Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!ukma!seismo!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: uriel@oak.circa.ufl.edu (Scott Whitmore) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: On the nature of heaven Message-ID: Date: 15 Jan 91 10:02:17 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: University of Florida CIRCA VAX Cluster Lines: 47 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu >In heaven, we are even stripped of the relationship of marriage >(described elsewhere as yielding ``one flesh''). And yet, in >reading Genesis I find that God created a physical world, with >relationships amongst its people (Adam and Eve), and declared that >world ``good''. The Biblical conception of Heaven is not one explicitly of naked spirituality. This is part of Greek philosophy, not Hebrew theology. The main picture is one of ultimate closeness to God; marriage is obsolete in Heaven because there, one will be united to God and to one's brothers and sisters in a relationship whose intimacy will make that of earthly spouses look like pen-pals. The natural world will be raised up in the Resurrection, just as will humanity (Romans 8:19-22). And the resurrection body of Christ (and, by inference, of all the saints) is material (St.John 20:25-28), or transmaterial at any rate. >While it is true that the sin of Adam and Eve >destroyed this paradise, and, apparently left us with the world >which we see today, I am curious why God should have abandoned this >conception of paradise. "...Narnia is not dead. This is Narnia." "But how can it be?" said Peter. "For Aslan told us older ones that we should never return to Narnia, and here we are." "Yes," said Eustace, "And we saw it all destroyed and the sun put out." "And it's all so different," said Lucy. "The Eagle is right," said the Lord Digory. "Listen, Peter. When Aslan said you could never go back to Narnia, he meant the Narnia you were thinking of. But that was not the real Narnia. That had a beginning and an end. It was only a shadow or copy of the real Narnia, which has always been here and always will be here... All of the old Narnia that mattered, all the dear creatures, have been drawn into the real Narnia through the Door. And of course it is different; as different as a real thing is from a shadow or as waking life from a dream." -- _The Last Battle_, C.S. Lewis -- >Terry Coatta (coatta@cs.ubc.ca) >Dept. of Computer Science, UBC, Vancouver BC, Canada Scott -- Scott Whitmore Internet: uriel@maple.circa.ufl.edu 24-510 Tolbert Hall or uriel@maple.decnet%pine.circa.ufl.edu Gainesville, FL 32612 (USA) Friendly Neighborhood Standard Disclaimer "The Devil...the prowde spirit...cannot bear to be mocked." --Thomas More (?)