Square Pegs. Round Holes.
Does scripture talk about how we go to heaven after we die? Here's what I discovered (and didn't discover) when I started reading larger chunks of scripture:
Historical Old Testament - a story about how Israel was saved from bondage; and how they messed things up again once they were set free. No mention of life after death in any form. You'd think that, if God's ultimate goal was to get these folks into Heaven in the afterlife, he would at least have mentioned it at some point, wouldn't you?
Wisdom Literature - this is all about life here and now. Life, death, wealth, poverty, injustice, depression, angst, sex. Its all here. What is missing is almost any hint of a "good life" or "bad life" after death. A couple of exceptions could be cited, but they're somewhat cryptic.
Psalms - why do Pslamists praise the redeemer God when life stinks? Not because they have some assurance of a blessed afterlife, but because they know he is the rescuer in the here and now - from their enemies, from adersity. Strange, isn't it?
Prophets - mainly focused on how and why Israel will return to bondage. The hope is that they will return to Jerusalem and re-live the good old days, not that everything will be okay in the afterlife. (The last chapter of Daniel poses an intriguing exception to this observation - maybe I'll get into it later).
Jesus - he talked about Heaven for sure, but he always said Heaven was "at hand." That doesn't sound like something that will come along in the hereafter.
Paul - true, Paul discusses resurrection, but his focus is on creation (much more on this later), not on life after death.
Revelation - ah! here is where almost all of our images of Heaven come. Isolated images are there. Yet, after reading it carefully, it is difficult to pin down a scenario where all good folks float off into Heaven, never to return again. (More on this later, too).
If we are going to understand what scripture is saying to us about what happens "next," we need to acknowledge a reality: it seems to have nothing to do with people going some other place after they die, where they will be happy forever.
Instead, it offers something much, much better.
More to come.
Related Tags: Heaven
Historical Old Testament - a story about how Israel was saved from bondage; and how they messed things up again once they were set free. No mention of life after death in any form. You'd think that, if God's ultimate goal was to get these folks into Heaven in the afterlife, he would at least have mentioned it at some point, wouldn't you?
Wisdom Literature - this is all about life here and now. Life, death, wealth, poverty, injustice, depression, angst, sex. Its all here. What is missing is almost any hint of a "good life" or "bad life" after death. A couple of exceptions could be cited, but they're somewhat cryptic.
Psalms - why do Pslamists praise the redeemer God when life stinks? Not because they have some assurance of a blessed afterlife, but because they know he is the rescuer in the here and now - from their enemies, from adersity. Strange, isn't it?
Prophets - mainly focused on how and why Israel will return to bondage. The hope is that they will return to Jerusalem and re-live the good old days, not that everything will be okay in the afterlife. (The last chapter of Daniel poses an intriguing exception to this observation - maybe I'll get into it later).
Jesus - he talked about Heaven for sure, but he always said Heaven was "at hand." That doesn't sound like something that will come along in the hereafter.
Paul - true, Paul discusses resurrection, but his focus is on creation (much more on this later), not on life after death.
Revelation - ah! here is where almost all of our images of Heaven come. Isolated images are there. Yet, after reading it carefully, it is difficult to pin down a scenario where all good folks float off into Heaven, never to return again. (More on this later, too).
If we are going to understand what scripture is saying to us about what happens "next," we need to acknowledge a reality: it seems to have nothing to do with people going some other place after they die, where they will be happy forever.
Instead, it offers something much, much better.
More to come.
Related Tags: Heaven
posted by Matt at Wednesday, July 26, 2006
3 Comments:
I'm staying tuned. Looking forward to the part with harps and clouds.
Good stuff, and things I've heard before in some fairly recently published books... good thing there's a lot of people re-thinking and re-examining so we can stop the vicious cycle of teaching things that should not be the core focus.
Thanks, guys. As James has suggested, it has only been with the help of a LOT of different contemporary writers that I've gotten to the place where I am on this subject.
The beauty of that place is that I no longer have this nagging feeling that my basic assumptions about what happens "next" are not consistent with scripture. Plus, it is so much easier for me to now see how ALL of scripture is relevant and even beautiful.
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