(September 16, 2019 at 8:47 pm)Belaqua Wrote: Usually in theology, "eternity" doesn't mean endless. It is an unchanging state outside of time. The notion of getting bored in heaven is incoherent to the versions of heaven described by Aquinas, Dante, etc.
I submit that most people want eternity to be "time without end". "Timelessness" is a way to evade the problems I describe but it is not something that most folks can actually relate to (and, therefore, want). Besides, a non-dual state of no-past and no-future sounds even more claustrophobic than an open-ended timeline. To me, anyway. People pushing timelessness are basically just saying, "trust me, you'll like it, even if you can't conceptualize it at present". That's not very compelling.
I grew up with more of the idealized heaven, I admit. A Sunday School teacher once told me a story. A young Southern boy could not imagine that you could have heaven without fried chicken. He was assured that you could have all the fried chicken you could want. That seemed to me a rather transparent fabrication. Just decide what you wish you had, and you'll have it. Streets paved with gold is the metaphor actually in the NT and I think that was meant to convey this sort of "sky's the limit" notion.
My favorite joke is this guy and his wife die in a car accident and go to heaven. St Peter shows them their mansion. Inside is a table just full of delicious food. The guy says, no, I can't eat that stuff, it's bad for me. St Peter says, look, you don't get it -- this is heaven. You can eat anything you want, and it won't cause you heart problems or indigestion or anything. You won't even gain weight.
At this, the guy throws a complete fit and starts throwing things and so on. His wife says, Abner, what the heck has gotten into you. "If it wasn't for your goddamned bran muffins,", he replies, "I could have been here 15 years ago!"
