“And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald; The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolyte; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls: every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.” (Revelation 21)
Basically allot of precious expensive stones and gold decorating the place, but in a world where wealth is of no issue much of these precious stones are pretty useless other than being pretty eye candy to look at for an eternity. Also it said that people will keep their current bodies, there will be no hunger or need to sleep and no pain and suffering. What exactly do you do all day?
For this reason they are before the throne of God, and worship him day and night within his temple, and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter them (Revelation 7:15)
It is difficult to grasp just how long an eternity is. It’s forever and ever. It doesn’t end. Look at our lives now, we have computers and games, we have phones and apps, we take photos and share them with others – Heavens seems void of all modern technologies and is filled with stuff that seemed very desirable in the old age where gold and stones were wealth sought after. Could you image living eternity without your phone, electricity and spending all that time praising God?
Sleep is a very nice thing and an enjoyable experience especially when you are tired. Sex is also an amazing thing, but there will be none of that in Heaven. There will be eating and great feasts, not sure where the food will come from in terms of slaughter and grow houses, but I think it will just manifest ( God is Almighty After all)at least we will have that.
Personally for me this would be Hell – walking through golden streets and praising God for most of my time. I think the only reason why heaven is the place people want to be is because burning in Hell for an eternity is the only alternate. So yes Humans were given free will, but if someone holds a gun to your head and tells you that you have 2 choices: 1. Give me everything OR 2. I shoot you – Then you don’t really have a choice…
In an open letter for the Pulpit and Pen blog, the now teenaged Alex stated, “I did not die. I did not go to Heaven. I said I went to heaven because I thought it would get me attention. When I made the claims that I did, I had never read the Bible. People have profited from lies, and continue to. They should read the Bible, which is enough. The Bible is the only source of truth. Anything written by man cannot be infallible.” I will not go into the fact that the bible was also written by man.
A great deal of profit was made from this book and others like it – what Alex experienced is something called “heavenly tourism” and the Christian industry is cashing it in. People find this very interesting and with good reason, because nobody knows what happens when we die and to read about brings comfort. But even if you did believe this account of Alex’s story to be the absolute truth – it should not be a surprise that it was a lie. Alex was a 6 years old kid and suffered major brain trauma.
From salon article:
“…Pulpit and Pen has posted emails suggesting that LifeWay president Thom Rainer received direct information months ago that “Alex does not support this book.” Note that Alex’s mother Beth – who is now divorced from his father — wrote last April that “Alex was a kid with major brain trauma which alone should raise questions as to validity,” and that “Alex’s name and identity are being used against his wishes (I have spoken before and posted about it that Alex has tried to publicly speak out against the book), on something that he is opposed to and knows to be in error according to the Bible.”” –
http://www.salon.com/2015/01/16/boy_who_came_back_from_heaven_he_didnt_go_to_heaven_after_all/
I am not going to go into the delusion of religion – my main point here in this blog is that here you have a Christian publishing industry exploiting a child and then trying to keep the poor kid from coming clean – all for the profit motive. People made allot of money using this child by exploiting people’s beliefs even though they knew the book was a lie. As long as the book sells it’s all that matters.
The writer of the salon article ended with a very cool question:
“And if heaven were real, I’d question today who, in the very lucrative and dubious world of Christian celestial tourism, would actually deserve a ticket to it — and who would be turned away.”
Christmas time is a time for giving – but it is actually just people buying useless crap for each other that apparently shows how much they care for each other. Companies love holiday season. Families come together reminding each other how important family is and that family stick together and help each other. What most do not realize is that the only reason they can celebrate Christmas is because they have money. Money makes Christmas possible. Money is needed to buy and drive the car for a family get-together. Money is needed to buy the Christmas meal. Money, money, money.
Most do not have money – what about them? Why should they be left outside in the cold and with no food? Why after 2013 years of celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ have we not been able to end poverty? Christmas is celebrating the birth of a man that stood for helping others – to love other as yourself – to give as you would like to receive – Yet we have live 2013 years of hypocrisy, because we as humanity can’t even feed all of humanity.
Every Christmas should actually be a day of shame – how can we celebrate when so many suffer each day? Why is there nothing being done? Why do we settle for the temporary solutions that only help some of those that suffer and not opt for permanent solutions that help all?
A Guaranteed Living Income will be a solution. It will end poverty when fully implemented. That would be the greatest gift we can give each other. Money is what is needed to be able to live in this world. With a Guaranteed Living Income survival ends and living begins. Maybe at the 2014th celebration of the Birth of Jesus Christ we can have a Christmas without shame and hypocrisy – because the will be a Guaranteed Living Income.
When you walk on a road and hurt you foot by accidentally stepping on a stone/falling over a branch will you cry out in pain and anger - blaming the stone/branch for being in your way - or will you move out of the path to make sure nobody else gets hurt?
Its the same if you have a good life with no problems - wouldn't you want the same for others? or rather let them struggle and not find find ways to make the world a better place.
I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to not consider others and only act in self interest
I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to only look out for myself and never try to make life easier for others
I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to not move the rock from the road to same sure nobody else gets hurt by it
I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to believe that this world is a dog eat dog place and that there is nothing i can do to change it and that its just the way it is
I forgive myself that I have not accepted and allowed myself to realize that saying that the world is every man for himself is me using it as an excuse and justification for not taking responsibility and assist and support others
I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to never put myself is the shoes of others and using the excuse and justification that it is not my responsibility an that they must find their own way to help themselves
I forgive myself that I have not accepted and allowed myself to realize that the only reason i can have a good life is because i have money - and that those without money have no change in this life to make it
I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to believe that they do not have money, because they are lazy and don't get jobs - not realizing that there are 7 billion humans on earth and thus there is no way for all 7 billion to have jobs and money in this current accepted world
I commit myself to move the rock from the path/consider others
I commit myself to to not act in self interest, but to instead do what is best for all
I commit myself to stop the believe that this life is every man for himself and not accept this
find ways for all beings in earth to have a dignified life
I commit myself to stop using justifications and excuses like its not my responsibility, but to instead take self responsibility and make this world a world worth living
I commit myself to realize that it could have been me in that situation of suffering and poor and that no being should need to suffer and that we created this world and all its suffering and thus i commit myself to stop it
I commit myself to create a world where all beings can live a good meaningful life without fear
