What is Heaven?

This post continues the theme of "Where did we come from?" and adds a new question, Where are we going from here? Back in the 1970's Erich von Däniken wrote a book called Chariots of the Gods. In that book, and others like it, he proposed that the gods and angels of ancient literature, to included the old Testament, were astronauts from another planet or dimension. He stated that the flaming chariots were space ships and other conveyances described in ancient literature could have been helicopters or jet planes. He then set forth his evidence to back up these claims. I read these books when they first came out and wondered if he was not onto something. To this day I still can't help wondering if some advanced alien race came to Earth and found primates that resembled them. They then monkeyed around with the DNA of these primates and produced the first human beings. The Book of Genesis states that Eve was made from one of Adam's ribs. I believe that Eve was a female clone of Adam and basically had the same DNA as Adam and thus resembled him greatly. Adam couldn't help finding her attractive because she was nearly identical to him in appearance.

The Book of Genesis states that the sons of God found the daughters of men desirable and mated with them. The LDS church believes that fallen priesthood members mated with non believers and that is what that verse refers to. Some scholars believe that the sons of God were fallen angels or ancient astronauts. The fallen angels do not have physical bodies and therefore cannot mate with those of us who do. That is part of their curse for rebellion. Ancient astronauts, on the other hand, do have physical bodies and thus can mate with humans. The question them becomes one of whether or not the two kinds of DNA are compatible and thus can produce offspring.

The above addressed where we may have come from. Now I want to address where we are going from here. Most people that I talk to want to go to Heaven. It is supposed to be a place of peace and happiness where there is no disease, crime, war, poverty or anything else that could make us unhappy. I cannot help wondering if this Heaven is nothing more than the home planet for an ancient and highly advanced race that visited the Earth thousands of years ago. What will happen when we finally get there? The Bible makes it clear that some people in Heaven will be honored guests at a wedding feast while others will be servants. Others still will be shut out all together! Jesus mentioned that the first will be last and the last will be first. Those who serve well in this life will be the ones getting served in the next. My fear about this is a little on the scary side for me. What if everybody who makes it to Heaven ends up a slave to the master race that lives there? True, we will live forever in physically healthy bodies that don't need to eat or sleep and never get sick. That means that we never need any time off from work! There will be no physical handicaps or disabilities so the entire work force will be able bodied. Some people won't mind being slaves to the master race because their working and living conditions will be better than anything that they knew here on Earth. Even so, I cannot help but wondering if there won't be another rebellion when this home planet is over run with millions of humans.

The Bible tells us that this Earth will be transformed into a sea of glass and then it will be inhabited by those people who have earned the right to live in the Celestial Kingdom. So, this Heaven that we are all trying to get to is right here on Earth. Those who have earned a lesser degree of glory will not end up here on Earth but somewhere else where they will be servants to those who have earned the Celestial Kingdom. The Doctrine and Covenants of the LDS church explain each of the three degrees of glory in detail. The lowest of these kingdoms is called the Tellestial Kingdom and it is supposed to be so beautiful that you would kill yourself to get there if you saw it in a vision. The middle kingdom is called the Terrestrial Kingdom and it is better than the Tellestial Kingdom, but not as good as the Celestial Kingdom. The best is the Celestial Kingdom. Within the Celestial Kingdom are three degrees of glory, but it appears that only the highest one has a name and it is called exaltation. You can be "saved" without being exalted.

I. personally, am striving to get into the Celestial Kingdom and then go on to exaltation because I want to be an honored guest and ruler in Heaven and not a servant, or worse, a slave. If you want to know how to become exalted in the Celestial Kingdom talk to a person who is an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormon).