Читать книгу YEARNING FOR HEAVEN - Irmgard Hetterich - Страница 3

A place or a thought

It depends on how you interpret the word “heaven” and many people have different ideas about it. Some people consider it a place where the soul goes to when the body doesn’t function any more. Our body is actually like a machine and more and more it is possible to replace parts so that this extraordinary creation lasts longer. Some see the brain as a computer and think after it stops functioning it is the end of our existence and there is no afterlife. There are different religions and each has a different view of what will happen when this useful complicated machinery called a human body stops to function.

It is a terrible thought if death means all is over. Some think that the idea of heaven is only for weak people who are afraid of the dark and need some kind of consolation to die peacefully. I think that is a good idea to have some kind of comfort when dying because all living things are frightened of the unknown and death is dubious to us. What happens to what we believe to be a soul, the breath of God which is responsible for life, when the body starts rotting because it is only a mechanism for the spirit, which you cannot see? We do not want an expectation of oblivion for a soul which frees itself from its bondage.

Many people see heaven as the final resting place or some kind of existing presence near God. Some say that only those who believe in Jesus will be able to get there and others say that only those people who are good will go through the gate of heaven. Such films are often shown were souls are standing in front of a huge gate in the sky surrounded by clouds. Some jokes are made about who will be allowed into heaven or has to burn in hell. Or there is an idea that the soul returns in another form after death which could be a better life than lived before, if one did good deeds. After many recreations a soul can finally reach Nirvana. Destiny is determined by our behavior if we are good or bad. Those who are good will be redeemed on the Day of Judgment and will be rewarded with riches they had sought in life.

Most of the ideas concern the behavior of humans when living on earth, which some see as a prelude to a heavenly existence elsewhere.