QUESTION: I am a believer. I am truly puzzled though when people say their loved one is in heaven. Jesus said that he will come again to judge the living and the dead. How can anyone who has died be there if they are not judged yet and become purified to enter heaven? I just dont understand this. PLEASE CLARIFY .
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When you say you are a believer, I am assuming that you mean you are a Bible-believing Christian. I am assuming so, since you add phrases and ideas that I think might be from the Bible, like ” he will come again to judge the living and the dead.”
Here at TruthBook, we are dedicated to the teachings of The Urantia Book. We do understand the importance of the Bible for many Christians, however, we do not consider the Bible as inerrant. We use Bible scripture primarily as a reference point, valuing its truths but also understanding that it is not perfect. And so, my reply is not Bible-based, but instead is taken from the teachings of The Urantia Book, which does reference the Bible quite a bit.
What most people think of as “heaven” is accessible to all who have living faith. Heaven is more than just one place. When Jesus talked about the Father’s “many mansions,” he was talking about heavenly worlds that have been prepared for all those who die here on earth. The Urantia Book teaches: “As the term heaven has been used on earth, it has sometimes meant these seven mansion worlds, the first mansion world being denominated the first heaven, and so on to the seventh.”
It is in these seven worlds that we do become purified and ever more spiritual, as we gradually shed the last remnants of our earthly lives in the flesh.
John the revelator spoke of the first mansion world as the “first heaven;” He recorded: “And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire; and those who had gained the victory over the beast that was originally in them and over the image that persisted through the mansion worlds and finally over the last mark and trace, standing on the sea of glass, having the harps of God, and singing the song of deliverance from mortal fear and death.”
In The Urantia Book, we are told all about these dwelling places, places that we will go to when we die. And after those worlds, we will go even further, to other places that “eye has not seen, nor ear heard.”
The Urantia Book teaches of the progressive nature of our life after death. Rather than being a matter of simply dying here and waking up in a heavenly place where we stay forever, we learn that we progress from world to world, always learning, always growing, always progressing in spirit until we oneday stand in the presence of God on Paradise.
If you are interested, you can get a glimpse of what heaven might be like here:
I have done my best to answer your question; I realize that you may not be satisfied because this information is not verified in the Bible. On the other hand, you may be happy to know that there are different ways to think about heaven and our life after death.
In any event, if you care to look further into The Urantia Book, please see our introduction here.
And HERE is a short video that we made about what happens “After You Die.”
Thanks again for your note…best wishes!
