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The
heavens are the sky, the celestial sphere, or outer space.
Indeed, sky is the original meaning of the word Heaven.
Heaven
is an afterlife concept found in many world religions or
spiritual philosophies.
Those
who believe in heaven generally hold that it (or Hell) is
the final afterlife destination of many or all humans. In
unusual instances, humans have had, according to the claims
of many testimonies and traditions, personal knowledge of
Heaven. They presume this is for the purpose of teaching
the rest of humanity about life, Heaven, and God.
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Conceptions
of Heaven
While there are abundant and varied sources for conceptions
of Heaven, of varying degrees of credibility, the typical
believer's view appears to depend largely on his particular
religious tradition. Various religions have described Heaven
as being populated by angels, demons, gods and goddesses,
and/or heroes. Heaven is generally construed as a place
of eternal happiness. The relationship between this concept
and the celestial sphere is generally believed to have been
first proposed by the ancient astronomer-priests (see also:
astrologer).
Location
of Heaven
The idea as to whether or not Heaven is a physical place
has been in existence since the dawn of religion and human
civilization. In the early religions (such as the Egyptian
faith), Heaven was a physical place far above the Earth
in a "dark area" of space where there were no
stars. Departed souls would undergo a literal journey to
reach Heaven, along the way to which there could exist hazards
and other entities attempting to deny the reaching of Heaven.
The
medieval Christian view of Heaven was that it existed as
a physical place above the clouds and that God and the Angels
were physically above, watching over Man. With the dawn
of the Age of Reason, science began to challenge this notion,
however Heaven as a physical place survived in the concept
that it was located far out into space, and that the stars
were "lights shining through from heaven". The
work of Dante clearly identifies that Heaven was a physical
place, existing in a sphere around the Earth, the Sun, and
the Stars.
In science
fiction, several films and literature sources have suggested
that, through advanced technology, Heaven can be reached
by the living through conventional means. Such was the case
in the Disney film The Black Hole, in which a manned spacecraft
found both Heaven and Hell located at the bottom of a Black
Hole.
In today’s
modern society of science and space flight, most people
assume that Heaven is not a physical place in the universe
nor can it be reached by conventional travel. Religious
views, however, still hold Heaven as having a dual status
as a concept of mind but also possibly still a physical
place existing on another "plane of existence".
To date, however, there is no scientific evidence for the
existence of such a dimension, an area of the universe,
or alternate reality where Heaven physically exists. Regardless,
however, in the minds of the faithful the existence of Heaven
is definite.
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Getting into Heaven
Religions which have a heaven differ on how (and if) one
gets into it. Some (i.e., followers of universalism) provide
that everyone will go to Heaven, no matter what they have
done on earth. In others, entrance to Heaven is conditional
on having lived a "good life" (within the terms
of the spiritual system). Some religions state that those
who do not go to heaven go to place of punishment, hell.
Historically,
Christianity has been divided over how people gain entry
into Heaven. From the 16th to the late 19th century, Christendom
was divided between the Catholic and Orthodox views on the
one hand, and the Protestant views on the other.
In the
Catholic and Orthodox faith, entry into Heaven depends upon
the Christian receiving God's grace through the activities
of the church. This would include Baptism, the Eucharist
and Confession. Even though Heaven was promised to these
Christians, some, especially Roman Catholics, believed that
entering Purgatory after death would help cleanse their
sins and make them acceptable to entering Heaven. Many within
the Anglican Church also hold to this belief, despite their
Protestant history.
In the
Protestant faith, entry into Heaven depends upon the Christian
placing their faith in Jesus. Protestant theology holds
strongly that when Jesus died on the cross, he took upon
himself the punishment for the world's sins. Therefore,
any person who has faith in Christ and asks for his forgiveness
will automatically be granted forgiveness for their sins
and has the promise of going to Heaven.
Within
the Protestant faith there are two further strands of thought.
The first is called Calvinism (after the Protestant Reformer
John Calvin) which argues that entry into Heaven has already
been predetermined by God - that all those who are Christians
have in fact been chosen from the beginning of time to be
saved. Faith in Christ is still essential, but the reason
why a Christian has faith is because God has chosen them
beforehand. The second is called Arminianism (after Jacob
Arminius, a theologian who disputed with Calvin's beliefs)
whereby predeterminism is denied. In this case, a person
can choose to have faith in Christ out of their free will
and not be compelled to by divine power. A detailed examination
of the differences between these two protestant strands
of thought are examined in their respective articles.
While
this division still exists within the Protestant church,
since the early 20th century many Protestant churches have
adopted a Universalist approach which claims that all people
will one day enjoy Heaven, regardless of their religious
beliefs.
Even
within religious, such as Catholism and Protestantism, which
dictate faith in Christ and receipt of the sacriments as
a prerequiste for Heaven, there still exists in some opinions
a "human factor" which prevents the blatantly
evil from entering Heaven even if they are a practicing
member of a faith. A prime example of this would be in the
culture of the American Mafia, in which known mobsters and
killers may be seen attending church on a daily basis and
professing a belief in Christ. However, since such people
choose to ignore the majority of the Church's teachings
and engage in evil acts, there are those who believe that
such persons will be denied entry into Heaven based on evil
acts committed in this world. It is not enough to simply
belong to a faith and verbally express a belief in Christ,
but one must also live by His teachings and live a good
and decent life.
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Heaven in Christianity
Heaven is an especially interesting doctrine in Christian
thought, which has the resurrection of the body dominating
the concept of afterlife. While the intermediate state (between
death and the resurrection) is unclear, the final state
of believers is in an incorruptible, resurrected body, living
in the "New Jerusalem" in the "New Earth."
The person was never meant to be disembodied. Death is an
enemy, not a friend who frees the soul. The Greek "hê
basileia tous ouranous", usually translated as "the
Kingdom of Heaven", is indeed more literally "the
rule of the skies", with "the skies" a codeword
for God. Thus it describes a state, not a place.
The
present Roman Catholic teaching regarding Heaven is found
in the Catechism of the Catholic Church: "Those who
die in God's grace and friendship and are perfectly purified
live forever... This perfect life with [God]....is called
heaven. [It] is the ultimate end and fulfilment of the deepest
human longings, the state of supreme, definitive happiness."
Pope John Paul II has said (see link below), "[Heaven]
is neither an abstraction nor a physical place in the clouds,
but a living, personal relationship with [God]."
The
Eastern Orthodox teaching is that Heaven and Hell are the
same "place"—the "New Jerusalem"
and "New Earth", but the individual's perception
of the place will determine whether or not one experiences
it as Paradise or agony. This perception will be determined
by one's relationship to God.
Jehovah's
Witnesses reject the idea of heaven as the final hope and
home for humanity; in their view only a few people including
the Apostles (John 14:1-3; Rev. 5:9,10; 14:1-5) will go
to Heaven to rule the remainder of good people (including
David and John the Baptist), who will inherit the Earth
to live forever (Matt. 5:5; Acts 2:34; Rev. 21:3-5).
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Heaven in Judaism
While the concept of heaven (malkuth shamaim - Kingdom of
Heaven) is well-defined within the Christian and Islamic
religions, the Jewish concept of the afterlife, sometimes
known as "olam haba", the world to come, was never
set forth in a systematic or official fashion as was done
in Christianity and Islam.
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Heaven in Direct Worship
The religion of Direct Worship states that mankind were
originally created to reside in heaven, but that this blissful
state was lost and as a result mankind has come to reside
on earth.
From
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