Guaranteed Definitive Answers ... :-)

... of course, I have none of those. Your questions are good ones, and I'm sure they rattle around in the minds of most people at some point in time in their lives.

When it comes to the questions of heaven -- what it's like, etc. -- my personal view is that I'm better off not pondering them too deeply. I have several reasons for thinking this way:

• I doubt there are any absolutely clear answers. There are lots of interpretations of scripture out there, however.
• Being more clear on those answers won't change anything ... neither the nature of heaven or my desire to be there. After all, what's the alternative?
• This, like other things, is something I think is best left in the "trust the Lord" category.

We can, of course, set our eyes on a hope in the eternal. But like desiring to know the specifics of the Trinity, it just strikes me as something we'll never know for certain here on earth, nor perhaps should we.

I'm honestly not trying to be dismissive of your questions ... I'm just explaining how that area of inquiry is something I've consciously set aside as being ultimately unknowable in its finest detail.

Plus, for me, it's yet another much-needed exercise to consciously will myself to trust God. I have a general issue with trust ... I don't freely extend it. But He'll help me with that. :-)

* * *

As I've noted before, I've been reading a fair amount of Dallas Willard ("Renovation of the Heart," "The Divine Conspiracy"). I don't always agree with some of this theological readings, but I'm trying hard not to let that distract me from his essential message. Overall, he's had a profound impact on me. His major message is this: our life with Christ is a spiritual reality that is to be had now, not just after we die. The Bible calls for us to be disciples of Jesus. Willard uses the term apprentices. In short, we are to study at Christ's feet, and learn to do what he told us to do. By being obedient to Christ, we learn to realize more and more the reality of the Kingdom of God as it exists right now. Sure, there's a heaven after death. But there's also a spiritual reality to be had right now.

And it is by being obedient to Christ now that we become more like him. And if we do that, we start to increasinging "love the Lord with all my heart and all my soul and all my strength" ... and that then enables me to "treat others as I wish to be treated myself."