...I often think about what is so great about it. What is so different from "the world"?
I don't think much if anything if there is such a place. Let's assume there is a god and this god created heaven and Earth. First he apparently created heaven filled with angels that adored him save one, well maybe at least half of them adored him. This wasn't enough for this god so he created man. Well apparently god didn't eradicate all the emotions and faults that exists right here on earth, for in heaven there is jealousy and even war. Funny thing that war among the angels, a fight for control and power. Doesn't seem any different than the many power struggles here on Earth.
The fact is that all you need to do to get into heaven is accept jesus as your savior. Now that means there are a whole host of problems that go to heaven. resentment, jealousy, hatred, prejudice, sexism, lust, paranoia, everything that has always existed on earth.
This is clear proof that "heaven" was a human construct and not very imaginative either. No self-respecting god would allow human instinct and failings enter in a real god domain, but in every heaven scenario, the human condition exists. Ironically they exist in the same exact manner of the time and geography that they were invented. Vahalla is particularly of Nordic design, Pantheonic gods are intrinsically Greek and of that time period, and the Abrahamic god is specifically related to only the Middle East or the known world of the time which happens to be the first century. Their descriptions of their heaven are also only relatable to the time and place from which the religion originated. Buddhism relates only to India and the Far East.
So "heaven" is no different than earth in any way shape or form. In fact, it is a reflection of earth and nothing more.
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There are lots of heavens. Whether your loved ones get in, and whether they get to reside in one of the better suburbs of heavens, of course depends on how much you pay priests to mumble gibberish, light candles, and burn incense. To get into the Japanese version of the Buddhist heaven, your dear departed needs a brand new name. The quality of the name depends on how much you're willing to pay the temple.
Heaven is simply the biggest and oldest real estate con in the history of the world. It's even better than selling land on the moon.
http://www.lunarland.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIjPCb_6vR2QIVQYWPCh0TdwXLEAAY...
I simply look at the concept of heaven from a naturalistic view point.
We go back to the debate of do we have a soul, we'll in my opinion if we do and it has any interaction/bond with us, then it is detectable.
The fact one has not (and I would wager, never will be) been detected, I would assert that it is safe to say that there is nothing there to leave our body at its cessation in order to go to some heaven.
Christians seem to miss the point that there is war in heaven or that people in heaven still have the ability to turn against God. That is after all how Satan became Satan.
The whole heaven idea is one giant contradiction with numerous huge reasoning/logic flaws when someone spends even just a few minutes pondering it without the rose tinted glasses religion provides. These reasoning/logic flaws are made much worse when you consider there is zero real world testable evidence for the various ideas of heaven/after life.
If anyone is interested I can list off the first 5 reasoning/logic flaws that come to mind, around the "heaven" idea, first 5 of the many such flaws.
The most attractive thing about the Christian heaven is that you can look down and see what the living are doing, or watch naked sinners burning in hell.
"In another dimension, with voyeuristic intention, well secluded, I see all." (Magenta, "Rocky Horror Picture Show")
Endless eons singing "Just a Closer Walk With Thee! Lord have mercy!
I died and went to heaven. In disbelief, I looked around and there was no Billy Graham, no Oral Roberts, no Nixon, no many notable famous christians. So I gather up the most courage I can muster and ask god, "where are all the famous christians?' God replies there are not here are they?" I asked, "why not?" God replies "The thought they were me."
Based on reading countless comments over the years it seems that most people believe in the Islamic version of hell and the Zoroastrian version of heaven. http://www.hinduwebsite.com/zoroastrianism/beliefs.asp
People don't seem to be very knowledgeable about the biblical versions of hell and heaven. In the biblical version no one actually goes to "heaven". They end up in a gaudy bejeweled golden cube called "New Jerusalem" on a waterless planet that doesn't have any darkness. There's no marriage there so there's no sex. You get one piece of fruit a month and water from Yahweh's throne. And you bunk with a zoo of weird creatures.
The Zoroastrian version of heaven is actually the one most Christians and atheists are familiar with even if they don't know squat about the Zoroastrian religion. And they love the Islamic hell much more than the biblical hell. The Islamic hell is permanent. Souls go there on Judgment Day. The biblical hell is temporary. Souls can go there upon death but everyone gets out on Judgment Day and some may even get into the golden cube after spending time in hell.
In Zoroastrianism souls either go to heaven or to hell on a temporary basis until Judgment Day. Then the good ones get a permanent bunk in heaven and the bad ones get out of hell and end up in purgatory for eternity. Purgatory isn't hell but it's a long way from heaven. Catholics seem to like purgatory.