http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/heaven/ en-us Mon, 27 Oct 2008 20:52:36 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2116802/posts While walking down the street one day a US senator is tragically hit by a truck and dies. His soul arrives in heaven and is met by St. Peter at the entrance. "Welcome to heaven," says St. Peter. "Before you settle in, it seems there is a problem. We seldom see a high official around these parts, you see, so we're not sure what to do with you." "No problem, just let me in," says the man. "Well, I'd like to, but I have orders from higher up. What we'll do is have you spend one day in hell and... http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2116802/posts#comment Mon, 27 Oct 2008 20:52:36 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2080514/posts To most, the term "political heaven" is either an oxymoron, or even sacrilegious. Keeping that in mind, I do not use this term lightly when I say Barack Obama and Joe Biden are a match made in political heaven. Politically speaking, they complete each other. Who knew politics could be so romantic? Obama is the John Mayer of politics: He has a large fan base consisting mostly of younger people. However, all generations can enjoy him. He has a fresh attitude that - while not making people rock out - appeals to the audience's emotions. Biden, on the other hand,... The Daily Toreador http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2080514/posts#comment Fri, 12 Sep 2008 03:33:31 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2077041/posts There are some who argue Christians go directly to heaven when they die. They say Hades was broken up at the resurrection of Christ; Paradise was transported to heaven, and now only the wicked go to Hades to await the resurrection. If this seems strange to you, there is good reason--the Bible does not teach it. The statements of the Lord in reference to the rich man and Lazarus ought to settle the matter. He said the wicked go to torments, the righteous to Abraham's bosom, and they are separated by a great, impassable gulf (Lk. 16:19-31). But, again, some... http://www.byfaithnoah.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2077041/posts#comment Mon, 8 Sep 2008 02:43:46 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2073600/posts GRAPEVINE, Texas (BP)—Have you ever noticed that when a discussion turns to a recently deceased celebrity, someone invariably says, “I know he’s looking down on us right now”? It doesn’t matter how godless the person was, his peers refer to him as being in a better place and then gesture skyward. Mark Coppenger, professor of Christian apologetics at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, sees a lamentable example of that in the 1941 poem “High Flight,” which was quoted in tribute to astronauts who died in the 1986 explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger. Not all the astronauts were Christians “but we... Florida Baptist Witness http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2073600/posts#comment Wed, 3 Sep 2008 11:05:23 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2057163/posts LIFE IS HELL, or so the expression goes, but, for many Americans, the afterlife is looking up. Last week's release of a sweeping study by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life confirmed a long-developing trend in popular cosmology: belief in heaven is outstripping belief in hell. The Pew survey, significant for the breadth and depth made possible by its unusually large 35,000-person sample, found that 74 percent of Americans say they think there is a heaven, "where people who have led good lives are eternally rewarded," while just 59 percent think there is a hell, "where people who... The Boston Globe http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2057163/posts#comment Wed, 6 Aug 2008 01:52:21 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2048026/posts LAZARUS AND THE RICH MAN The parable of Lazarus and the rich man has been the foundation for many of the erroneous beliefs about "hell" within traditional Christianity. Some have viewed it not as a parable, but as a true story Christ told to give details about the punishment of sinners in hell. Yet a thorough, unbiased examination of this story will show that the generally accepted interpretations of this passage of Scripture are fallacious and misleading. In this article, we will go through the parable verse by verse to determine what Christ was truly teaching. Those who insist that... tentmaker.org http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2048026/posts#comment Sat, 19 Jul 2008 15:36:59 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2043893/posts The international ministry "Light for the Nations" presents: Revelations of Heaven and Hell to 7 Youths Together as a group, these 7 Columbian youths were taken by Jesus Christ and shown Heaven and Hell. Hear their account of the Glories of Heaven and misery of Hell. Due to the recording, we could only record 6 testimonies, Originally transcribed from Spanish Audio, Illustrations/Pictures were added later, and were not part of the testimony, Translation help by Claudia Alejandra Elguezabal -Heaven- [Youtube.com Video] http://www.minluznaciones.org --Hell—[translations listed at the link] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- (1st Testimony, Esau) --- 2 Corinthians 12:2 : I know a... DIVINE REVELATIONS FACE TO FACE ENCOUNTERS WITH JESUS CHRIST http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2043893/posts#comment Fri, 11 Jul 2008 13:06:59 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2027269/posts Dearly Beloved . . . Following are some brief excerpts from Bro Jesse's book. I've read a number of Heavenly Visitation narratives. They are all different in some respects. Some folks might think that they are so different that the individuals must be visiting a different place. I don't feel that way. There's usually some things that are essentially the same. Virtually always, there's some aspect of the narrative that some group of Christians gets all up in arms about being unBiblical. I've never found any of the more convincing narratives that way, personally. I have observed that there's virtually... BK: Heaven: Close Encounters of the God Kind http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2027269/posts#comment Fri, 6 Jun 2008 20:08:47 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1990772/posts There is no agreement in the church today about what happens to people when they die. Yet the New Testament is crystal clear on the matter: In a classic passage, Paul speaks of "the redemption of our bodies" (Rom. 8:23). There is no room for doubt as to what he means: God's people are promised a new type of bodily existence, the fulfillment and redemption of our present bodily life. The rest of the early Christian writings, where they address the subject, are completely in tune with this. The traditional picture of people going to either heaven or hell as... Christainity Today http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1990772/posts#comment Mon, 24 Mar 2008 17:58:36 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1968188/posts A bishop described as "one of the most formidable figures in the world of Christian thought" is now challenging the widely held belief that Christians go to heaven when they die. N.T. "Tom" Wright, the fourth most senior cleric in the Church of England who has been praised for his staunch defense of the literal resurrection of Jesus Christ, has published a new book in which he says people do not ascend to God's dwelling place. Instead, God will be coming back to Earth. "Never at any point do the Gospels or Paul say Jesus has been raised, therefore we... WorldNetDaily http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1968188/posts#comment Sun, 10 Feb 2008 21:46:46 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1967596/posts N.T. "Tom" Wright is one of the most formidable figures in the world of Christian thought. As Bishop of Durham, he is the fourth most senior cleric in the Church of England and a major player in the strife-riven global Anglican Communion; as a much-read theologian and Biblical scholar he has taught at Cambridge and is a hero to conservative Christians worldwide for his 2003 book The Resurrection of the Son of God, which argued forcefully for a literal interpretation of that event. It therefore comes as a something of a shock that Wright doesn't believe in heaven — at... TIME http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1967596/posts#comment Sat, 9 Feb 2008 12:52:54 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1967478/posts "Tom" Wright is one of the most formidable figures in the world of Christian thought. As Bishop of Durham, he is the fourth most senior cleric in the Church of England and a major player in the strife-riven global Anglican Communion; as a much-read theologian and Biblical scholar he has taught at Cambridge and is a hero to conservative Christians worldwide for his 2003 book The Resurrection of the Son of God, which argued forcefully for a literal interpretation of that event. TIME: At one point you call the common view of heaven a "distortion and serious diminution of Christian... Time http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1967478/posts#comment Sat, 9 Feb 2008 03:25:41 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1967218/posts Vatican City, Feb 8, 2008 / 10:18 am (CNA).- In a meeting held yesterday in the Vatican's Hall of Blessings with priests of the diocese of Rome, the Holy Father participated in a question and answer session on wide range of issues, including the reality of Heaven and Hell. The exchange between Pope Benedict and the Roman priests involved ten questions covering the youth, evangelization, education and the four last things: death, judgment, Heaven and Hell.On the topic of the Final Judgment, the Holy Father said that in the Church today there is perhaps too little reference to sin, Paradise... CNA http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1967218/posts#comment Fri, 8 Feb 2008 18:34:46 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1956777/posts The description of heaven as depicted by Islam as reward for a devout, strictly adhered to life of a Muslim has always struck me as an eminently revealing aspect into the primitive mind of the Arab mentality and to the very legitimacy of Islam as God's word. Islam is the only religion, the only belief system in a supernatural deity that entices its adherents with the promise of a decidedly puerile, salacious, beastial, unspiritual nature, with the promise of an eternal afterlife of carnal indulgence without end. No other religion resorts to the sort of whorish pandering in which Islam... http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1956777/posts#comment Sun, 20 Jan 2008 20:36:25 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1942278/posts It was December of 1994 that Linnie Smith of New Hudson, Michigan, "died" and returned. And when she did, she had an incredible description of Jesus. What she saw, as you will note in a moment, should be a warning to atheists: Many dozens -- hundreds, indeed thousands -- are those who return from death's door with a similar description. In all the fuss over Christmas, in all the commotion over its denial -- in the inconceivable hoopla over taking the Name of Jesus out of His very birthday -- we can rest assured of one thing: there are great... Spirit Daily http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1942278/posts#comment Thu, 20 Dec 2007 15:34:12 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1901976/posts One night while diving for lobster on the island of Mauritius, an Australian named Ian McCormick was stung on his forearm by what local Creole fishermen call "invisibles": extraordinarily poisonous but hard to see "five-box" jellyfish, in the nomenclature of the trade. Medics were called -- urgently. It was an emergency if ever there is an emergency. "Found in the waters off northern Australia, the box jellyfish Chironex fleckeri is not the only marine invertebrate to use venom, but it is the possessor of arguably the most lethal venom in the world," notes one expert. "In the past half... Spirit Daily http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1901976/posts#comment Tue, 25 Sep 2007 19:08:44 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1883797/posts Now I'm not a supporter of Mitt Romney, however I do think he deserves an equal chance to be elected President without being discriminated against. I would want Mitt to lose perhaps to Fred Thompson or Rudi, but Mitt should be given the chance to lose fairly, not by unfairly targetting his religion. Hindu, Catholic, Protestant, Muslim (i.e., Wafa Sultan is an example of a Muslim woman braver than any of us in the War on Terror), etc. Give each man or woman a fair chance as individuals... that's what the US consistution and this forum is all about. I... http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1883797/posts#comment Mon, 20 Aug 2007 15:12:14 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1882831/posts Thirty years ago, fast living, drugs and heart disease buried quintessential entertainment icon, Elvis Presley. Ever since, admirers have tried in vain to recapture the heart-palpitating moments they experienced when the King of Rock and Roll was alive. Devoted fans drag him out of the grave via trashy memorabilia, movies, CDs, postage stamps, tattoos and Elvis impersonators. Just yesterday, after years of snubbing the impersonation concept, Elvis Presley's estate capitulated and held a contest to find the “Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist.” To commemorate this week’s 30th anniversary of his death, Elvis’s only child, Lisa Marie who was nine when he... http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1882831/posts#comment Sat, 18 Aug 2007 00:08:21 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1846919/posts I would like your feedback suggestions and help on a new movie about Heaven. We are in the early stages but would like to get feedback on all aspects of the movie and suggestions of all kinds. You can help with prayers, your ideas about heaven, suggestion, and telling your friends. And also suggestions on fund raising or anything else you think would help. Thanks very very much in advance for your feedback. You can find more information at http://www.theheavenmovie.com . The Heaven Movie http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1846919/posts#comment Fri, 8 Jun 2007 11:51:14 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1819377/posts A man and his dog were walking along a road. The man was enjoying the scenery, when it suddenly occurred to him that he was dead. He remembered dying, and that the dog walking beside him had been dead for years. He wondered where the road was leading them. After a while, they came to a high, white stone wall along one side of the road. It looked like fine marble. At the top of a long hill, it was broken by a tall arch that glowed in the sunlight. When he was standing before it he saw a magnificent... Unknown http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1819377/posts#comment Wed, 18 Apr 2007 16:18:16 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1807972/posts HELL is a place where sinners really do burn in an everlasting fire, and not just a religious symbol designed to galvanise the faithful, Pope Benedict XVI has said. Addressing a parish gathering in a northern suburb of Rome, the Pope said that in the modern world many people, including some believers, had forgotten that if they failed to "admit blame and promise to sin no more", they risked "eternal damnation - the inferno". Hell "really exists and is eternal, even if nobody talks about it much any more". The Pope, who as cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was head of Catholic... The Australian http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1807972/posts#comment Wed, 28 Mar 2007 11:32:53 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1789359/posts ENOCH AND ELIJAH: R.I.P.By M. Thomas Wark   Introduction:     Christians who believe in the immortality of the soul or spirit sometimes point to the antediluvian patriarch Enoch and the prophet Elijah as examples of men who have never died and are alive in heaven.     Enoch is sometimes further taken as a type of the "pre-tribulation rapture" of the Body of Christ at the end of this dispensation! According to this theory, just as Enoch was "snatched away" to heaven and safety before the Flood, so also will Christians at the end of the dispensation of grace be... Heaven Dwellers http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1789359/posts#comment Thu, 22 Feb 2007 19:55:32 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1788585/posts                                                                                                     Where Are Enoch and Elijah? Enoch was translated that he should not see death. Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. Yet the Bible reveals they are not in heaven today! Here's the astounding truth. Part One: Where Is Enoch?Enoch was "translated." Where did he go? Was he immediately taken to heaven? No! Because Jesus Himself said: "No man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the... Church of the Great God http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1788585/posts#comment Wed, 21 Feb 2007 16:27:10 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1770485/posts VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- A recent sermon by the papal preacher, Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa, took aim at John Lennon's famous line, "Imagine there's no heaven," saying it represented an empty, secularized vision of human destiny. But an Italian biblicist, Father Carlo Buzzetti, has approached the question from a different angle: The modern church, he said, does a lousy job imagining what heaven is like and communicating it to the faithful. Most Catholics, Father Buzzetti said, understand heaven as a vague place of eternal survival, where happiness can become monotonous and where the absence of human passions creates an "anemic"... Catholic News Service http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1770485/posts#comment Sat, 20 Jan 2007 00:31:48 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1736726/posts Hell––a bone of contention in our culture that often sees an everlasting state of punishment as somehow too sadistic and too cruel ... therefore a state of being that many hotly reject. I have something to suggest about the nature and severity of that punishment and I should be very clear that this is an analysis––MY ANALYSIS––and not a statement of vital doctrine. There are two principal torments indicated in scripture: the worm and the fire. The worm is within and the fire is without. Of the worm: I suggest that this is the "itch" to sin. I've often seen... http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1736726/posts#comment Sat, 11 Nov 2006 05:20:15 GMT