Why is the concept of heaven so appealing?

[TheLight954]

Here's something I don't get. Most religions dream of an eternal paradise or heaven that you attain after you die (assuming you believe in the religion). Even spiritualists suggest this. There aren't very many pessimistic religions. But that doesn't seem to match up with reality. But consider this:

1)What if the ultimate purpose of suffering of life is to train you for hell? It's possible that reincarnation is real, and every incarnation gets progressively worse until you're finally ready to embrace your final destination.

2)The mainstream concept of what happens beyond death (whether it's that your consciousness fades out forever like atheists believe or you go to an eternal heaven where you stay forever like most religions believe) is way too simplistic. I would imagine that whatever happens beyond the physical realm (if there exists anywhere) is something beyond we can imagine, such as the merging of 2 consciousnesses, splitting, etc. (sort of like the NDE claim that we are all one). Or maybe you just teleport back to your birth upon death and make the exact same decisions with the exact same outcomes and get trapped in a never-ending cycle, like groundhog (gee, I hope not, but that's a possibility).

3)Life is not perfect. If the realm beyond this world (assuming one exists) was perfect, why did it create an imperfect world? Or do we have a misconception of what's perfect because our purpose here (assuming one exists) is beyond our understanding?

4)What would happen to aliens? With so many different planets out there in the universe that generally seem to have uncorrelated environments, there should be others that harbor intelligent life. Or simpler yet, what happens to animals? Other animals can be more intelligent/aware than a one-day old newborn.

5)What exactly is heaven? Anyone who has lived in real life knows that our minds are only happy upon improvement of something. If someone's way higher than you, you think you'd be happy in their position, but in reality you are only happy in the time that you're improving. So if you stayed at heaven (or hell) forever, wouldn't the experiences be essentially the same after the initial shock? Or does our supposed soul operate completely differently than our brain?

[Adama]

Heaven isn't the only place after death for believers (those who have received the free gift of salvation through faith in Christ). First it is heaven. Then God will recreate the earth, and those who have been born again will inherit the New Earth, which will be perfect similar to the way it was for Adam before death entered the world through sin.

The New Earth will be around one billion times more glorious than this one. Only a small portion of God's glory is here, because He is not here with us. Because there will be no sin to taint the New Earth, God will be with us in the fullness of His glory. There will be no sin because the whole earth will be full of His Knowledge and unable to sin.

As for hell, it will be much worse than unbelievers imagine. The wicked will be compensated more than the righteous (the righteous will be recompensed in the earth; much more the wicked and the sinner). Amazing.

[Adama]

Here's something I don't get. Most religions dream of an eternal paradise or heaven that you attain after you die (assuming you believe in the religion). Even spiritualists suggest this. There aren't very many pessimistic religions. But that doesn't seem to match up with reality. But consider this:

1)What if the ultimate purpose of suffering of life is to train you for hell? It's possible that reincarnation is real, and every incarnation gets progressively worse until you're finally ready to embrace your final destination.

The goal of this life is to please God: first a person must reconcile himself to God by getting saved (believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and that shalt be saved). Thereafter it is to do good, to please Him, and to worship Him. Serve the Lord and honor thy neighbor.

2)The mainstream concept of what happens beyond death (whether it's that your consciousness fades out forever like atheists believe or you go to an eternal heaven where you stay forever like most religions believe) is way too simplistic. I would imagine that whatever happens beyond the physical realm (if there exists anywhere) is something beyond we can imagine, such as the merging of 2 consciousnesses, splitting, etc. (sort of like the NDE claim that we are all one). Or maybe you just teleport back to your birth upon death and make the exact same decisions with the exact same outcomes and get trapped in a never-ending cycle, like groundhog (gee, I hope not, but that's a possibility)

There is no reincarnation after death, except for the few saints who were raised from the dead in the Bible. Everyone immediately goes to their destination depending on whether they believed in Christ or not. There is no reincarnation. That's a deception from eastern false religion.

3)Life is not perfect. If the realm beyond this world (assuming one exists) was perfect, why did it create an imperfect world? Or do we have a misconception of what's perfect because our purpose here (assuming one exists) is beyond our understanding?

The world was created perfect by God. But when Adam chose to sin, impurity entered the world, tainting it, which put an end to perfection. For it to be perfect, there can be no sin. But sin is here through free will.

4)What would happen to aliens? With so many different planets out there in the universe that generally seem to have uncorrelated environments, there should be others that harbor intelligent life. Or simpler yet, what happens to animals? Other animals can be more intelligent/aware than a one-day old newborn.

Evolution, big bang, reincarnation, other planets, aliens are all massive deceptions to get people to doubt God's Word.

5)What exactly is heaven? Anyone who has lived in real life knows that our minds are only happy upon improvement of something. If someone's way higher than you, you think you'd be happy in their position, but in reality you are only happy in the time that you're improving. So if you stayed at heaven (or hell) forever, wouldn't the experiences be essentially the same after the initial shock? Or does our supposed soul operate completely differently than our brain?

Heaven isn't the final destination for believers. The believers will inherit the earth when it is recreated in perfection. Their free will choices to live without sin were made when they believed in Christ, which means at that point they accepted eternal righteousness, and therefore will never sin in the next life. They and the whole earth will be unable to sin. Therefore the earth will remain perfect.