What is the purpose of heaven?

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I don't believe in it, myself. However, I think the concept of Heaven (and Hell) appeals to our inate sense of justice, so often thwarted in this life.

Life isn't fair. Bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people. Heaven and Hell are appealing because they redress the inherent injustice of the world.

Personally, I feel that the concept of eternal Hell is revealed to be injust upon reflection, but I understand the appeal.

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We do not fear the night, who have loved the stars so fondly.

I don't think that heaven has a purpose, as such.
I think that it is a state of Being.... a level of Spiritual existence for us to achieve.



Peace, Love, & Light

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The Peaceful Place: http://www.agedhippy.plus.com/

"An object is perceived, or not perceived, according as the mind is, or is not, tinged with the colour of the object. "
Patanjali - Sutra 4:17

NO...wait...that's the porpoise of heaven!

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Grassaf, Eolas

I can agree with this 100%. Heaven is a state of being, not an actual place. We should all be working toward this on a daily basis, establishing our connection to the Deity within each of us.

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"Philosophy is a walk on a slippery rock
Religion is a smile on a dog."

Heaven knows.

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"The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge."-- Einstein

It is the biggest carrot of them all.
The stick being hell.
It is a most excellent scam to motivate the feeble minded to do things with no thought for their immediate consequences as the rewards are to come.
And you have to have faith in the reward as well as faith in the punishment.
There is no verifying any of it.

Heaven is where the gods live, and hell is where the demons live, and neither have much relevance to humans.

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Grassaf, Eolas

Someo of us are thinking of heaven as in the pearly gates. What of heaven in all it's forms? Valhalla, The Rainbow Bridge (the happy place where pets go and wait for you), Happy Hunting Ground, or anything else?

As for the christian extreme of St Peter and a line waiting to talk with God or be told they are at the wrong club for the night and should consider a hotter place. And the whole 7 tiers of hell or whatever it is.

Bah Humbug.

Now do I think that there is a heaven type place?

Why not, who wouldn't want to hang out and bake cookies with Nana again, see their best friends or children who were taken entirely too soon, cuddle with their favorite dog, or sleep next to their beloved again?

I would love to raise hell (!) in heaven with my grandfather, but most likely my body will be burnt to ashes, flung across the ocean and my personality will be instilled in people's memories and my childrens hearts.

And even that sounds fanciful.

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- Wisdom comes when you stop looking for it. -
"If God were alive today, he'd be an atheist" - Kurt Vonnegut

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In the Baha'i view "heaven" is nearness to God and "hell" would be remoteness from God.

- Art

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"it benefits us to be thoughtful, not of the glory of our minds, but rather, above all else, of the glory of God."
- Johannes Kepler