Wikipedia's first sentence called it “belief held by multiple religions and traditions”. Today it says “considered exceptional and usually a sign of a deity 's special recognition of the individual's piety”. Sections present on October 6, 2023 no longer exist: “Fictional portrayals”.
Found by software in Wikipedia's own edit history. Not yet read by hand. The quoted words are Wikipedia's.
Compared with the live article on 2026-08-04.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2025 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2025
Ascension of Jesus, by John Singleton Copley . Christians believe that Jesus ascended into heaven after his death on the cross and resurrection . In Islam, it is believed that he ascended to heaven without dying at all. Yudhishthira is believed to ascend heaven alive in Mahabharata Entering heaven alive (called by various religions "ascension", "assumption", or " translation ") is a belief held in various religions. Since death is the normal end to an individual's life on Earth and the beginning of afterlife , entering heaven without dying first is considered exceptional and usually a sign of a deity 's special recognition of the individual's piety .
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 1287204627.
The opening as it stood in 2010
The concept of humans directly entering heaven without dying (called by various religions ascension , assumption , or translation ) is a belief held by multiple religions and traditions, including the three main Abrahamic religions — Judaism , Christianity , Islam . Since death is generally considered the normal end to an individual's life on Earth , entering heaven without dying first is considered exceptional and usually a sign of God 's special recognition of the individual's piety .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 370923202.
The opening as it stood in 2015
Entering Heaven alive (called by various religions "ascension", "assumption", or " translation ") is a belief held by multiple religions and traditions. Since death is generally considered the normal end to an individual's life on Earth and the beginning of the afterlife , entering Heaven without dying first is considered exceptional and usually a sign of God 's special recognition of the individual's piety .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 656916803.
The opening as it stood in 2020
Ascension of Jesus, by John Singleton Copley .Christians believe that Jesus had ascended into heaven alive. Entering Heaven alive (called by various religions "ascension", "assumption", or " translation ") is a belief held in various religions. Since death is the normal end to an individual's life on Earth and the beginning of afterlife , entering Heaven without dying first is considered exceptional and usually a sign of a deity 's special recognition of the individual's piety .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 957816128.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Ascension of Jesus, by John Singleton Copley . Christians believe that Jesus ascended into heaven after his death on the cross.In Islam, it is believed that he ascended to heaven while still alive. Entering heaven alive (called by various religions "ascension", "assumption", or " translation ") is a belief held in various religions. Since death is the normal end to an individual's life on Earth and the beginning of afterlife , entering heaven without dying first is considered exceptional and usually a sign of a deity 's special recognition of the individual's piety .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1174745902.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “belief held by multiple religions and traditions”. Today it says “considered exceptional and usually a sign of a deity 's special recognition of the individual's piety”. Sections present on October 6, 2023 no longer exist: “Fictional portrayals”. Read the current article and compare.
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2010, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
belief held by multiple religions and traditions
Now
considered exceptional and usually a sign of a deity 's special recognition of the individual's piety
Sections that no longer exist
This section existed on October 6, 2023. It is gone today. The current article has no similar heading in its place, and the article is shorter overall. So this is not a heading that got renamed, and it is not a topic that got folded into a bigger section. 1 section of 400 characters or more gone since October 6 2023, with the article 1,604 characters shorter.
Fictional portrayals
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.