Even when i was a born again christian, the thought of the christian heaven never sat right with me. At the time, i assumed the mainstream view, as with many other biblical interpretations, was wrong, or at least misunderstood. The logical inconsistencies surrounding free will, and whether or not you would even be the same you, were bad enough, but it is another implication that scared & disturb me more, then, and utterly disgusts me, now.

How could I, or anyone, enjoy themselves while being conscious of the fact that at that very moment, and for every one to come, my/their loved ones were receiving immense agonizing torture for breaking the whimsical laws of a petty narcissist? And as a reward, we get to worship this bastard for all eternity. The sadistic cherry on top being we must love every twisted moment. I can not conjure up a more sadistic nor cruel existence, than this interpretation of heaven. It truly would be my hell.

I would love to hear ppl’s thoughts on this, and how they reconcile this in their own minds

But like i said, this was never my view of heaven. I thought each heaven was personal, a unique customized existence made from the subconscious. It could be a static environment, or ever-changing. And no one was there but whom you wanted, how you wanted, for as long as you want. “come, as you are, as you were, as i need you to be…” sorry, that just popped in my head, lol, but basically, it would be my very own holodeck, though the shades\souls that inhabit it would be exact copies, ala black mirror.

I wanted to research the consensus view of Heaven amongst current day christians and, not surprisingly, there isn’t one. In fact, until the  Second Temple period (roughly 500 B.C.E – 70 C.E.), Most Jews believed in Sheol, where all the dead go, regardless of how they lived, or what they believed. It wasn’t untill Zoroastrianism was introduced to Mesopotamia Circa 600 b.c.e. that the ideas of judgment after death, heaven & hell, an eternal war of Ultimate good Vs. an ultimate evil were incorporated into Judaism, and thus, christianity, a few centuries later.

One thing the “Faiths” of Abraham seem to have in common, on their view of the afterlife is that God will be there, lording over all on his high celestial throne. So we may bask in his glory, i guess, but not much else. They can’t even agree on the name of the O so wonderful deity, nor the name of his abode. They debate the number of levels ( 1-7+a purgatory…maybe), Number of inhabitants (144,000 – ?), and even the criteria to enter (works Vs. faith). Some say its in outer space, or in another dimension, or mayhaps on Earth itself.

Early Christians and some Protestant, and others, believe we don’t enter Heaven until a 1k year “slumber” after the Second Coming of Jesus, when we all, every soul ever to live, will be promptly judged & sentenced. Its worth noting that Jesus promises this will occur within his contemporaries lifetimes. so much for that. Others believe they will shoot straight to heaven when they die, or when the Rapture comes. which, again, is aaaany minute now.

Mormons have the most extreme idea, that if we play our cards right, we get to be the sky daddy of our very own “world” ! But is that really as out there as a supposed omni-everything (knowledge, power, foresight, love etc.), yet oddly jealous, entity Needing to sacrifice Its self, to Its self, for breaking the capricious rule put into place by Its self, so that way It will be able to forgive Its self? I think not.

To me, all this confusion is just another example of how, if there is an all-knowing, all loving god, she has absolutely nothing to do with any of this nonsense. but that’s just, like, my opinion, man. So, i’d love to hear from you guys and get your previous, and current, views on heaven : )