Heaven: What do you think?

The topic of heaven is one of the most controversial in any type of religious discussion. Where is heaven? What does it look like? Will we see our loved ones there? Who gets to go to heaven? Will we turn into angels once we're there?

These questions and others have caused great debate among scholars and lay people alike. The Bible says a lot about the afterlife and heaven, but some of what the Bible says seems contradictory and people interpret it differently.

What do you think? What is your view of heaven? What has influenced your perceptions of heaven and the afterlife?

The Bible and the Environment

Particularly in the last 30 years, environmental concerns have been at the forefront of Western society. Everything from the rate at which we consume the world's natural resources to alternative fuel sources, from "save the whales" to "earth-friendly," from landfills to recycling, from the ozone layer to global warming: each issue represents an effort to maintain and sustain our natural habitat.

The Bible says a lot about the natural world. First of all, God created the world and everything in it. Creation is God's means of judging and saving the people; it is also God's means of showing God's power in the world. People were put on the earth for a purpose: to care for God's creation. So, though human beings certainly have been blessed with the intelligence and the power to use creation to our own ends, according to the Bible our purpose is to serve the land and all that is in it.

Science has shown that we are not doing a very good job of this. Overpopulation and industrialization have impacted our environment in alarming, sometimes irreversible ways. Some have even predicted that at the rate we are consuming natural resources, there won't be any left for future generations.

What do you think? What is it that we truly need for survival and in what ways do we take advantage of the gift of creation? What can we do better?

God in the Bible

Marcion, a second century bishop, believed that there were two Gods to be found in the Bible. In his work, Antitheses (c. 150 A. D.), he set forth many examples in which he compared Old Testament sayings about God and New Testament sayings about God. From these various examples Marcion concluded that the God of the Old Testament, the "Creator God" was harsh, judicial, and distant from humankind. On the other hand, the God of the New Testament, the "Supreme God," was kind, gentle, and in touch with the needs of human beings.

Though Marcion was considered a heretic by the early Christian church, his thoughts still live on in Christianity today. Ask any random Christian on the street and you will likely hear that God is harsher and more distant and judgmental in the Old Testament than in the New Testament. Though all Christians believe in one God, and that Jesus is the human incarnation of God, many will be hard-pressed to find evidence in the Bible that contradicts Marcion's ideas.

What do you think? Do you think God is portrayed differently in the Old Testament than in the New Testament? If so, how? Can you back up your thoughts with evidence from the Bible?