- Many Christians have so radically different worldviews from mine, it bothers them and it's hard to have a conversation about it.
You said that you have never seriously read the Word of God, so this is where this conflict stems from. I assume that your worldviews may be radically different from ours because yours are not founded on the Word of God. If we all believe in and agree with the Word of God(having read it, first), then we will all be of one mind. We cannot be of one mind if people have ideas contrary to Scripture.
Everything I believe is founded on the Word of God, for example, if someone asked me my viewpoints on controversial topics, I would answer them with the following Scriptures:
How do you feel about illegal immigrants in America?
"You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God"(Leviticus 19:34 ESV)
What are your views on gay marriage?
"Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality,"(1 Corinthians 6:9 ESV)
"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another."(John 13:34 ESV)
How do you feel about giving more money to the poor?
"But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?" (1 John 3:17 ESV)
"If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be." (Deuteronomy 15:7-8 ESV)
"And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.
" (1 Thessalonians 5:14 ESV)
"For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat." (2 Thessalonians 3:10)
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Maybe your views are more on the side of the secular world, and that's why you have a hard time talking to other Christians about it.
- This point, I'm saying that Heaven doesn't sound like a place I want to go when I die, the popular Christian idea of Heaven. All you do is worship God day and night = no sin = no materialism = no fun = kingdom = dictatorship.
The ideas you have about Heaven are not rooted in Scripture. We probably won't be worshiping God day and night in heaven. Also, I want to say, sin is not fun! Fornication and drunkenness is how people end up in unwanted pregnancies, venereal diseases, drunk driving accidents, murders, fist fights, date rape, and end up in a ditch somewhere miles away from home. What part of that sounds fun to you? Everything is not what you see on TV. Sin is not fun, it will ruin your life. There are plenty of Christians who have committed horrible sins in their past, and they are still struggling with the consequences of it. Go to the Recovery forum for "Addictions & Substances", ask them what their story is, and see how much "fun" they're having.
You said that you believe heaven will be like a dictatorship. I think you only feel this way because of the sin issue. Since you associated sin with having fun, and know that God doesn't want you to sin, you also think that God doesn't want you to have fun. That is not true. That is the first lie of Satan. He wants to make you think that God doesn't have your best interest at heart, just like he did with Adam and Eve in the Garden. He told them that God wasn't truthful with what He said, and that they could eat from the tree (sin), but God didn't want them to because He knew if they ate from the tree they would be wise like God. Satan's lie was that God told them not to do a "fun" thing because He didn't want them to have as much fun as He was. The end result is that they did eat from the tree, and then they knew they were wrong, and had to die.
The devil will convince you that your sins are fun and of no consequence. He will tell you that God is "bad" for saying you can't do something you want, but in reality, God is trying to protect you. He loves you, and gave up His Son for you, just so you could live with Him forever in Heaven. What greater proof do you need that He is for you and not against you? The only one trying to suck you into an unfun dictatorship is Satan. He doesn't care about you, at all. He is trying to turn you away from God, cause you to sin, and drag you down to Hell where he can torment you forever. He is lying to you and telling you that Heaven is a place where you don't really want to be, because he knows how glorious it is and doesn't want you to go there.
Biblically, this is what Heaven will be like:
"The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea." (Isaiah 11:6-9 ESV)
"and many peoples shall come, and say: 'Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.' For out of Zion shall go the Law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem." (Isaiah 2:3 ESV)
"He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:4 ESV)
"Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever." (Revelation 22:1-5 ESV)
"And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. It had a great, high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed— on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
And the one who spoke with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls. The city lies foursquare, its length the same as its width. And he measured the city with his rod, 12,000 stadia. Its length and width and height are equal. He also measured its wall, 144 cubits by human measurement, which is also an angel's measurement. The wall was built of jasper, while the city was pure gold, like clear glass. The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of jewel. The first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.
And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life." (Revelation 21:10-17 ESV)
Besides, how do you know that there won't be any sinning in Heaven? From what I've read in the Bible, there are a lot of implications that it will still be possible to sin; just look at the prophecy of Zechariah:
"And if any of the families of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, there will be no rain on them. And if the family of Egypt does not go up and present themselves, then on them there shall be no rain; there shall be the plague with which the LORD afflicts the nations that do not go up to keep the Feast of Booths. This shall be the punishment to Egypt and the punishment to all the nations that do not go up to keep the Feast of Booths."(Zechariah 14:17-19 ESV)
We will be expected to go the Temple and celebrate the Holy Days with Jesus every year, and there will be punishments if we don't. In Revelation 21:17, John says that nothing unclean will enter into the holy city nor those who do what is detestable or false. That sounds like it will be possible to sin, in my opinion, but like I said, sin isn't fun. The only difference between sinning now and sinning when Jesus gets back is that we are not immediately punished according to the Laws of the Old Testament, when He comes back, we will be.
Heaven will not be some puffy place up in the sky where we all turn into naked babies with wings. It will be here on earth, and a lot similar to the ways things are, now. There won't be any death or pain or bad memories, and for the most part, people will not sin. I'm not saying it will be impossible for people to sin because I don't know that, but I doubt anyone would sin after experiencing the true joy and revelation of Christ. If that wouldn't motivate them, at least the fear of judgment would.
Based on Matthew 13:52, it's safe to assume we will still have jobs, but we will be doing what we were made to do. That's good news for people who feel like they don't know what their purpose is in this life. Jesus talked about scribes being trained for the kingdom of heaven, so I naturally assume that every who does anything for a living is being trained by God for His Kingdom.
It's also likely that we will still have technology, like computers, smartphones, television, radio, etc. Only, in the kingdom, we will also have farms and livestock, as well. The sacrificial system will be reinstated according to the final chapters of Ezekiel, so we will need to have animals to bring our sacrifices to the Temple. The mix of modern and ancient culture isn't so hard to understand if you consider that most of the near eastern world already lives that way.
Just look at Israel. Most people don't think of Israel as a place with cars, public transport, cable television,etc., but think of it as a desert place full of sand and people walking around in robes living the like it was in the times of Abraham. Not so. This is a picture of David's Tower at night, with view of cars passing in the streets.
This is a picture of the King David Hotel. It has a mix of modern and ancient architecture.
And this is a video of what the 3rd Temple will look like when it's done.
We will go to the Temple on the Holy Days each year, and talk with Jesus. We will still have smartphones, hotels, and everything we have now, the only difference is, there won't be any evil or corruption in the world. We can spend Sabbaths with Jesus, take selfies with Him, put it on Instagram, sing Chris Tomlin songs and other praise music, then spend time at the hotel with our brothers and sisters in Christ, before going home to wherever we live. We can have conversations with Peter, Paul, David, Moses, Abraham, and whoever else you can think of; and we will be co-heirs with Christ. I don't know about you, but I'm really looking forward to these things.
I can't wait to spend Passover with Moses, and hear the first hand account of it from someone who was actually there. I can't wait to hear King David play the harp and sing my favorite psalms. I can't wait to talk to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and have dinner with them. I would love to stand in the presence of King Jesus, and sings songs declaring His holiness, and majesty, and awesomeness. And it would be like that forever. There would always be new people to meet, new things to explore. We could probably walk around the first 1000 years in eternity just marveling at everything because of how amazing it is. It will be how things are now, but so much better than we could ever imagine, and we will all want to praise God for it.
