Chapter 1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters

seven levels

The Paradise is described as surrounded by eight principal gates, each level generally being divided into a hundred degrees guarded by angels (in some traditions Ridwan) The highest level is known as firdaws (sometimes called Eden) or Illiyin

The highest and outermost dome of heaven was made of luludānītu stone and was personified as An, the god of the sky The celestial bodies were equated with specific deities as well The planet Venus was believed to be Inanna, the goddess of love, sex, and war

The first line of the Bible states that heaven is created along with the creation of the earth (Genesis 1) It is primarily God’s dwelling place in the biblical tradition: a parallel realm where everything operates according to God’s will

Redemptive suffering is the Christian belief that human suffering, when accepted and offered up in union with the Passion of Jesus, can remit the just punishment for one’s sins or for the sins of another, or for the other physical or spiritual needs of oneself or another

The English terms “Holy Ghost” and “Holy Spirit” are complete synonyms: one derives from the Old English gast and the other from the Latin loanword spiritus Like pneuma, they both refer to the breath, to its animating power, and to the soul

The death and resurrection of Jesus are usually considered the most important events in Christian theology, partly because they demonstrate that Jesus has power over life and death and therefore has the authority and power to give people eternal life