God and Man

Genesis 1:27: "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them."

Theologians divide the term, God into two parts: Immanent and Transcendent (and also lots of other divisions, such as monotheist and polytheists, etc.). Here we'll stick to the I/T polarity:

Immanent: "There is that of God in everyone" (Every One)(George Fox)

Transcendent:
Isaiah 55:9 "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."

The Bible seems to be read by most people in terms of God's Transcendence. God is high up in Heaven and we are down here in Earth.

Now the meaning of Heaven hinges on its place: is it material (in space) or ethereal (in Eternity)? A material Heaven is high up, remote! An ethereal Heaven is as close as your breathing.

Blake saw Heaven, not in terms of space and time, but in terms of Eternity.

The Eternal is right there as close as your breathing, and available whenever you can see beyond time and space. Time and space are creatures, like you and I, but Heaven is not a creature: it was from Heaven that Creation happened. You and I are creatures, made from the Dust, but we are more than creatures; we are in the image of God.

There's no such thing as 'heavenly creatures' (although it's frequently employed metaphorically). There's only Heaven, where that of God abides, and Earth, where most of us unfortunately spend most of our time.

What does all this have to do with the Bible? Readers are divided between those whose minds are strictly materialistic and those with a spiritual consciousness. If there's no spirit in your mind, then the Bible is seen simply as factual. All these things occurred in time, purely factual (and often inerrant factually!)

But love is not factual! it's spirit: no where; no time, although it joyfully occurs here and there, now and then; but love is heavenly, and when we love, we're experiencing Heaven!