I would like to clarify something before I begin today’s topic. First off the last two blog posts on shrapnel, war, and Hell were gloomy not because I am a depressed dark minded coward but because I thought it was important to write about those things. Hell is something we should think about when sinning out of balance so that our conscience feels more culpable. What I mean is before or even after we sin if we think about the path of our eternal soul instead of just our immediate guilt then we will be better off in the long run.
And now on to Heaven. In order to stray away from the conflicting ideas of anybody can get to Heaven as long as they are born in Christ, I will speak from the heart and explain it along the teachings of the oldest Christian Church on Earth, Catholicism. Now in order to stray away from the dry doctrine, I would like to describe to you in my own words and utterly brilliant imagination what I think Heaven is like. (Obviously I lack humility on Saturdays.)
Mommy, will there be baseball in Heaven? Will Sparky, be there too? Gosh, Mom I sure hope there will be ice cream in Heaven.
The age old questions that kids ask their moms, begs us all to ask the question. What will it be like in Heaven? Will we all have golden mansions and thousands of acres with everything we could possibly dream of? Or will Heaven be droll, all clouds and Angels playing harps at every bend and turn? In all honesty God would not have created Heaven to be so perfect and hard for us to get too if it was not the most fantastic place to go. I believe God loves baseball, cute little puppy’s named sparky, and great big cones with mint chocolate chip ice cream. However we have to remember that the things that bring us pleasure on Earth are different then the things that will bring us pleasure in Heaven.
It is our sole responsibility to know, love, and serve God in this world and the next. So if God has planned for us to be with Him all we have to do is follow relatively simple rules, and we are good to go. I have been asked many a time, why sacrifice the partying, drinking, smoking, cursing, and sexuality just on the pretense of there being a Heaven? What if there is no God? Then I would have wasted a life of fun and pleasure being so holy when there is no God. My question in response is: Why run the high risk of thinking that there is no God? Are you really going to use your eternal soul as collateral?
God is there, all knowing and all loving.
If you do not follow God and there is a God, then no matter how just he may seem you will not enter the gates of Heaven. Refer to blog on Hell and have fun. If you do love God with all your heart and soul, and there is no God then it does not matter and have fun rotting in the dirt. The best result, the true and real result, is that there is a Heavenly Father who created all things good and as long as you follow the precepts of the Church, confess your sins, and do good deeds then you will be able to enter the pearly gates.
Those great gates open upon an unimaginable sight, free from want, from fear, from pain, from sadness, from death, from despair, and from all worldly pleasure. When St. Peter opens those gates the indescribable sight that is Heaven will be so worth it. You will no longer care about baseball, ice cream cones, or sparky. You be apart of the beatific vision. The idea that your soul will understand all unknown mysteries that you believed only on faith while back on Earth. Your eyes will widen and you will gain understanding.
In simplest of terms “It is the immediate knowledge of God which the angelic spirits and the souls of the just enjoy in Heaven. It is called ‘vision’ to distinguish it from the mediate knowledge of God which the human mind may attain in the present life. And since in beholding God face to face the created intelligence finds perfect happiness, the vision is termed ‘beatific’.” http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02364a.htm
Understand that Heaven is your ultimate goal in life, only achieved upon one path, which at many times is so steep and impossible to stay on that you may have to climb cliffs and scale mountains just to get back on the trail that leads to the eternal life in Heaven.
A happy feeling, A lovely place, So much holiness, So much grace. With Hope all is known, and you will have joy forever.
Note to reader: Not to say that I am closer to going to Hell then Heaven but I have a easier time explaining how bad Hell is compared to how awesome Heaven is because I am constantly on the battlefield of spiritual warfare. Always being around people that doubt His presence, that deny His presence, and that hate His presence has given me a profound understanding of the inevitable for so many people, HELL.
“For you, O Lord, are my hope,
my trust, O Lord, from my youth.
Upon you I have leaned from my birth,
from my mother’s womb you have been my
strength.” (Psalm 71:5-6)
Discovering Reality 