The Bible sure has a number fetish when it comes to 12, doesn't it?  Well, that and 3.

~Zoo

how about 40? 7?

Just a question, KFC, and I'm not trying to bait or dig or anything, honest question:

What will you be doing in this heaven all day? And (perhaps more importantly) why?

Sorry KFC, giving flowery details,and even sizes, don't impress me. Are you saying there's a floating city above us (I jest not)?

Heaven is a figurative term and an imaginary place. Logic, and my philosophy, tells me that we experience Heaven, or Hell, on Earth long before we die. After death there are only memories.

You shouldn’t have to go any farther than value being assigned to rare materials to see that this is a human construct. How is anything rare to a god that created the universe? Look at this 10 billion trillion trillion carat diamond he made. Link

“What will you be doing in this heaven all day?”

Apparently working off the debt for the creation of the universe and her new home.

Just a question, KFC, and I'm not trying to bait or dig or anything, honest question:What will you be doing in this heaven all day? And (perhaps more importantly) why?

Ok, an honest question deserves an honest answer. What will I be doing? Well I can't be dogmatic because I haven't seen heaven yet but I can give you what I do know again using scripture as a guide.

One thing I can see we'll be doing is singing......Rev 5:9, 14:3,15:3. The redeemed will definitely have something to sing about.

Another thing is we'll be having fellowship with all those people we've always wanted to meet but never did. We'll get to see those loved ones we never met and loved God who went before us or maybe after us. We'll meet people that we had an impact on their lives yet maybe never knew it. They may come up to us and thank us for giving them something eternal to hang onto while yet here on earth. And of course we'll meet all those characters we read about for so many years....John the Baptist, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Gideon, David, Jonathan and all the Apostles.

In Heaven we will be serving. We'll be serving God and serving each other. Also we'll be learning, 1 Cor 13:9-10, Eph 1:15-21. All spiritual truths will be revealed to us in eternity. I think we will learn much more about the person of God and the plan of God. All of our questions will be answered. I think also we'll be exploring our universe. How vast is it? I think someday we will be able to visit each star and explore every corner of the universe.

Sorry KFC, giving flowery details,and even sizes, don't impress me. Are you saying there's a floating city above us (I jest not)?

I'm sorry but I'm not trying to impress, only inform. Yes the New Jerusalem will be suspended above the earth, Rev 21:1-10.

Commentator J Vernon McGee said this about this City:

"The shape of this city is difficult to describe....Some have envisioned it as a cube, others as a pyramid. In view of the fact that it is hanging in space as a planet or star, it sems that it would be a globe.....The city is inside the globe.....The light would shine through the twelve foundations, giving a fantastic and startling coloring to the new universe.......From the outside, the city looks like a diamond. The gold is transparent and the diamond is the setting for the gold on the inside.....We live on the outside of the planet called earth, but the Bride will dwell within the planet called the New Jerusalem. The glory of light streaming through this crystal clear prism, will break up into a polychromed rainbow of breath-taking beauty. The sphere will have the circumference of 8,164 miles. The diameter of the moon is about 2,160 miles and that of the New Jerusalem sphere is about 2,600 miles; thus the New Jerusalem will be about the size of the moon. And it will be a sphere, as are the other heavenly bodies."

Heaven is a figurative term and an imaginary place. Logic, and my philosophy, tells me that we experience Heaven, or Hell, on Earth long before we die. After death there are only memories.

and you exactly proved my point as to what I said in the main body of the article. You would fit into a very liberal mindset. That's ok. That's one, if not a very popular viewpoint. You are not alone.

I'm not going by my philosophy but by the word of God. So far it's been amazing in the business of predictions. Why would I not believe in this when it predicts this for our future? That's logical to me, and logically speaking is this feasible? I'd say yes.

Heck they're thinking of this already in the minds of men. I saw something on a news show about this a week or so ago.

You shouldn’t have to go any farther than value being assigned to rare materials to see that this is a human construct. How is anything rare to a god that created the universe? Look at this 10 billion trillion trillion carat diamond he made

Imagine that! A newly discovered cosmic diamond! Cool! Thanks for the link. Pretty interesting and only lends more credence to this particular scripture which was written in 90AD.

Apparently working off the debt for the creation of the universe and her new home.

no I think it will or has been paid in full. What I find interesting is the fact that a hell has always been there waiting. Hell was created for the devil and his angels before the foundation of the world. But Heaven is a place that Jesus said he was going away to prepare for us. Imagine this. Earth and all of creation only took God six days yet this new City so far has taken him 2,000 years to prepare for us.

"I go to prepare a place for you......John 14:2.

KFC, thank you for the answer. I know that to you that sounds like quite the place, but to me, it sounds like after the first 10.000 years I'd be bored.

I am, however, excited to have the chance to see all those greats who have come before us, as you mentioned - Peter the Apostle, John the Baptist, (both)Giedeons, the prophet Alma, as well as the prophet Joseph Smith.

Why so much emphasis on precious metals and stones? That seems odd...wouldn't they be worthless at that point and time?

~Zoo

Frankly, I've always thought these were figurative - the way that the prophet knew how to describe what he was seeing to his audience, rather than genuine measurements and actual building materials.

Kinda like the man-headed serpent scorpion thingies with lions roars and the bodies of chariots it talks about in another part of the book of Revelation - I've always seen that more as John's attempt at explaining an F-16 rather than some monstrous creature that's going to somehow, mysteriously come into being.

Why so much emphasis on precious metals and stones? That seems odd...wouldn't they be worthless at that point and time?

My answer is a bit diff than SC's. I believe they are literal. While I agree sometimes John does use figurative language it's hard to imagine what these jewels would stand for. See if it's figurative it has to mean something. John would know, I imagine, about gems and what they looked like. So while he might not understand Nuclear Power and Airplanes gems could be explained literally.

I mean it's pretty clear. We see the first foundation inlaid with jasper, a crystal clear diamond. The second foundation is inlaid with sapphire, the third inlaid with chalcedony which is a sky blue stone with stripes of other colors running thru it. The next foundation is inlaid with emerald and the fifth foundation is inlaid with sardonyx, a white stone with layers of red. The six and seventh foundation are inlaid with sardius and chrysolyte respectively. The eighth foundation is inlaid with beryl and the nineth is inlaid with topaz. The tenth has chrysoprasus and the eleventh and twelfth are jacinth and amethyst.

How and why would you take this as figuratively when it's quite simple to take as literal?

I think the whole thing is going to sparkle and shine and what better way to do it then with all these precious gems? I think God is saying we're worth it.

I think the whole thing is going to sparkle and shine and what better way to do it then with all these precious gems? I think God is saying we're worth it.

But again, who cares what anything is made of when we're dead? It's not like we're going to need any of it. I'll take the figurative approach, personally.

But again, who cares what anything is made of when we're dead?

huh? This is the "afterlife." We are going to be quite aware of what's going on. It's really called the land of the living. We're currently in the land of the dead right now. We're on the way out getting closer every day.

I'll take the figurative approach, personally.

Ok, so what does it mean figuratively then?

Do you really care what I think? Or are you just trying to bait me? Thanks, I'm not going there.



I'm just saying that material things don't really matter in the long run, particularly in heaven, when the test of this life if over and we're given (or have earned) our eternal rewards.

By the way, could you please explain to me how we're in the land of the dead right now? Because I don't think I quite understand.

Well the question is.....are we promised rewards or not? When Jesus said the best words on the other side of heaven are "well done good and faithful servant" what did he mean by that? Do you NOT believe in rewards in the afterlife? What did Jesus mean he "was going to prepare a place for us" and that "in his father's house are many mansions?"



no I'm not trying to bait you. Why would you say that? Do you really have an answer (be truthful) or are you just saying it's figurative? If so, what does it stand for? I think it's a fair question don't you? You should be able to stand behind your statements confidently if you assert them confidently.



Right now you and I are getting closer and closer to death with every breath. It's like we have a clock running backwards. When it strikes midnight (so to speak) we're done. Think Cinderella. Our life here will be over. When we cross over to eternity, we have eternity to live. Real life will just be beginning and has no end. Those who have passed from here to there are now living in the land of the living. We are not.

So when we cry for our loved ones, I wonder are they so sorrowful as we?