Is heaven outside of earth

Answer 1

Most Christians believe Heaven is an actual place existing in a realm not visible to us now. It is beyond the physical earth. The term ' up' is a relative term (a little like the way Australia is referred to by those in the Northern Hemisphere as being 'down'.) Heaven is out beyond the everyday dimension, hence not observable to mortal eyes or equipment.

Answer 2

The early Christians thought of heaven as a physical place above the firmament, or sky, and therefore outside Earth. When Elijah rose up to heaven, it was natural that Elisha should witness him rising upwards to the sky. When Luke 24:51 says that Jesus parted from the disciples on the evening of the Resurrection, or Acts 1:9 says this occurred forty days later, it is natural that the disciples watched him taken up and "a cloud received him out of their sight." When the heavens opened for St Stephen, he was able to look upwards into heaven and see Jesus standing on the right hand of God. This is how the biblical authors perceived heaven.

We now know what is physically located above the Earth, and in fact at any distance from the Earth. Although, because of tradition, Christians may talk of heaven as being "up there", some no longer believe it is literally above the Earth. Some might say that heaven is a spiritual, not physical place. If it exists, it can therefore be anywhere - on Earth or outside.