How Long Could You Stand Being In Heaven?

[alsarg72]

We have a short life, somewhere between 0 and 110 years, give or take. In that time we must do what is required to gain entrance to Heaven - accept Jesus Christ as our Saviour, not break the commandments, etc.

Of course it depends on exactly what religion a person follows, and even what branch of that religion, and how fundamentalist or moderate they are, as to exactly how they think they should behave, and precisely how they expect to be rewarded in the end.

But basically it's a matter of being good, following the rules, and hopefully ending up in paradise, in the presence family, friends, and The Lord, for eternity.

So what is Heaven like? More specifically, is it interesting enough to be content for eternity? What happens when you get bored? And if you don't continue behaving in all the correct ways that got you to Heaven, will you be kicked out?

When thinking in terms of ordinary human time scales these are easy questions to answer. Sure, you adhere to Gods laws just as you did in life, love Jesus, love your fellow man, etc, etc, etc, and all will be wonderful - Heavenly in fact.

But, eternity is a very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very long time. It is forever. An infinitely long time. If you wrote a one followed by enough zeros to span the universe, that number would be small compared to the number of years in an eternity.

So maybe there are lots of great things to do in Heaven. Enough to keep you busy for a hundred years? Sure. A thousand years? Maybe. What about two million years? After two million years what could you possibly be doing to keep yourself amused - but at the same time to still be avoiding doing anything sinful?

When people are bored they are more likely to fall into trouble, to do things that are bad. Imagine one hundred million years in Heaven. Imagine one hundred billion years in Heaven. What kind of paradise could be so good for one hundred billion years that you wouldn't be tempted to do something a little bit naughty?

Eventually you could conceivably be so bored that killing yourself because you can't bare the boredom any longer might seem like the only way out. But you can't kill yourself, you're already dead. So could such excruciating boredom eventually be it's own kind of hell? What could be so good in Heaven that after one billion trillion years you would still want to be there? And remember, after one billion trillion years your eternity in Heaven is only just beginning.

Opinions?

[faith]

When I die I think oblivion would be my preferred option. The idea of being in heaven with Christian fundamentalists and their version of God would be my idea of hell!

Hello Misty,

I cannot see any reason for what you have said.
Would you mind enlightening us to what you mean?

[englishrose1979]

But, eternity is a very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very long time. It is forever. An infinitely long time. If you wrote a one followed by enough zeros to span the universe, that number would be small compared to the number of years in an eternity.

So maybe there are lots of great things to do in Heaven. Enough to keep you busy for a hundred years? Sure. A thousand years? Maybe. What about two million years? After two million years what could you possibly be doing to keep yourself amused - but at the same time to still be avoiding doing anything sinful?

If we don't have bodies any more, what sins could we commit? Presumably the obvious ones of lust, overindulgence, harming another etc would no longer be available to us anyway.

There's a great big universe out there. And if we were permitted to explore it, that would probably keep us busy for quite a long time. Especially if there are other societies/living beings out there to observe.

[Euphrates]

I could stand to be in heaven for... eternity.

It takes a real lack of imagination to end up with the view that heaven would be boring. As if heaven has 2,000 games to play and eventually you'll get bored of all of them.

[alsarg72]

I could stand to be in heaven for... eternity.

It takes a real lack of imagination to end up with the view that heaven would be boring. As if heaven has 2,000 games to play and eventually you'll get bored of all of them.

It completely went over your head didn't it.

[alsarg72]

When I die I think oblivion would be my preferred option. The idea of being in heaven with Christian fundamentalists and their version of God would be my idea of hell!

Hello Misty,

I cannot see any reason for what you have said.
Would you mind enlightening us to what you mean?

One reason would be that it would be a haven for stupidity, given what is written in the debates by Christian Fundamentalists. I don't like to seem disrespectful, and maybe it's against the rules to have said that, but seriously, is there any limit at all on what idiocy can be said and asserted as truth here?

[Euphrates]

I could stand to be in heaven for... eternity.

It takes a real lack of imagination to end up with the view that heaven would be boring. As if heaven has 2,000 games to play and eventually you'll get bored of all of them.

It completely went over your head didn't it.

Instead of being rude, why don't you enlighten me?

[alsarg72]

eternity is a very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very long time. It is forever. An infinitely long time. If you wrote a one followed by enough zeros to span the universe, that number would be small compared to the number of years in an eternity.

Sorry, but I meant that your 2000 board games analogy hardly addresses the philosophical point of the thread. It just brushes it under the carpet so that the magical, feel good nature of eternity in heaven isn't threatened by some philosophical enquiry into the deeper meaning of what that phrase actually entails.

[Euphrates]

eternity is a very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very long time. It is forever. An infinitely long time. If you wrote a one followed by enough zeros to span the universe, that number would be small compared to the number of years in an eternity.

Sorry, but I meant that your 2000 board games analogy hardly addresses the philosophical point of the thread.

I didn't mean to sweep anything under the carpet. I'm sorry if it seemed that way. What exactly is the philosophical point of this thread?

[Benoni]

What is heaven and where is it wold be another way of approaching this chain of thought.

[Cathar1950]

When I die I think oblivion would be my preferred option. The idea of being in heaven with Christian fundamentalists and their version of God would be my idea of hell!

Of course we are not limited to the Christian fundamentalist's idea of Heaven, after all it is far to human and limited.

I recall CS Lewis writing about Heaven and Hell where they were alike with people sitting around with soup in front of them and spoon to long to feed themselves so in Hell they starved and in Heaven they were feeding each other.
It reminds me of a X-files where this Jinn had three wishes, one wish was for a bag of turnips that was always full, she says; "Did I mention it was 13th century Europe?"
Our ideas of Heaven or Hell are limited to our imaginations and related to what we see as good or happiness.

But I think the Universe has enough to keep us happy for a long time and who knows maybe we can make more with infinite variety and satisfactions.