wow!

Doug, you are posting right so no worries! The other things you wrote were comments to Trevor's post, but Posting is better, so keep doing what you are doing....as for closer to Heaven than the rest of us....really? I don't think that fact taht you are older makes you closer, cuz no one knows when their life here on earth will end ;) (just giving you a hard time)
Anyway, I only read one chapter and so much to wrap my mind around. Chap. 6, basically discussing a physical or spiritual present heaven. He answered a lot of my questions, and I feel like bibically based for sure. I have always wondered how that whole soul went to heaven and body still buried worked. I guess I have a hard time picturing how a disembodied soul exudes "life". You know what I mean? So I liked how he explained kind of a "inbetween body" of some sort and then also talked about Enoch, Elijah, Elisha, and Moses, great examples of what it might be for those in the current heaven. Chap. 7 looks good, but trying to read this book while sittting in starbucks is not a good idea....I need every bit of brain I have to focus :) Sorry I am not so deep :)

I'm still having trouble figuring out where to post comments. This is the 3rd way I've done it, and I don't always see my other posts. What am I doing wrong? Besides getting old and losing my tech abilities. Oh well, I'm not older....I'm just closer to heaven than the rest of you.

I love D.L. Moodys quote on page 31. I also love the picture of vision of the heavenly city, the New Jerusulem, coming down from the intermediate heaven, to be relocated on the New Earth. I picture this being the place where "in my Father's house are many rooms." Will we all go to our Fathers house, where we have our own room, for Christmas and maybe Easter. Maybe all the Jewish Holidays too. I love holidays and I think God does too.

Are we moving on too section 3, chapter 8 yet? I'm trying stay with everyone else but since I seem to be the only one blogging here, I just don't know?

The Treasure Principle

Well, we aren't reading "Heaven" but we read "The Treasure Principle" by Randy Alcorn. It was short, but did not fall short of great challenge, reflection, etc. The main idea is GIVE! And then give some more! It talked about how tithing is kind of the minimum, not the end result of giving and that there is great blessing in giving. He talked about giving now, instead of stock piling tons for later (when you may die before you get to give it). I was def. challenged, and am excited to process this with my hubby.

Heaven thoughts

 (This post is the same as my comment on the other post. I'm just wondering if this is a better way to do it?? All of you should have the ability to create a post like this. So look at both formats and let me know which way you like better. I know that sometimes I miss the comments section, but a new post I usually see. Just a thought. Plus, on a post, I can put cool pictures like this one:))

So, Heaven. Laurie and I talk about having the same definition of terms. This is so important when talking about Heaven. Present Heaven or Eternal Heaven (or New Earth). This is a distinction that must be made in our conversations, yet it (up til now) never has been. So, now that we have the same definition of terms, we can continue without confusing one another.

So here are some of my random thoughts:
1. I'm glad he mentions Hell and it's reality and focuses a little on it. Page 24 says it best. "The reality of Hell should break our hearts and take us to our knees and to the doors of those without Christ."
2. Jackie Chan says in the new Karate Kid, "Kung Fu is everything, and everything is Kung Fu." I beg to differ. But replace Kung Fu with Balance, and I agree. On pg 16 he says that Satan sabotages us by getting us to see Heaven as undesirable or unimaginable. Somewhere I wouldn't want to go, or somewhere that's too good to be true. I'm sure the word balance will come up more as we continue this.
3. I know this is a book by Randy Alcorn, but I'm convinced C.S. Lewis was a genius. His writings never cease to amaze me. Take his story of the Silver Chair. This point about Heaven and Earth, that the things of Earth are an extension of Heaven, not the other way around, was so wonderfully depicted in that story. (Alcorn makes the same point again on pg 54 in case we didn't catch it the first time.) Lewis is quoted many times, and I love it.
4. I like the idea that Eden is in the New Jerusalem in the Present Heaven right now. That helps my brain imagine better. It also answers where is Eden, thinking it is still here. Which leads to that whole part about string theory he mentioned and how scientists believe there could be ten dimensions that we can't see out there. So Eden was just part of a different dimension that, before sin, God allowed Adam and Eve to see. Maybe.??
5. Pg 52 talks of how when drawing inferences about Heaven, why would we draw them from the nature of God? Heaven is created, God is not. So it would make more sense to draw our inferences from the nature of man. Good thought.
6. We are commanded to set our hearts and minds on Heaven. pg 20-21, or Col 3:1,2. So good thing we're reading this. And we probably should never stop talking about it.
7. The beginning chapter talks of the neglect of past great men, books, and sermons to mention the reality of Heaven. I think I knew this, but it was crazy to see the facts of how it is such a neglected truth. Oh how the enemy has won so many victories in this area. It's so true what he says on pg. 11, that our incorrect thinking of Heaven causes us to set our minds on this life, this world, and therefore, not be motivated to share our faith. May it not be so for us.

Well, that's all for now. Please don't expect this long of comments from me all the time. It just worked out this way. Neither do I expect your comments to be this long.

I'm very glad we're doing this and look forward to the month and months ahead.

God bless you all.

By the way, you can't mention a "discussion" that happened without letting the rest of us know what the discussion was about.