[bit.listserv.christia] what does heaven look like

PDBROYLES@OWUCOMCN (The Golden Rule: He who has all the Gold makes the rules.) (02/14/90)

>>The hindu nirvana isn't anything like heaven, or even remotly like the
>>heaven of the bible. The moslem heaven isn't even called heaven, it's
>>called paradise, and it's just as far removed from Our Father's heaven as
>>is the hindu, and it's the same for the buddhists. Research it Paul! It is
>>exactly a black and white fact.
>
>Okay, what is heavan like?
>
>Peace
>David

Good Question David.

Now for my question, why can't we look beyond semantics?  Indian Hindu's use
the words and vocabulary that best discribes Nirvana, Heaven in their culture
and in their part of the world.  Buddhist do the same for Nirvana/Pure Land,
as do the Christians and the Muslims.  If one took the discription of the
Christian conception fo Heaven to India in 1100 BC it would have made no sense,
why?  Because the imagery and symbolism in anceint India differ from the imagery
and symbolism of anceint Israel.  In a like manner, if you take a poem from
China today and imported it to the America's only a very few people would
understand it, because our cultures differ so greatly.  Just because the
language and words used to discribe Nirvana or the Pure Land or Paradise or
Heaven differ,doesn't mean that the images created in those soceities differ!
In a like manner, the book of Revelations contains a world of symbolism and
Imagery that modern man cannot fully understand because new and different images
have arisen over the past two thousand years!!! If God were to return today and
discribe Heaven to us, it might include a computer terminal at every street
corner, yeah, that is a little sarcastic, but the images of today are so much
different from a mere 50 years ago let alone 2000 years in a foreign country!!!

As for researching the subject, I have and I don't see them being too different,
if you look at what the images that are used bring to mind.  YOU as a Christian
brought up with a western mind set see the Hindu or Buddhist imagery from a
Western Christian mindset, not the Indian/Chinese mindset from which the imagery
was intended.  Before you can compare the two completely you have to have some
understanding of the culture and upbringing of these soceities and must compare
the Christian conception of Heaven with the Hindu Conception of Nirvana, not the
Christian/western conception of Hindu Nirvana.  One also needs to take into an
account the differences in cultures, countries, and times the discriptions were
written out.  Finally, look at both the educated view points and the common view
points of what they symbolize (Even in the West Heaven to a devout Christian/
Minister differs somewhat from the imagery of the lay Christian/common person
on the street...  These differences are greater in Hinduism and in Buddhism
because both religions have an older and more prolific heritage.)

                                        paul


(I used the term prolific heritage because there are more epics and stories
in Buddhism and especially Hinduism that one does not find in Christianity...
This is meant in no way to demean Christianity, but is simply a statement of
fact:  While Christianity holds strictly to the use of the Bible as sacred
writings, both Hinduism and Buddhism have volumes upon volumes of works which
are considered by different sects as holy.  It is also one reason why the
understanding of Hinduism and Buddhism is much greater between the Lay person
and the religious astetic in the east as compared to the West.)
                                        PDB