You know it says heaven has streets paved with gold? This has always confused me. Like, why would we care about that? Aren't we supposed to sort of shun the things of the world? The riches of the world are like dross, etc... Then it's like they bait us with "streets paved with gold" ... what's that about?
Or isn't there somewhere that says he who exalts himself shall be abased and he who abases himself shall be exalted? It's like ... irony.
(I think I'm getting sucked into a ray-thought here. Apologies.)
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Life is tough but it's tougher if you're stupid. -John Wayne
I don't think it's necessarily about money. You aren't exactly going to go outside and chip off a bit of street to go to the store, are you? Gold has many uses beyond just money. It's a great electrical conductor, for instance. Still, it's hard to imagine why it would be a great street making material.
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If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom, go from us in peace. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen! - Samuel Adams
Think about how filthy the street gets, especially before modern drainage and sanitation. The street was dusty, dirty, and the thing you walked all over.
Then pave it with the most precious metal in human history. This illustrates two things to me:
1) The riches of this world are so worthless in heaven that you would just walk on them 2) That heaven is rich beyond imagining if they can afford to use gold to pave the street
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I'm not voting for Ron Paul because it's not expressly prescribed in the Constitution.
Could also mean that what we consider to be precious and scarce here in mortality is really so commonplace elsewhere that it has no more value than cobblestones. Oh wait, Shiz kind of said that but not the same way...
Of course, taking Arbi's comment a step further, perhaps there are certain elements that hold up better under the constant high levels of radiation given off by exalted beings.
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It seems to me the only thing you've learned is that Caesar is a "salad dressing dude."
I had another thought... We are so limited in our abilities to "describe" what we have not ever seen or known... Perhaps those that were describing were using the "closest" similitude that they could come up with??? What if it's not really "gold" but simply "radiant" or more precisely... "completely pure". How would you personally describe seeing "pure"?
This isn't ordinary gold. Revelation 21:18 "and the city was pure gold, like unto glass" Revelation 21:21 "and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass"
Could this be a reference to the sea of glass, the big urim and thummim?
I think it more likely that is the best that a mortal can do to put into our words something of Celestial glory. Most likely don't have the words to describe it, kind of like some of the descriptions of Christ's prayers, that no man could write them.
Kind of like taking a 747 back 3,000 years and letting people trying describing its complexity. If you say 747 to me, I understand computers, flight, physics, international transportation, rotation of the earth, navigation, electricity, fuels, etc. Someone from 3,000 years ago would not have an inkling of such concepts and at best might describe a 747 as a large bird sailing in the skies that had swallowed people to take them with it.
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Lo, there I see my mother, my sisters, my brothers Lo, there I see the line of my people back to the beginning Lo, they call to me, they bid me take my place among them In the halls of Valhalla, where the brave may live...forever
great question, Coco. I assume that gold has a purpose... Joseph Smith described God's dwelling places in his own teachings as "Everlasting Burnings"... it's a really bright place... though honestly it doesn't sound pleasant to me now... cuz burning is typically associated with hell... but God's glory is so bright and would burn us were we to behold Him.
--Ray
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I'm not slow; I'm special. (Don't take it personally, everyone finds me offensive. Yet somehow I manage to live with myself.)
I thought the streets were paved with cheese.....oops my bad that's in AMERICA and there are no cats.
Man, that's a sure sign that I'm going crazy, then. For some reason I see quite a few cats when I go home each day. At least seeing normal colored cats is better than seeing pink elephants, right?
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If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom, go from us in peace. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen! - Samuel Adams
Arbi: Jase was making reference to Feifel the mouse from American's Tale... Though I think the streets of the moon are paved with cheese, especially a nice Winsleydale... Now where are my robotic pants?
--Ray
-- Edited by rayb at 23:51, 2007-06-08
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I'm not slow; I'm special. (Don't take it personally, everyone finds me offensive. Yet somehow I manage to live with myself.)
Oh wait, Shiz kind of said that but not the same way...
