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No One Wants To Go To Heaven
Written by-Zach-
It’s a funny title indeed. Fueled by two separate situations in the past month, I think it important to explain further using these examples.
This was a comment I saw on a page recently “have never bought into the invisible dude in the sky thingy.”
Despite the obvious problems with capitalization and sentence structure, this is really just an example of how simplistically God can be looked at. “invisible dude in the sky thingy”? I mean, come on.
I don’t know anyone who actually believes there is an “invisible dude in the sky thingy”.
Although, it’s not uncommon at all for people to believe that theists are somehow lacking in cortical activity. That we believe outlandish ideas of a cumulous-clouded heaven with winged harp players worshiping a white bearded old man that resembles a LOTR wizard.
As an example let me show you the first result of a Google image search for “God”.
The very fact that you can actually search Google images for “God” with success proves my point exactly.
But why is that view so common? Where did the idea that theists are so dimwitted arise?
Is it because society is truly a bunch of simpletons or has it been programmed to believe it?
I think it’s both, but since there’s nothing I can do about the former, I’ll discuss the latter.
The programming has come about by the complete over-simplification of heaven. Preachers and evangelists have been making some really detrimental errors when describing how much “fun” heaven will be.
Which leads me to my second example:
I was at a church service recently and the pastor said “Turn around and greet three people.” After we were done he said “Great! Now just think. When we get to heaven we will do that for eternity!”
Uh… Woohoo.
No one wants to go to heaven.
No one wants to go to heaven, because it’s assumed to be a place where there are worship services and Benny Hinn marathons all day long…for eternity.
If that’s the case, I don’t know about you, but hell seems like a viable option for me.
I have no idea what the real heaven is like but I guarantee that the creator of the infinitely complex universe in which we live would not think of a place like that as an “upgrade” for His chosen ones. I would suspect he would be a little bit offended for us even thinking that way.
Like I said, I don’t know what the real heaven is like but my thought of heaven is incomprehensible, like a 3 dimensional world for a stick figure drawing.
Love the image of a three dimensional drawing to a stick figure - well said. Our feeble attempts at description to incite the imagination pale in comparison to those of John. But instead of allowing the imagination to soar we impose even on the old apostle a literalism that dulls eternity’s sheen.
Good stuff…once again. I really enjoy your posts!!!! It is evident that you put a lot of thought into your writing.
Thank you. It is evident you put a lot of thought into your reading.
…of my articles that is.
It’s really appreciated.
Zach, your fingers are made of pure gold! Your command of the English language is right up there with some elite company. I’ve yet to be disappointed by one of your posts. Great work man, keep it up!
Thank you.
Zach, great post as usual! You know by now that I love your wit and writing. But we do not see eye-to-eye on this one. First you have an unfathomable God in whose image we are made and now heaven is incomprehensible, too. And you said bad things about worship services and Benny Hinn marathons to boot! Isn’t heaven supposed to be like Eden? You know, like in the first book of the Christian and Jewish bibles and that band with Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel, and those other guys whose names I can’t recall right now. Anyway, I think I remember something about worship services and Benny Hinn Miracle Crusades from that book. Or from the band.
Certainly, Adam and Eve could comprehend where they were, and it was paradise. So are you saying that people have lost the ability to understand paradise or that people just aren’t into worship services and Benny Hinn the same way that Adam and Eve were? I think what you are getting at is that Benny Hinn is going to hell so that the rest of us — well, the rest of you — can enjoy heaven more. Or…. Oh, you’re right. It’s incomprehensible.
Seriously, excellent post! I am never disappointed when I stop by your website.
Hi Zach
AWESOME post (I guess is the correct term from what reading I’ve been doing on your site),Zach! Keep them coming! I really look forward to more of your “Point of View”, so to speak! Great job!
Love
Aunt Sue
stoogepie
you must have overlooked this passage:
1 Corinthians 2:9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
Hi not of any importance at this time. Thanks for your response.
First, please don’t take what I wrote too seriously. While I do lack faith, I respect faith greatly. I have a friend who does Christian stand-up comedy and we agree that we are both allowed to try to say funny things about religion. I mean no disrepect.
Second, I’m no biblical scholar by any means but I know that passage. To me, it says that the wonders that God has prepared for the righteous have not been experienced by men. Well, that makes sense. Men who are not dead have not experienced the reward God promises. That doesn’t mean that those rewards are unfathomable and that doesn’t mean that we can’t imagine heaven.
Don’t get me wrong. I think Zach got everything right in his great post. But a few people have written about heaven and described it as a physical place. This, of course, includes John in Revelation 21 and 22. He is pretty specific: heaven is 1500 miles square. In 2 Corinthians, at 12:2-4, Paul tells of a man who went to heaven and came back. Moreover, Paul talks in that passage of the “third heaven.” The first two heavens are generally understood to be physical (see Genesis 1:9 and 20 (first heaven) and Genesis 1:14 and 1:16 (second heaven)). There is not a whole lot in the bible to suggest that the third heaven is not physical as well. And if we look to Jewish sources, the third heaven, according to the Book of the Secrets of Enoch, contains the Tree of Life and the Garden of Eden. You don’t need to buy into that text, but my point is that there is not much in scripture to suggest that heaven cannot be described physically and that Eden is not a part of it.
But I do not think we disagree about what the bible says about the nature of heaven. You are right that no man has experienced heaven who is alive. And I would guess that the difference between life on earth and life in heaven is not just the perfection of heaven which alone is unimaginable to us, but the spirit and the feeling of heaven. That’s what Zach’s whole post is about and, to me, that’s the most meaningful part of his post. And it is entirely possible that it is that spirit and the perfect innocence that goes along with it that were lost to Adam and Eve when they were cast out of paradise. If this is true, whether or not heaven is a physical place, Adam and Eve would have lost the ability to know or understand paradise when they came to know sin. Again, I don’t think we disagree about what the bible says in general terms about paradise and heaven, though we may disagree in specifics and, of course, likely have different levels of faith. I certainly don’t mean to undermine your faith by any means. I admire it though I lack it. Like I said, please don’t take the tongue-in-cheek statements in my first comment too seriously.
Thank you guys for the excellent comments. Its really appreciated.
I’d like to say that there are two main points made in the previous post.
First and most importantly, Christians have done a terrible disservice to themselves and Christianity as an institution by going along with this idea that heaven is a simple place of niceness and peacefulness. Now don’t get me wrong, I think that both of those characteristics will be a part of heaven, however, by describing it that way, it sounds boring. Let’s be honest, what makes this world interesting? Deviance, surprises (for good or for bad), the overall fight of good vs. evil. When these things are taken away, we have natural tendency is to assume that heaven will be a bore. Christians have not made it a point to say that God obviously is not going to make the place that is like that. If he created the world with all its complexity and intrigue, would he settle with something so monotonous as a reward for the people he loved?
Second, I have a firm belief that heaven will not be a place that can be possibly imagined by the human mind. It will be a place that our bodies from earth couldn’t trek, just as a cartoon character cannot trek our 3 dimensional world. (Space Jam being the only exception.) It will be too complex and too multifaceted. Even trying to comprehend heaven with our crude minds would be like trying to play a PS3 game in an Atari console.
stoogepie
Interesting theories but:
1 Corinthians 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
Take care, I have to depart.
Oh and I forgot to leave an interesting link for you nice people.
Is the last link posted for the lulz?
I believe any organization which takes an entirely firm stance on what heaven is, or more wisely put “life after death”, should have their intelligence audited. Christians, Muslims, Jews and Scientologists alike must all come to the realization that each one follows faiths depicted in a book which can be interpreted in a variety of different ways. History tends to be written after it takes place, not WHILE it is taking place. This has an enormous affect on the kind of information which is being recorded. Take keeping a journal for instance. The information you record on a daily basis is entirely more accurate then a quick synopsis of your life at the age of 75. In fact, your synopsis at 75 can be quite opinionated depending on your mood. The point is that through each different interpretation you have a different view of what “heaven” is. I must agree with Zach on the point that it is truly beyond our human comprehension to imagine what kind of place heaven actually is.
However, just as atoms seem like simple concepts to every 7th grader in the world; heaven might someday be revealed to us and become more easily understood by all. Due to some completely random event, heaven might expose itself to each and everyone of us. Until that day, we can say that heaven will be like greeting people all day long, or that there will be 40 virgins and no pop-up ads; because that is what interpretation is all about.
The understanding of marriage is muddled because of the way in which the bible has been translated. Don’t quote me on this but the original word for heaven had no translation. It pretty much meant Jewish wedding. Jewish weddings were the moments in which people of those times were happiest. I think it relates to the no wife in heaven passages also. I am going to seminary in the future (4-6 years) so I have yet to do extensive research on any of this, but this is what people who are smarter than me say it is.
Interesting Michael,
I had never heard that before, I’ll have to do some research into that.
Very interesting.
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