundamentalist I’d never heard of this either, but I must mention that the name Chanin Starbuck in the article is a perfectly valid reason for homicide. They should do an episode on that.
Of course, it’s not so much that these are literal crowns, not the way I learned about them, just the idea that you are recognized/rewarded for your faithfulness, deeds, etc.
Revelation chapter 12 references a crown with twelve stars, and I think the consensus is that the woman wearing it represents Mary. Some believers see Mary as virgin only until the birth of Jesus; others insist that she was virgin for her entire life.
So… I could see where someone might connect various dots to think she’ll get a star in a crown for dying a virgin.
Which is why I have been trying to make sure no women die as virgins. And, if by some terrible accident I am unable to get there in time, I make sure they aren’t buried as one.
It came up a lot in our sorta-kindof-pentacostal churches. I don’t know that I ever thought about whether or not it was intended to be taken literally as in a physical crown waiting on you when you got there, but it was a shorthand for “there will be a caste system in heaven and it’s based on behavior and professed beliefs, and you better keep yourself in line or you’ll be down with the dregs in the back of the hall instead of basking in the glory of the Risen Lord from the stage seating with us.”
There’s something in Revelation about the ranks and files of of the faithful and how they’re arranged and something about what they’re wearing, and it and Mary’s crown got trotted out quite a lot as evidence.
Concepts are biblical supportable (crowns and stars), not sure how it related to virginity except if one is true to God (that does not negate sexuality, butdoes relate to spiritually infidelity (such as sex with the wrong person).
[QUOTE=Rev 2:10]
Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor’s crown.
[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=Rev 2:28]
I will also give that one the morning star.
[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=Rev 3]
11 I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown. 12 The one who is victorious I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will they leave it. I will write on them the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on them my new name.
I don’t think it’s a denominational thing. It’s just one of those Bible trivia items as far as I know. “The bible mentions heavenly crowns five times with five different names. What are they? How would these five traits appear in your life?”
I used to teach Sunday School and AWANA (Presbyterian, Evangelical and Baptist over the years) and we were always looking for lists of things that would generate some interesting discussion and make a point that kids could remember. I’m assuming it was a lesson plan of that sort where I first heard of the idea, but it’s been a while. (We might even have done construction-paper cutouts of crowns and put our own traits on them, just to keep their hands busy. I did more lesson plans like that than I can count.)
Lasciel mentions it in a Pentecostal church… I also spent a couple of years in a Foursquare congregation, so maybe there’s a connection there.
Anyway, I certainly never discussed it in any kind of Heavenly caste system in the way Lasciel describes, but the Bible is pretty clear in a variety of passages that doing good things on Earth gets you some kind of reward in Heaven. The crowns are one example of those kinds of passages.
My mother used to talk about it, but it was always in a sarcastic way. For example, if one of the kids broke a window and she had to fix it, or got stuck somewhere and she had to come get us, or had to rehash a floor because somebody let the dog in with muddy paws, she would always say, “That will give me another jewel in my crown in heaven.”
I’m Catholic, and this would have been in Chicago in the fifties.
There used to be a minor joke about the church on one side of the street singing |Will there be any stars in my crown?| and the church on the other side singing |No, Not One|. I’ve never heard either of them, but the Cyber Hymnal has them. They actually are speaking of different things. Stars in your crown would seem to be one of those folk ideas that grow, like the additions to the idea of angels.
Being an atheist I don’t believe in heaven, but I do like to ponder the oddities it might present.
So she gets there, a virgin, and gets her crown. Then what? Are there more stars added at intervals through eternity if she keeps chaste? Is her star deleted if she meets a heavenly hookup? Do we do it in heaven?
I am so disappointed that the various bibles don’t go into much detail about the various heavens. But I understand why. Can’t make it too easy to do the cost benefit analysis.
