I think it is impossible to have any kind of worthwhile opinion on heaven, because the things we think we'll gain or lose by going there, only make sense in the context of human existence - our needs as humans, what we need and don't need as humans.

"Is there sex in heaven?" Well, what if when you leave your body behind, you no longer want or desire sex, or what if the communion of souls makes sex seem like nothing in comparison?

Heaven is always described in anthropocentric terms; since we can only understand what it to exist in a corporeal form, I think the only opinions we can have are *as human beings on the planet right now*. I like beer, for instance, and I'd probably say, "I don't want to go to heaven if there's no beer."

But if I have no taste buds, no gullet, and am in a state of constant intoxication by being in the presence of God, who knows if I'd miss it?

It may well be that our bodies are, if you look at the Jewish/Christian bible, the root of all sin - sin of the flesh. All temptation proceeds through the senses - maybe. And maybe when we don't have a body, we don't experience temptation anymore. Our mind and conscience conspires to feed the flesh.

Just what was Adam and Eve's sin, anyway? If you take it literally as "eating a fruit" or metaphorically as some kind of sexual act, in either form, it seems like a sin of the flesh. And in heaven, flesh is, if you consider heaven in the context of what most people say it is, irrelevant.

All of this being said, I'm an agnostic and don't seriously consider heaven or God except to say that I am not hostile to whatever the truth is. If there is a God, I certainly hope he understands why I doubt his existence - there are a lot of good reasons to, and I really hope e doesn't hold it against me. He gave me a rational mind, and faith is, to me, a weak, weak substitute for empirical knowledge. Some people get off on, and trip on faith. I'm just not one. I am vaguely jealous of those with faith, because of how it affects their cosmology.

In effect, people of faith are (generally speaking) happier, but free thinkers are more free. If you have to choose between freedom and happiness, what would you choose?

If he really cares whether I believe in him or not, I hope he'd do me the courtesy of appearing to me in a vision, changing water to wine, or parting a sea, just so I know he's real, and not a bizarre fantasy of a thousand mutually contradictory religions in the world all claiming to have the final word on The One True God and What He's Like.

If there is a God, I don't believe he talks to people or interferes on earth. And I am suspicious of anyone who thinks God converses with them, such as the president of the country I live in.

In human terms, your point has merit - how can there be pleasure without pain or happiness without sadness?

But this is only true of the human world we know. If we are to honestly consider heaven, we must consider the fact that when we die, God may choose to flip the script, big time, and all of the things that make sense to us as humans, no longer apply to our soul. What if, without a body, it is possible to experience rapturous pleasure, without pain - a spiritual orgasm of sorts, which lasts...forever.

It would be something like, I imagine, Pink Floyd's classic "The Great Gig in the Sky." I sure hope it is. God bless Pink Floyd.
Duke Street Kings Reviewed by Duke Street Kings on . I don't want no eternal bliss... So I've been thinking about this whole heaven concept, and I've come to the conclusion that if it existed, I would not want to be there. Heaven is supposed to be a place where everybody is constantly feeling one emotion: happiness. Everybody I know and love would be stuck in emotional monotony. Happiness would become so commonplace that we would fail to appreciate how good it feels to be happy. I like earth because we feel a variety of emotions. It is only because we suffer sometimes that we Rating: 5