Reddit mentions of Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Heaven

Heck out the following
A Travel Guide to Heaven: 10th Anniversary Edition by Anthony Destafano

And

Thirty-five FAQs About Eternity

And

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Heaven by Peter Kreeft

I'm not familiar with specific Roman Catholic teachings on Heaven ... but I certainly wouldn't look to "Heaven is for Real" as a source of sound doctrine.

You could be running into some problems insofar as that where there isn't official RC dogma on a topic, people are allowed to hold a variety of interpretations and understandings.

It's also important to draw a distinction between heaven as God's current spiritual realm, and heaven as the ultimate stated of restored creation: a new Heaven and Earth.

You might find Peter Kreeft's book "Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Heaven" helpful: http://www.amazon.com/Everything-Ever-Wanted-About-Heaven/dp/0898702976/

Well I'll explain the difference or at least try to.
Government you have two options
Do it (some legal mandate) or end up in jail (forcefully imprison you do to your actions)

Do it (some none legal mandate but rather teaching such as 5+5=10) or end up in hell (willfully by choice as a result of free will)

Catholic teaching is that you have free will but naturally there are consequences from them. You live a life where you have free will, the ability to choose, to generally form yourself as a morally good person or bad person. Now when you die you have made a choice through your actions. The choice you have made is directly heaven or hell.

Why is this the case? Well where else would you go? Your soul lives on there cannot be annihilation just like matter can't be destroyed (comparison I'm sure some quantum something or other says it can...). You soul can go to heaven and share in the beatific vision or not. To a person who has formed their life in rejection of god (through bad actions) this would hardly be something desired to share eternally being close to that which you reject. But you're then left with the other choice, that which all those who reject god go. This place is called hell.

On several theories of how hell's punishment is and isn't. In the bible hell is spoken to as a fire in Jesus' teachings but it is also warned that the punishment is much worse then physical fire. So what is it? Some theologians have theorized, as CS Lewis put it

“All your life an unattainable ecstasy has hovered just beyond the grasp of your consciousness. The day is coming when you will wake to find, beyond all hope, that you have attained it, or else, that it was within your reach and you have lost it forever.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain


Others have given the theory that there is only heaven, there is no other 'place' to go but that the heaven or hell choice comes from the state of the individual. For those who rejected god it is a pain, seeing their creator causes them pain for in their hearts they hate him.

Here is some more if you want to read up on it

http://www.peterkreeft.com/topics/heaven.htm
http://www.peterkreeft.com/topics/hell.htm
http://www.amazon.com/Everything-Wanted-Heaven-Dreamed-Asking/dp/0898702976
http://www.amazon.com/Heaven-Hearts-Deepest-Longing-Kreeft/dp/0898702283/ref=pd_sim_b_1
http://www.amazon.com/Making-Sense-Suffering-Peter-Kreeft/dp/0892832193/ref=pd_sim_b_2

> a mass forever

Yes but without guitars.

Try this: www.amazon.com/Everything-Wanted-Heaven---Dreamed-Asking/dp/0898702976/

Because its what Christ promised us, during his mission on Earth.

Because it makes sense in the context of scripture.

Because it is reasonable to believe based on our theories of the soul.

I mean there's books on this stuff and there are plenty of online resources about this stuff. Which goes into detail.