What does heaven look like?

This weeks topic comes from Delirious - our unabashed LDS blogger now in China.  Thanks "D".

This is a difficult topic for me as I simply do not believe in the theology of Christian religion - and in fact most if not all organized religions.  My complaint is simply that religions become dominated by people and so they are organized around the prejudices of those people.  Case in point - Protestants split off from Catholics with whom there were some disagreements. Yes that's the Cliff's Notes version but I think you get my drift. If Christianity is real and true then there's one flavor - not many.  One set of rules - not many. And when I hear born-again Christians claiming the 10 Commandments I have to wonder what Mel Brooks and the tribe think - Moses was a Jew.  So was Jesus.

Now if western religion is real I suppose it's one of 3 flavors - Judaism - the real base - Catholic - the first so-called Christians - or Mormon. Simple logic really - the originals are correct, God corrected an error of sorts and established Christianity or he issued a further course correction and gave old Joe Smith some golden tablets and decided he'd better stay in closer contact with his chosen folks to keep them on the right path.

That would make heaven look like the western view to a degree but since I do not believe that I'll just go with this - heaven is what you see all around you every day.  It's what you make it.  If you so choose you make it your own personal hell. You make choices every day that shape your existence. If you choose to believe some old gentleman in flowing robes with long hair and a beard is guiding you that is your choice.  You may call it faith.  Your choice. Just not mine.   I  certainly do not object to anyone having faith - I simply object to them dictating my life by their faith's rules - I happen to think the universal guidelines offered by our founding fathers were sufficient and though they enjoy a basis in Jewish thought they do not dictate we lead a Jewish life.  Nor a Christian one.  Just a decent one. And to my way of thinking, a decent life is a life in heaven. Speed bumps and all. Truth be told, none of us will really know what is true until we've circled the drain and the tub is empty. 

That's a Cliff's Notes version of what I think heaven looks like. Take a look at what the other LBC members have to say -  Anu, Delirious, gaelikaa, Grannymar, Maxi, Maria SF, ocdwriter, Padmum, Paul, Ramana The Old Fossil and Will.