As a child, were you taught that heaven is a place above the clouds where God sits on His throne. Were you also taught that Santa Claus lives at the North Pole with eight tiny reindeer (lately joined by a mutant red-nosed one!)? Have you dismissed both teachings?
If so, you have the support of atheists. Since extensive 21st century exploration of space finds no sign of heaven, atheists conclude it doesn’t exist. Are they correct? Not only are they incorrect, but they are also surprisingly ignorant about what they are dismissing. They haven’t yet discovered that heaven is not a place.
Places are exclusively part of existence which our creator created. A creator cannot be part of what it created. It follows that our creator is beyond existence and thus its dwelling (which we call heaven) must be as well. If you’d value reasoning that supports this reality, you’ll find it in the Meaning of Life Video Series. There you’ll also find sound reasoning that establishes that our creator loves us and created us for eternal life. Does it not follow that it intends us to dwell with it in what we call heaven?
Ah, but you say, why would the Bible and Jesus repeatedly refer to heaven as in the clouds? The Bible’s authors concluded, since heaven was not on Earth, it must be beyond Earth and thus above the clouds. Jesus referred to heaven in what He knew was a way with which they could identify.
However, more importantly, Jesus taught what heaven is like. You can find His teachings summarized in Chapter 7 - Kingdom of God in the Appendix to Discovering Life’s Purpose. Not one of these teachings makes any reference to a place in the clouds. They all teach that heaven is very, very real. Jesus was God Incarnate (as we established in How Can a Man be God and in the Meaning of Life Video Series, beginning with Video 25 – Why do many people dismiss the claim that Jesus is the Son of God – and continuing through Video 28. Because Jesus was God Incarnate, can you reasonably dismiss His teaching that heaven is real? But, if not a place, what is it?
Roman Catholicism teaches it is a state of being of a spirit or human soul. It is neither an abstraction nor a physical place in the clouds but a living, intimate, eternal relationship with our creator. Because our creator is perfect, does such a relationship not mean we must achieve perfection? Because our creator won’t force its help on us, must we not ask for its prerequisite help? Matthew 7: 7-8. For our loved ones, who don't know they need to ask, or for what to ask, must we not ask on their behalf? Because it wants us to choose an intimate relationship with it, must our creator not leave it up to us to accept its invitation and then do our best to achieve perfection? But how? In Become At One with Creator, we outline how to prepare for the state of being we call heaven by beginning to develop a daily, intimate relationship with our creator while we are on Earth.
What are our alternative states of being? We can reject our creator, choosing instead to permanently separate ourselves from it in a state of being we call hell. Hell is not a punishment by our creator but a choice we, often unwittingly, make. We can accept our creator’s invitation, but inadequately prepare during our lifetimes on Earth. Matthew 7: 13-14. At our deaths, our creator, rather than withdrawing its help, patiently gives us all the time we need to adequately prepare in a state of being we call purgatory.
Why wait for purgatory?
Del H. Smith conducts research into life’s meaning and is the award-winning author of the AMAZON Best Seller, Discovering Life’s Purpose.