h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Heaven - A18426918
Author: shagbark - U170775

One mans fiction may be anothers reality.
this article is an attempt to meet the challenge layed down in
F15075?thread=2378563
to fill a gap in the EG.
whether or not they believe in a heaven I would hope that the peers would treat this submission in an objectively fair and impartial way.

Hmmm, would it be worth mentioning 'alternative' versions of heaven...

Valhalla, The Elysian Fields, etc.

1. You seem to assume that heaven exists and go on to give various descriptions of it. You should instead start by saying what heaven is, and then say that it may or may not exist, followed by the descriptions.

2. Is this is a purely Christian version of heaven? Don't Muslims believe in heaven too? And perhaps other religions do, I don't know.

heaven is in the backseat of my Cadilac

So , then. I have rewritten it to start with a dictionary definition and the fact that some adamently denied its existence, but I stubbornly refuse to say anything about the back seat of anyones cadillac.

how about buying a stairway to heaven ?

You wouldn't need a very long stairway to get into the back seat of a Cadillac.

Here's another bit you'll have to change:

"To those who have rejected christianity however there is a much more terrifying scene. They will stand before another throne when heaven is no more and there be judged for their actions. "

This is extremely insulting to people who are not Christians.

It is not clear whether the John who wrote that Book of the Apocalypse is the same one who wrote the Gospel; many people believe he was a completely different writer, so you should not claim he was the "Apostle John". He may have been, but it is not a fact.

I intended to read this and take it seriously, but then I read post 4 and haven't been able to stop smirking for long enough to go over the Entry. I'll try again later.

no stairway ?

Denied

*goes off to do something useful like reading the entry*

OK I have deleted the paragraph on the Great White Throne Judgement
and have simply listed John as "the writer"
I still am not quite satisfied with the ending on the piece. Perhaps I should quote another hymn?

Ok, I've read it over and considered the whole thing, and it doesn't work. Heaven is a concept that still spans several religions, and it's no good saying that the Christian heaven is The One. I think the Entry needs to a new title - how about 'The Christian Heaven'?

I certainly got the impression, reading it, that I wasn't welcome unless I was a Christian myself. That isn't the impression our guide should give.

I've no objection to you writing an Entry on the Christian idea of heaven, but this one seems to lapse into preaching.

The whole thing is about 1380 words long, but you have only written around 860 of them. Any chance you could add your own explanations instead, and make it more factual, informative and instructive?

Alex seems to have this confused with an article on the afterlife.
such an article would be an introduction to a series of articles-ie
the shintu view of the afterlife, the Buddist view of the afterlife, the wiccan view of the afterlife, the Scientologist view of the afterlife,the muslim view of the afterlife, the Christian view of the afterlife. This isn't even that article. Such an article would encompass hell, purgatory, limbo, the great White Throne Judgement, and the Lake of Fire. I repeat- thuis is not such an article it is an article on Heaven and ONLY on heaven.
As to being factual and informative- the quotes I have used have more facts and information than I will ever have in and of myself.

however I will modify the title slightly to read
Heaven- The Christian's Blessed Hope.

One definition of heaven I've found: "Heaven is an afterlife concept found in many religions or spiritual philosophies."

Heaven is not a strictly Christian notion, so please stop playing with semantics and accept that this Entry is about a Christian heaven - the whole damn Entry is full of Christian dogma, so it does not properly cover:

The Greek heaven.
The Roman heaven.
The Viking heaven (Asgard).
The Muslim heaven (Jannah).
The Jewish heaven (Kingdom Of Heaven).
The Buddhist heavens.
The Chinese Confucianist heaven (Tian).

The above list is not about the afterlife, but simply a list of heavens from various religions. It is also far from complete. Thus, the title should point out that the Entry covers only the Christian heaven.

Alex

link to Valhalla A13392911

... Most of the first section seem to me to read like personal opinion

... Personally I'd be unhappy seeing a BBC 'factual' site quoting the views of Billy in supporting its aruments. Given his views on Jews, communists and AIDS, I personally wouldn't put stock in anything he says

>>>In the centre,round about the he throne itself we four living creatures... by day and by night they sang : Holy,Holy, Holy, is the sovereign Lord of all... ------ I'm pretty much sure that this is not a decription of heaven, but Bono's living room

>>>A Catholic Encyclopeia gave the following information which I am paraphasing: ------ tuts - no 1st personing in h2g2

>> "on high" ---> or " s

.
Personally, I wouldn't also discount views of heavenly afterlife like the Greek Elysian Fields. The stories that make up the bible and Chrisitan faith were often 'adapted' from other mythologies and certainly it would not be beyond comprehension that x-ainity borrowed much of its views of heaven from the Greeks


Personally, a lot of this does seem rather disconnected and lacks a bit of flow.

and, because I love an argument, I will say this....

Many people have commented on how they feel that many articles about Paganism are stating some aspects of pagan / wiccan faith as fact. Since the tone of this article is 'This is heaven and this is what it is like', I feel that it is not actually factual. If it were a more rigerious / critical examination on how various views of heaven are protrayed by the text of the bible, theologians through the ages and so on, then it would be a much more valuable entry.

Until "Going Home" it read alright to me. Isn't pretty much every religion's heaven a place of goodness and lack of bad stuff? That's pretty much what it says. I have never heard of Abraham's Bosom, though.

The rest begins to seem really Christian because the only people whose quotes are brought are either Christian or talking about Jesus. That does narrow it down somewhat.

Does the Hell entry mention that it is just about Christian Hell? Because I don't think anyone else has brimstone and fire.

Just for comparison.