Heaven?

Hello.
I was wondering what heaven is supposed to be like according to Christianity.
I know it's supposed to be a paradise, but what makes it a paradise?
What is the criteria for entering heaven? Beliefs, good deeds?
If you don't meet the criteria, do you suffer eternal damnation, or is there an in-between?
Is there only joy and no pain?
What's the purpose of living in heaven if everything is perfect? Wouldn't here be no goals to work towards then?
How can it be paradise, if you remember those who are close and who aren't there? Surely missing them would ruin the perfection of heaven?
Is heaven eternal?
Is heaven just for humans or animals too?
Is there no work in heaven, or is work just enjoyable when one gets there?

I know it's supposed to be a paradise, but what makes it a paradise?

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In this life we are afforded an opportunity to live outside of God's will, and pursue our own will or want. But, in doing so we have been separated from God (And have been taken away from our true purpose.) In a sense we are incomplete. What makes heaven, Heaven is being complete and in the presents of God. Something we were designed for.

What is the criteria for entering heaven? Beliefs, good deeds?

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Scripture tells us that That we must Love the Lord with all of our Being, and through that Love we must belief and accept that Jesus is the son of God, and that he came here to die as a sacrifice for your sins. "Good deeds" are apart of it but not as a method of earning your way to heaven, but as an expression of the Love you have for God.

If you don't meet the criteria, do you suffer eternal damnation, or is there an in-between?

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In this life we either choose to be with God or we choose an eternity without him.

Is there only joy and no pain?
What's the purpose of living in heaven if everything is perfect? Wouldn't here be no goals to work towards then?
How can it be paradise, if you remember those who are close and who aren't there? Surely missing them would ruin the perfection of heaven?

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What I meant by being "Complete or full filling what we have been designed for" is, We will be Given a stronger sense of awareness, of God, of ourselves, of true righteousness.
In away, it's kinda like growing up. When we are children we can have: things, pets, friends or even the type of relationship with our parents, that at the time, mean the world to us, and that life would be unlivable if we were to loose these "things." But, look at you now. Do you still value the same stuff as you did when you were 6? Do you still play with the same toys, friends, pets? What about the relationship you had with your parents then? Does it look the same then, as it does today?

As we Grow up, our needs change, and so does our perspective of life. When we go through our ultimate transformation, we will be the same people, but our needs and perspectives of "life" will also change. We will "grow up" or be all that we were designed to be, in short we will be complete.. In this completed form our values will not be the same as they are now.

Is heaven eternal?

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yes

Is heaven just for humans or animals too?

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The Bible doesn't say, but I'd like to think so.

Is there no work in heaven, or is work just enjoyable when one gets there?

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There will be things to do, but there won't be a toil or a depleting aspect of it.. The "Labor" we endure now is apart of the fall of man.

Dear Perizada. I agree wholeheartedly with " drich0150," he describes Heaven well. May I point out that the " labor" we endure now, is also to learn from, to become worthy adopted sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father, who is Worthy and Perfect. I say this humbly and with love. Greetings from Emmy, sister in Christ.

Perizada said:

Hello.
I was wondering what heaven is supposed to be like according to Christianity.
I know it's supposed to be a paradise, but what makes it a paradise?
What is the criteria for entering heaven? Beliefs, good deeds?
If you don't meet the criteria, do you suffer eternal damnation, or is there an in-between?
Is there only joy and no pain?
What's the purpose of living in heaven if everything is perfect? Wouldn't here be no goals to work towards then?
How can it be paradise, if you remember those who are close and who aren't there? Surely missing them would ruin the perfection of heaven?
Is heaven eternal?
Is heaven just for humans or animals too?
Is there no work in heaven, or is work just enjoyable when one gets there?

Click to expand...

There's a lot of confusion in Christian circles about heaven.

The historic Christian hope is not for an eternal bliss in a disembodied heaven, but for a restored, redeemed, creation - the "New Heavens and New Earth". Creation isn't failure to be thrown away, but a broken thing to be mended. That mending and redeeming happened in principle on Easter Morning and will be consumated at the final resurrection when all that is wrong with the world will have finally been got rid of and all God's people will be physically resurrected into that new creation. That's the resurrection (always expected at the 'end of the age') that Jesus' resurrection is the precursor of.

"Paradise" then is the intermediate existance between death now and the resurection - not the final state.

Mostly thanks to Dante, various painters, and sloppy hymn writers a Gnostic view of a bad world being thrown away in favour of a (usually disembodied) heaven has replaced the biblical hope of a final resurrection. Death is just redefined instead of being defeated by the cross & resurrection. God's creation is abandoned instead being put right. The true Christian hope is so much richer than that - Creation is put right, evil is actually defeated, the Garden of Eden moves on to the City of the New Jerusalem. The trees of the field clap their hands as humanity finally takes up the role of being the image of God in creation, leading creation in its proper respose to the creator.

Criteria to get into Heaven: You accept Jesus as Lord and savior.

What is in Heaven: I don't know, but scripture says there is no suffering. There is also going to be a New Earth too. I'm not sure where I'll end up, but I thank God that he loves me enough to let me exist with him forever.