Gravity in Heaven ??

[Woody]

When we get to Heaven ... are we going to be walking on the ground or floating around? Will gravity be like it is on Earth or will we need lessons in how to walk? OR will there not be gravity as we know it.

I am not sure why I come up with these stupid questions ... but I was dreaming last night and have not been able to get this question out of my mind. But ... I want to know if we are going to be hovering, flying , floating or gloating in Heaven.

[olger]

Welp.. could be eating a large pizza late at night that causes these things.. Happened to my cousin once't.

oG

[Jerry Rogers]

Well, after the millenium "heaven" (New Jerusalem) will come back to our present earth with its gravity. I see no reason why God wouldn't have something similar to our current gravity up in the "current" heaven. :-/

[Woody]

I was thinking of heaven rather than the new earth. But I guess it is a good question for both.

[nuff sed]

Do you think we will spend 1000 years in heaven? What's the point of waiting all that time for our new home to be established? Might it not be true that we shall go to heaven for a short time, vist planets on the way up, sit at the table and then return to the "Earth made new".. 1000 years will have passed on this earth but we will not have lived 1000 more years.... Does that make any sense?

[Kevin H]

1. As I understand the context for the 1000 years when used at the time John wrote it simply means "As long as necessary" or "All the time in the world" to indicate that it would take as long as necessary to get done what needs to be done. Not necessarly a litteral thousand years. [there are a couple of other things to think about with it: such as in the palistinian family of texts the adding up of the ages like Usher did with the Masseritic text-- which came from the Babylonian textual family-- the Rabbis had come to conclusion that the earth was 6,000 and ready to become 7,000 years old back in the time of Jesus, and gave that theory that was floating around in our church that the thousands of years corrisponded to the days of creation with the 7th thousand being the time of the Messiah, and there are reflections of that in John's statement. A third interesting piece of trivia that we can chew on and I don't have an answer for is that Paul and Ellen White has a general resurection for all the righteous at the second coming. However for John the resurection at the second coming is ONLY for the martyrs, the rest of the dead do not raise until after the thousand years when they learn whether or not their name is in the lambs book of life -- reread Revelation 20)

2. As for Gravity, of course we don't know. However we learn of different streanths of gravity on different planets moons etc. so we don't know how heaven and the new earth is made up for the gravity it will have. But another aspect to consider is that we are also looking at how this earthly tent that we live in relates to gravity, not how our spiritual body will relate. Read 1 Cor 15 and 2 Cor 5. Paul talks about how we have our earthly tent now (our earthly body) the time that our natural body is planted like a seed (and later in the text a short reference to the nakedness of not having a body)and a seed raising in newness of life, so we get the new spiritual body at the resurection. (by the way this is the context of the passage being at home in the body we are absent from the Lord and willing to be absent from the body and to be pressent with the Lord. Those who use this text neglect to point out that Paul has three points here 1. Our tempory body on earth 2. Time when our tempory body is planted like a seed and we are unclothed / naked and 3. Receiving a better body at the resurection. And how while we desire point #3, the body that is pressent with the Lord. However point #1 is still better than point #2. Our critics skip point #2 in using this passage against us.)

[Woody]

I would like to take just a quick side-trip from my original question on gravity if you can forgive me. You mentioned ...

Quote:

not their name is in the lambs book of life

But I would like to know if there is a book of evil or death? Are you aware of one. It says there are books. But I haven't heard of a book of death in the Bible.

[John317]

I would like to take just a quick side-trip from my original question on gravity if you can forgive me. You mentioned ...

Quote:

not their name is in the lambs book of life

But I would like to know if there is a book of evil or death? Are you aware of one. It says there are books. But I haven't heard of a book of death in the Bible.

If an individual's name isn't in the Book of Life after the end of the Investigative Judgment, there can only be one destination for that individual. Therefore, a "book of death" would be superfluous. The whole idea is that a person whose name is not in the book of life ceases to exist. Even the person's name and the record and memory that he or she lived eventually ceases to be. It's called oblivion and annihilation-- absolute and total. The Bible says it will be as if "the wicked" had never been. God will once again have a completely harmonious universe. Righteousness-- living in harmony with God-- will be on an even firmer footing than it was before sin, because everyone will have seen demonstrable proof that God's way is the only right way.

[Woody]

What happens to the books? How long do they last? OR Are they destroyed at some point?

[John317]

....such as in the palistinian family of texts the adding up of the ages like Usher did with the Masseritic text-- which came from the Babylonian textual family-- the Rabbis had come to conclusion that the earth was 6,000...

Could you please explain this a bit more, about the Masoretic text and the difference between it and the Palestinian text?

Quote:

... Paul and Ellen White has a general resurection for all the righteous at the second coming. However for John the resurection at the second coming is ONLY for the martyrs, the rest of the dead do not raise until after the thousand years when they learn whether or not their name is in the lambs book of life -- reread Revelation 20...

Rev. 20: 6 makes it clear that the righteous dead are raised at the beginning of the thousand year period, and the wicked are raised at the end of that same period. It says that those who are raised during that first time are holy and happy and that the second death has no power over them. (By implication, it is saying that the second death has power only over those who are not raised in the first resurrection.) Those raised in the first resurrection will be with God during the 1,000 years. Therefore there can be no question that in order to be with God during the 1,000 years, they must be raised before the 1,000 years commence. Verse 14 simply means that the people "thrown into the lake of fire" are those whose names are not in the Book of Life. It's not saying that the decision of whose names are in the book of life is made at the time they are thrown into the lake of fire. That decision, according to other verses in the Bible, is made before Christ returns for His bride.

A rule of Bible interpretation is that we should take everything the Bible says about a subject into consideration. When it comes to the second coming, for instance, it's important to let the whole Bible interpret itself, or be its own commentary.

[John317]

What happens to the books? How long do they last? OR Are they destroyed at some point?

Good question. It's like asking whether we will have the Bible throughout eternity. If so, in what language? We simply have no way of knowing the answer to those questions. I would like to know, but we can't know with any certainty. There is a sense in which it doesn't matter, because the righteous are all living and they know each other and themselves, of course, and we have God living with us, so why would we have need of the Bible, when its true author is right among us? On the other hand, I can understand some people's view that it will still be important to have the Bible also, as an objective, eternal record of the plan of redemption.

[Neil D]

When we get to Heaven ... are we going to be walking on the ground or floating around? Will gravity be like it is on Earth or will we need lessons in how to walk? OR will there not be gravity as we know it.

Surely the gravity of the situation would be enough to weigh us down solidly to prevent any floaters from drifting around....

:R

[Woody]

Quote:

Surely the gravity of the situation would be enough to weigh us down solidly to prevent any floaters from drifting around....

You mean there will be 'floaters' in Heaven?

[John317]

Quote:

Surely the gravity of the situation would be enough to weigh us down solidly to prevent any floaters from drifting around....

You mean there will be 'floaters' in Heaven?

I have to admit that it seems hard to imagine, but we will be able to propel ourselves (by the power God provides, of course) through space. We will "fly" to heaven with Jesus and visit other planets on the way and give our testimonies about what it is like to be saved from sin and death. And then while in heaven, we will still be able to "fly." Perhaps some would refer to this as "floating." If so, then we will sometimes float. But otherwise, we will have our feet on the ground and be able to walk just like we do here.

By the way, "flying" with Jesus all those millions of miles through space will have to be very, very fast travel-- in fact, to get to heaven in 7 days will require something even faster than the speed the light. So it won't be as if we will really be using "wings" as in flap, flap, flap. Based on what Daniel 9: 23 says, it appears that angels are able to travel from heaven to earth in a matter of about 15 minutes. That has to be moving at over a thousand times faster than the speed of a bullet, something I find impossible to grasp.

[Woody]

Sounds like we will be a little less than the angels in our ability to fly fast. Seven days compared to 15 minutes? Will we forever be so flight challenged?

[John317]

... Seven days compared to 15 minutes? Will we forever be so flight challenged?

I'm sure that if God meant for us to get there in 15 minutes, it would happen. But remember that we'll be stopping off at different, other inhabited planets on the way.

Whether a person believes this, of course, depends on if he believes in angels, in the resurrection, in going to heaven, and finally, in the visions of Ellen White. Most of my friends find these things utterly fantastic and unbelievable.