Heaven in Christianity

The 1st century early Jewish-Christians, from whom Christianity developed as a Gentile religion, believed that the Kingdom of God was coming to earth within their own lifetimes, and looked forward to a divine future on earth.[3] According to Bart Ehrman, when the Kingdom of God did not arrive, Christian beliefs gradually changed into the expectation of an immediate reward in heaven after death, rather than to a future divine kingdom on earth,[3] despite the churches' continuing to use the major creeds' statements of belief in a coming resurrection day and world to come.

The earliest of the Apostolic Fathers, Clement of Rome, does not mention entry into heaven after death but instead expresses belief in the resurrection of the dead after a period of "slumber"[4] at the Second Coming.[5]

A fragment from the early 2nd century of one of the lost volumes of Papias, a Christian bishop, expounds that "heaven" was separated into three distinct layers. He referred to the first as just "heaven", the second as "paradise", and the third as "the city". Papias taught that "there is this distinction between the habitation of those who produce a hundredfold, and that of those who produce sixty-fold, and that of those who produce thirty-fold".[6]

In the 2nd century AD, Irenaeus (a Greek bishop) wrote that not all who are saved would merit an abode in heaven itself.[7]

The Catholic Church teaches that "heaven is the ultimate end and fulfillment of the deepest human longings, the state of supreme, definitive happiness".[9] In heaven one experiences the beatific vision.[10] The church holds that,

by his death and Resurrection, Jesus Christ has 'opened' heaven to us. The life of the blessed consists in the full and perfect possession of the fruits of the redemption accomplished by Christ... Heaven is the blessed community of all who are perfectly incorporated into Christ.[11]

The Catechism of the Catholic Church indicates several images of heaven found in the Bible:

This mystery of blessed communion with God and all who are in Christ is beyond all understanding and description. Scripture speaks of it in images: life, light, peace, wedding feast, wine of the kingdom, the Father's house, the heavenly Jerusalem, paradise: 'no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him'.[12]

Those Christians who die still imperfectly purified must, according to Catholic teaching, pass through a state of purification known as purgatory before entering heaven.[13]

Catholic authors have speculated about a "secondary joy of heaven",[14] whereby God "will repay according to each one’s deeds" (Romans 2:6) : ... "the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully" (2 Corinthians 9:6) .

Some denominations teach that one enters heaven at the moment of death, while others teach that this occurs at a later time (the Last Judgment). Some Christians maintain that entry into Heaven awaits such time as "When the form of this world has passed away."[15]

Two related and often confused concepts of heaven in Christianity are better described as the "resurrection of the body" as contrasted with "the immortality of the soul". In the first, the soul does not enter heaven until the last judgement or the "end of time" when it (along with the body) is resurrected and judged. In the second concept, the soul goes to a heaven on another plane immediately after death. These two concepts are generally combined in the doctrine of the double judgement where the soul is judged once at death and goes to a temporary heaven, while awaiting a second and final judgement at the end of the world.[16]

Some teach that death itself is not a natural part of life, but was allowed to happen after Adam and Eve disobeyed God so that mankind would not live forever in a state of sin and thus a state of separation from God.[17][18][19]

Jehovah's Witnesses believe that heaven is the dwelling place of Jehovah and his spirit creatures. They believe that only 144,000 chosen faithful followers ("The Anointed") will be resurrected to heaven to rule with Christ over the majority of mankind who will live on Earth.[24]

The view of heaven according to the Latter Day Saint movement is based on section 76 of the Doctrine and Covenants as well as 1 Corinthians 15 in the King James Version of the Bible. The afterlife is divided first into two levels until the Last Judgement; afterwards it is divided into four levels, the upper three of which are referred to as "degrees of glory" that, for illustrative purposes, are compared to the brightness of heavenly bodies: the sun, moon, and stars.

Before the Last Judgment, spirits separated from their bodies at death go either to paradise or to spirit prison dependent on if they had been baptised and confirmed by the laying on of hands. Paradise is a place of rest while its inhabitants continue learning in preparation for the Last Judgement. Spirit Prison is a place of learning for the wicked and unrepentant and those who were not baptised; however, missionary efforts done by spirits from Paradise enable those in Spirit Prison to repent, accept the gospel and the atonement and receive baptism through the practice of baptism for the dead.[25]

After the resurrection and Last Judgement, people are sent to one of four levels:

• The Celestial Kingdom is the highest level, with its power and glory comparable to the sun. Here, faithful and valiant disciples of Christ who accepted the fullness of his gospel and kept their covenants with Him through following the prophets of their dispensation are reunited with their families and with God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit for all eternity. Those who would have accepted the gospel with all their hearts had they been given the opportunity in life (as judged by Christ and God the Father) are also saved in the Celestial Kingdom. Latter-Day Saint movements do not believe in the concept of original sin, but believe children to be innocent through the atonement. Therefore, all children who die before the age of accountability inherit this glory. Men and women who have entered into celestial marriage are eligible, under the tutelage of God the Father, to eventually become gods and goddesses as joint-heirs with Jesus Christ.
• The Terrestrial Kingdom's power and glory is comparable to that of the moon, and is reserved for those who understood and rejected the full gospel in life but lived good lives; those who did accept the gospel but failed to keep their covenants through continuing the process of faith, repentance, and service to others; those who "died without law" (D & C 76:72) but accepted the full gospel and repented after death due to the missionary efforts undertaken in Spirit Prison. God the Father does not come into the Terrestrial Kingdom, but Jesus Christ visits them and the Holy Spirit is given to them.
• The Telestial Kingdom is comparable to the glory of the stars. Those placed in the Telestial Kingdom suffered the pains of Hell after death because they were liars, murderers, adulterers, whoremongers, etc. They are eventually rescued from Hell by being redeemed through the power of the atonement at the end of the Millennium. Despite its far lesser condition in eternity, the Telestial Kingdom is described as being more comfortable than Earth in its current state. Suffering is a result of a full knowledge of the sins and choices which have permanently separated a person from the utter joy that comes from being in the presence of God and Jesus Christ, though they have the Holy Spirit to be with them.
• The Outer darkness is the lowest level and has no glory whatsoever. It is reserved for Satan, his angels, and those who have committed the unpardonable sin. This is the lowest state possible in the eternities, and one that very few people born in this world attain, since the unpardonable sin requires that a person know with a perfect knowledge that the gospel is true and then reject it and fight defiantly against God. The only known son of Perdition is Cain, but it is generally acknowledged that there are probably more scattered through the ages.

• Gary Scott Smith, Heaven in the American Imagination. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.
• Colleen McDannell and Bernhard Lang, Heaven: A History. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1988; 2nd ed. 2001.
• Bernhard Lang, Meeting in Heaven: Modernising the Christian Afterlife, 1600-2000. Frankfurt: Peter Lang Publishing, 2011.
• Randy C. Alcorn, Heaven, Wheaton, Tyndale House, 2004.
• Jerry L. Walls, Heaven: The Logic of Eternal Joy, Oxford, Oxford University, 2002.

• Christian's Heavenly Hope Article arguing against the Jehovah's Witnesses' doctrine of two classes of Christians after death
• Catholic Encyclopedia: Heaven
• Randy Alcorn, “Heaven”