Thursday, July 7, 2011

46 Days in Heaven

In discussing the book Heaven, by Randy Alcorn, I thought I'd do more frequent blog posts and just do one chapter at a time. There are 46 short chapters, so today, let's begin with this thought from Chapter 1:

"An overwhelming majority of Americans continue to believe that there is life after death and that heaven and hell exist," according to a Barna Research Group poll. But what people actually believe about Heaven and Hell varies widely. A Barna spokesman said, "They're cutting and pasting religious views from a variety of different sources--television, movies, conversations with their friends." The result is a highly subjective theology of the afterlife, disconnected from the biblical doctrine of Heaven.


Question: Do you believe there is a heaven and a hell? Why or why not?

Jean

PS. All respectful comments are welcome--don't be shy about asking questions. And if you believe in the Bible, try to include a Bible verse that supports your comment. Also, if you're reading Heaven along with us, and want to comment about something else in Chapter 1, feel free to do that.

2 comments:

pam said...

yes, I believe in heaven and hell...Jesus spoke of them both, and if we believe what he said, then NOT believing in them would be ludicrous.
I don't think we can even begin to understand what Heaven will be like: scripture says what we can concieve of - it's even better than that! So my new body that I would like to be a size 8 with no pains: it's gonna be even better!! And the streets of gold? Our feeble human brains can't go there. So yes, I'm excited! And yes, I "imagine" - but it will never even come close!

Jean said...

Pam--yes, I don't think we can fathom how cool it will be, but when Jesus talked about it, he used words that we could understand like, "In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you I go to prepare a place for you?"( John 14:2) So, he talked in terms we could understand, so that we would get a clear picture of it.

I think people aren't clear on their beliefs, because they don't know all the descriptions of heaven in the Bible. Maybe people think it's a boring place where spirits float around everywhere. And who wants to sit on a cloud all day strumming a harp?

PS. I agree with you--size 8 would be heavenly.