Near-death experiences have become important because many people have developed a variety of conflicting views of death and eternity based on these incidents.

"Heaven is the place where God will bring good out of bad." Randy Alcorn shares a message on Heaven, suffering, and the solid hope of eternity at Oak Hills Church in Texas, April 2010.

Resources pastors and group leaders can use on the subject of Heaven.

I heard a pastor make a startling confession. He said, ‘Whenever I think about heaven, it makes me depressed. I’d rather just cease to exist when I die.’

Bara is used of man’s creation, which is not ex nihilo but out of the earth (Gen. 1:26, 5:1, etc.). So the word is NOT restricted to making something out of nothing (as is often stated), but includes making something out of what already exists. 

I once heard a pastor make a startling confession: “Whenever I think about heaven, it makes me depressed. I’d rather just cease to exist when I die.” I tried not to show my shock as I asked him, “Why?” “I can’t stand the thought of that endless tedium. To float around in the clouds with nothing to do but strum a harp—it’s all so terribly boring. Heaven doesn’t sound much better than hell. I’d rather be annihilated than spend eternity in a place like that.”

Finney was intoxicated not by mere feelings of joy, but by joy itself, a billion burning quasars of pure joy. All joy he had known on earth was like drinking from the contaminated lower waters, far from the source of the stream. Now he was drinking from the Source itself, the fountain-head of Joy.

In this minute long clip, Randy talks about how our hearts or minds are to be continuously set on these “things above” where Christ is in heaven, not on “earthly things” (Col. 3:1-4).

Randy Alcorn discusses Heaven, answering the question," How can people go to Heaven?" on the Janet Mefferd radio Show. March 2010.