Where is Heaven?
+2
TexasBlue
TheNextPrez2012
6 posters
Where is Heaven?
Several years ago supermarket tabloids posted front page headlines saying "NASA has photographed Heaven"
The picture (obviously a artist's rendering even though the "photo" was taken) showed a bunch of tall buildings brightly lit by a huge light.
Now I think the Bible gives a description of Heaven but doesn't say where the place is.
Does anybody have a clue as to where Heaven is? Is it a city floating in space?
The picture (obviously a artist's rendering even though the "photo" was taken) showed a bunch of tall buildings brightly lit by a huge light.
Now I think the Bible gives a description of Heaven but doesn't say where the place is.
Does anybody have a clue as to where Heaven is? Is it a city floating in space?
TheNextPrez2012
Re: Where is Heaven?
Well, Bryan Adams thinks we're in heaven. Belinda Carlisle thinks it is a place on Earth.
Re: Where is Heaven?
BubbleBliss wrote:The Los Lonely Boys are still asking how far is heaven!
I love the Los Lonely Boys.
dblboggie
Re: Where is Heaven?
To get back on subject, I doubt heaven is a physical place we can get to just by jumping in a space ship. I guess it would be more of a parallel world...
BubbleBliss
Re: Where is Heaven?
Not being religious, I'd take a less transcendent approach and say that heaven could be a state of mind or perhaps a state of "being" than an actual location.
dblboggie
Re: Where is Heaven?
dblboggie wrote:Not being religious, I'd take a less transcendent approach and say that heaven could be a state of mind or perhaps a state of "being" than an actual location.
Well put. That would be where I would come down on it. As usual, I couldn't find the words to describe what my opinion was.
TexasBlue
Re: Where is Heaven?
TexasBlue wrote:dblboggie wrote:Not being religious, I'd take a less transcendent approach and say that heaven could be a state of mind or perhaps a state of "being" than an actual location.
Well put. That would be where I would come down on it. As usual, I couldn't find the words to describe what my opinion was.
dblboggie
Re: Where is Heaven?
I don't believe in an afterlife.
I sometimes wish I did. It seems like it'd be so comforting.
Or scary, depending on what the belief is.
I sometimes wish I did. It seems like it'd be so comforting.
Or scary, depending on what the belief is.
kronos
Re: Where is Heaven?
kronos wrote:I don't believe in an afterlife.
I sometimes wish I did. It seems like it'd be so comforting.
Or scary, depending on what the belief is.
Neither do I... but I thought I'd take a WAG at it anyway.
dblboggie
Re: Where is Heaven?
The inability to separate "comforting" from "plausible" is one of the main reasons that religion permeates.kronos wrote:I don't believe in an afterlife.
I sometimes wish I did. It seems like it'd be so comforting.
Or scary, depending on what the belief is.
Re: Where is Heaven?
kronos wrote:I don't believe in an afterlife.
I sometimes wish I did. It seems like it'd be so comforting.
Or scary, depending on what the belief is.
I do but not in the sense that the religious do. Also, I'd rather be wrong about God, Jesus or Heaven. That way, if there is none, no skin off my back. If there is, I'm good (I think).
TexasBlue
Re: Where is Heaven?
The_Amber_Spyglass wrote:The inability to separate "comforting" from "plausible" is one of the main reasons that religion permeates.kronos wrote:I don't believe in an afterlife.
I sometimes wish I did. It seems like it'd be so comforting.
Or scary, depending on what the belief is.
Out of curiosity, how would you explain those scientists that are religious?
dblboggie
Re: Where is Heaven?
They are a minority and they are entitled to their views. If grilled, they will usually admit that their beliefs are separate from their work as a scientists, that they will acknowledge that their beliefs are based on emotion.
Re: Where is Heaven?
The_Amber_Spyglass wrote:They are a minority and they are entitled to their views. If grilled, they will usually admit that their beliefs are separate from their work as a scientists, that they will acknowledge that their beliefs are based on emotion.
This question of scientists who are religious is one that I find very interesting. You are quite right that most if not all will openly admit that their beliefs are separate from their work.
I came across this article on the subject from the New York Times from a few years ago that I thought was particularly interesting. It seems some scientists see religion and science as dealing with two entirely different things and do not view these as conflicting with one another.
Personally, I'd agree with that position. I don't see why there has to be a conflict between religion and science, but that's just me. I'd like to get your take on it. You can find the article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/23/national/23believers.html
dblboggie
Re: Where is Heaven?
Ever before I clicked the link I knew this article was going to be about Francis Collins. He has become a bit of a joke amongst evolutionary biologists. Not because of his religious beliefs, but because of the bizarre way in which he has tried to fuse evolutionary biology in with religious creation. He is a fierce critic of creationists and other evolution deniers but his own ideas are no less bizarre. He has even invented a pseudo-science to justify his stance, he calls it "BioLogos"
His comments about Newton are peculiar considering the world in which he lived (100 years before Darwin). And so what if Newton believed in a deity? He wasn't infallible. He is making the very school boy error of appealing to authority. Somebody of his experience ought to know better.
I knew the bit about him reading C.S. Lewis and it surprises me every time. I have read bits of it, Lewis strikes me as somebody who didn't know what to think most of the time, somebody who was never terribly comfortable with what he should be thinking. So in that way, I'm surprised that Collins found it so compelling. I'm equally surprised that he has cast aside the very convincing arguments, voiced by Darwin and still very much researched by looking at altruism and morality in animals, that our moral code and philsophy has an evolutionary basis.
Science is about interpreting cold hard facts, not wishful thinking. There is only a conflict between religion and science when people attempt to impose their beliefs where it doesn't belong or to force an interpretation that should go against everything that science stands for. So long as true scientists are doing their jobs properly, in private they can think whatever they like.
That's my take.
His comments about Newton are peculiar considering the world in which he lived (100 years before Darwin). And so what if Newton believed in a deity? He wasn't infallible. He is making the very school boy error of appealing to authority. Somebody of his experience ought to know better.
I knew the bit about him reading C.S. Lewis and it surprises me every time. I have read bits of it, Lewis strikes me as somebody who didn't know what to think most of the time, somebody who was never terribly comfortable with what he should be thinking. So in that way, I'm surprised that Collins found it so compelling. I'm equally surprised that he has cast aside the very convincing arguments, voiced by Darwin and still very much researched by looking at altruism and morality in animals, that our moral code and philsophy has an evolutionary basis.
Science is about interpreting cold hard facts, not wishful thinking. There is only a conflict between religion and science when people attempt to impose their beliefs where it doesn't belong or to force an interpretation that should go against everything that science stands for. So long as true scientists are doing their jobs properly, in private they can think whatever they like.
That's my take.
Re: Where is Heaven?
The_Amber_Spyglass wrote:Ever before I clicked the link I knew this article was going to be about Francis Collins. He has become a bit of a joke amongst evolutionary biologists. Not because of his religious beliefs, but because of the bizarre way in which he has tried to fuse evolutionary biology in with religious creation. He is a fierce critic of creationists and other evolution deniers but his own ideas are no less bizarre. He has even invented a pseudo-science to justify his stance, he calls it "BioLogos"
His comments about Newton are peculiar considering the world in which he lived (100 years before Darwin). And so what if Newton believed in a deity? He wasn't infallible. He is making the very school boy error of appealing to authority. Somebody of his experience ought to know better.
I knew the bit about him reading C.S. Lewis and it surprises me every time. I have read bits of it, Lewis strikes me as somebody who didn't know what to think most of the time, somebody who was never terribly comfortable with what he should be thinking. So in that way, I'm surprised that Collins found it so compelling. I'm equally surprised that he has cast aside the very convincing arguments, voiced by Darwin and still very much researched by looking at altruism and morality in animals, that our moral code and philsophy has an evolutionary basis.
Science is about interpreting cold hard facts, not wishful thinking. There is only a conflict between religion and science when people attempt to impose their beliefs where it doesn't belong or to force an interpretation that should go against everything that science stands for. So long as true scientists are doing their jobs properly, in private they can think whatever they like.
That's my take.
Well, to be fair, it wasn't just about Collins - there were other religious and non-religious scientists who were cited. I personally know nothing about Collins or his BioLogos so I defer to you on those points.
Now, I have read the book by CS Lewis cited here (my mother, who is now very religious gave it to me so I paid her the courtesy of reading it). While it is indeed a very clever bit of writing, I was certainly not convinced by it.
I would agree with your take, as long as scientists are dealing with real science, I could care less whether they are religious or not.
dblboggie
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