Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was the first person in space on April 12, 1961 aboard the Vostok. He was later reported to have said, "I don't see any god up here" but it may be the quote actually originated with Soviet leader Krushchev saying later, "Gagarin flew into space, but didn't see any god there."
At the time my understanding was that Gagarin said that, and as a newly-minted Christian, I was contemptuous and dismissive. Didn't this idiotic atheist know that God and the spirits of the blessed dead are supposed to dwell in the immaterial realm of heaven, sort of another dimension which could not be seen from anywhere in our universe?
I was of course thinking of traditional church teaching rather than any biblical texts. Heaven is where your soul goes when you die.
Now that I look at the matter, I cannot think of a single bible passage which unambiguously describes heaven as an immaterial, purely spiritual realm.
Consider Jesus' ascension described in Acts 1:9-11 and later made into one of the articles of the Apostles' Creed.
Another example is that in the OT Elijah is supposedly taken up to heaven in a fiery chariot as witnessed by his disciple Elisha.
In Genesis 11 God seems genuinely concerned with the effort to build the tower of Babel to reach the heavens, and God decides to go down and stop them.
No doubt we could multiply examples, but it is enough to show that in the bible Jesus is supposed to have gone to a localized heaven a few miles above our heads.
Given that our telescopes have peered billions of light-years beyond what the ancients perceived as the vault of the sky, it seems plain that Jesus and the biblical heaven are nowhere to be found.
At the time my understanding was that Gagarin said that, and as a newly-minted Christian, I was contemptuous and dismissive. Didn't this idiotic atheist know that God and the spirits of the blessed dead are supposed to dwell in the immaterial realm of heaven, sort of another dimension which could not be seen from anywhere in our universe?
I was of course thinking of traditional church teaching rather than any biblical texts. Heaven is where your soul goes when you die.
Now that I look at the matter, I cannot think of a single bible passage which unambiguously describes heaven as an immaterial, purely spiritual realm.
Consider Jesus' ascension described in Acts 1:9-11 and later made into one of the articles of the Apostles' Creed.
Quote:After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”Jesus is represented as floating up vertically until he is hidden by a cloud. It seems to presuppose that heaven is a physical place "up there."
Another example is that in the OT Elijah is supposedly taken up to heaven in a fiery chariot as witnessed by his disciple Elisha.
In Genesis 11 God seems genuinely concerned with the effort to build the tower of Babel to reach the heavens, and God decides to go down and stop them.
No doubt we could multiply examples, but it is enough to show that in the bible Jesus is supposed to have gone to a localized heaven a few miles above our heads.
Given that our telescopes have peered billions of light-years beyond what the ancients perceived as the vault of the sky, it seems plain that Jesus and the biblical heaven are nowhere to be found.
If you could reason with religious people, there would be no religious people — House
