Quick physics lesson

A lot of people like to wonder what heaven will be like. Jesus described it as a mansion with many rooms, and throughout the Bible it is shown that heaven is a place of comfort and no tears. Jesus tells how the poor man Lazarus, who starved to death outside the gate, spends heaven resting in the bosom of Abraham (see Luke 16.) So one can discern that there are different forms of experience in heaven (the many rooms illustrate this, as does the specific example of one poor man's closeness to the Patriarch Abraham.) Heaven cannot really be described because it is not three dimensional, and the act of trying to describe it is using three dimensional words to be processed by three dimensional brains in three dimensional bodies. Those who think they have seen heaven in near death experiences have seen the gateway to heaven, not heaven actually itself, because one does not return from heaven. So here's a quick "factoid" about heaven that can be meditated upon.

In heaven there is no time. Time itself does not exist. Many people think that "eternal" and "infinite" indicates time that goes on and on forever, and that is true in a three dimensional world. But heaven does not have time at all. (Hell does have time; that is part of its curse and unbearable torment.) Let's define time first. Time is a sequence of events. So something happens and then something else happens. When two events happen their sequential-ality can be articulated by three dimensional beings (where time is considered like a fourth dimension) by comparing the sequence of events to a scale, like the movement of the hands of a clock, calendar, or celestial body. But in heaven, there is no sequencing of events. One thing does not happen followed by another and then another. How can this happen? Let me describe it two ways.

First, the Bible starts with the words "In the beginning." This indicates the point when God starts the creation of the universe. When Moses wrote those words he was recording not only the start of God's creation of the universe, but the beginning of - one could even say the "invention of "- time. God created a three dimensional universe, starting with what we all now call the Big Bang, but also is inventing time itself. We know that because God was already in existence before "in the beginning," obviously, because God is in action to create a "beginning." So many people have asked, from little children to philosophers, "Where did God come from?" When the religious answer that God was always there, they are correct. Because God exists in the state of being that is timeless, there is no sequence of events, no beginning, next step, next step, and so forth. This is really impossible for humans to understand, not because God is being complicated, or that people are dumb, but because humans must live in a world that only comprehends three dimensions plus time for survival. If human brains were able to process and understand the absence of time, they could not engage in basic life and survival activities.

One might ask why the Bible details conversations and events that take place in heaven. The Bible is not written for God's benefit and reading, it's written for three dimensional living people to understand. So God dictates into words and images what he is trying to convey to three dimensional human beings. He takes an "*unexplainable element of his will example A*" and translates it into a conversation between him and an angel, or some other time based event, so that people can understand what they are hearing and reading. All the events and conversations are true, but they do not take place within the framework of a time measurable sequence of events. God's will manifests totally outside the measurement of time.

The second way to describe it is to answer the inevitable next question, which is, "What happens when a person dies and goes to heaven and is judged? Is that not a back and forth of speech that takes place over time?" Yes, and that is what I mean by the gateway to heaven. Revelations describe gates to the heavenly Jerusalem. When one meets "St Peter" at the gates, one is not yet in heaven. There is a sequence of thoughts and understanding that takes place in the soul mind of the person who has died. It is there that one receives the personal judgement. Once one arrives in heaven itself, through the gate (through the door of the mansion, as Jesus describes) that is when one is in the timeless place of heaven. You may be "greeted" by those who died before you at the gateway, where it is possible to have a sequence of time events and "conversation." But once you and your family are fully within heaven you, and they, were always there.