What is Paradise?
Paradise is a religious term for a place in which existence is positive, harmonious and timeless. It is conceptually a counter-image of the supposed miseries of human civilization, and in paradise there is only peace, prosperity, and happiness. Paradise is a place of contentment, but it is not necessarily a land of luxury and idleness. Paradise is often described as a "higher place", the holiest place, in contrast to Hell.
Paradisaical notions are cross-cultural, often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical or eschatological or both. In eschatological contexts, paradise is imagined as an abode of the virtuous dead. In Christian and Islamic understanding, Heaven is a paradisaical relief, evident for example in the Gospel of Luke when Jesus tells a penitent criminal crucified alongside him that they will be together in paradise. In old Egyptian beliefs, the otherworld is Aaru, the reed-fields of ideal hunting and fishing grounds where the dead lived after judgment. For the Celts, it was the Fortunate Isle of Mag Mell. For the classical Greeks, the Elysian fields was a paradisaical land of plenty where the heroic and righteous dead hoped to spend eternity. The Vedic Indians held that the physical body was destroyed by fire but recreated and reunited in the Third Heaven in a state of bliss. In the Zoroastrian Avesta, the "Best Existence" and the "House of Song" are places of the righteous dead. On the other hand, in cosmological contexts 'paradise' describes the world before it was tainted by evil. So for example, the Abrahamic faiths associate paradise with the Garden of Eden, that is, the perfect state of the world prior to the fall from grace, and the perfect state that will be restored in the World to Come.
In Christianity, paradise is pictured as a place of rest and refreshment in which the righteous dead enjoy the glorious presence of God. In its view of the heavenly afterlife, Islām views paradise as a pleasure garden in which the blessed experience the greatest sensual and spiritual happiness.
From: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/442499/paradise
Paradise in Bible
Paradise is derived
from the Greek word paradeisos, which itself originated from an ancient Persian
term which meant a wooded park. It's used only three times in the New Testament
in most Bible translations, referring once to God's abode in heaven and twice
to the future Kingdom of God on earth (see also The Throne Of God, From Heaven
To Earth). In the Old Testament, a similar Hebrew word, pardace, was used once
to describe a verdant forest, and twice for an bountiful orchard. The
Septuagint (the pre-Christian Greek translation of the Old Testament) used
"paradise" to translate another Hebrew word for the Garden of Eden
which actually meant a fenced garden.
Hebrew References
To Pardace In The Old Testament
"Moreover I
said unto the king, If it please the king, let letters be given me to the
governors beyond the river, that they may convey me over till I come into
Judah; And a letter unto Asaph the keeper of the king's forest [Hebrew
pardace], that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the palace
which appertained to the house, and for the wall of the city, and for the house
that I shall enter into. And the king granted me, according to the good hand of
my God upon me" (Nehemiah 2:7-8 KJV) (see Pioneers Of The Return)
"I made me
gardens and orchards [Hebrew pardace], and I planted trees in them of all kind
of fruits: I made me pools of water, to water therewith the wood that bringeth
forth trees" (Ecclesiastes 2:5-6 KJV) (see Solomon)
"Thy plants
are an orchard [Hebrew pardace] of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits;
camphire, with spikenard, Spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all
trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices: A fountain
of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon" (Song of
Solomon 4:13-15 KJV) (see Herbs Of The Bible)
References To
Paradeisos In The New Testament
"And one of
the malefactors which were hanged railed on Him, saying, If Thou be Christ,
save Thyself and us. But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou
fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for
we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss.
And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom.
And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with Me
in paradise" (Luke 23:39-43 KJV) [see also It Is Written, But Is It
Really?]
"I knew a man
in Christ above fourteen years ago, whether in the body, I cannot tell; or
whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth; such an one caught up to
the third heaven. And I knew such a man, whether in the body, or out of the
body, I cannot tell: God knoweth; How that he was caught up into paradise, and
heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter" (2
Corinthians 12:2-4 KJV) [note: Paul himself was very likely the man who had
that vision; see also Paul's Ministry]
"He that hath
an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that
overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the
paradise of God." (Revelation 2:7 KJV) [see also Living Waters]
Fact Finder: What
are some of the many Scriptural references that describe what a peaceful
paradise earth will be for the repentant after The Return Of Jesus Christ?
Micah 4:1-3,
Revelation 22:1-5
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