So we get the Time magazine weekly not because we agree with everything it
says but because after I read it, I feel smarter. Yup. We don't
have TV so besides the news I gather from my morning internet surfing and John
Stewart, I relay on the Times to fill in the blanks. And fill it in they
do, especially with their "fact" pages and the page that shows who
died. But the real reason why I feel smarter after I read it, is because
they always give one if not two things to think about, to question, to investigate
and get more answers to - they always have at least one "fact" that
challenges me to know more about a subject. I have come to learn that not
everyone reads news articles as I and so many people read what is said and
believe it or accept the author as an authority on the subject. But that
is not always the case.
This week the times has a catchy "Rethinking Heaven" title and the
seven page article surely makes it look like there must be some authority to the
author. And although it is well written and I want to point out something
that Jon says early on in his article "A word of disclosure: I'm a
Christian - a poor one, to be sure -- who keeps the feast and says his
prayers." But an article of this degree should have been written by
someone a bit more qualified to not only understands the theology being
presented but also extent to which this is not truly a new thing.
First, since the time of Jesus assentation and the 12 disciples embarked on
spreading the message of Jesus Christ there have been as many views on the
subject of heaven as there have been Christians in the world (Ok so that is an
obvious not true, but the point is valid).
The current Christian thought (if you want to believe that it is cohesive)
was the dominate thought of the time.
The losers were those who believed Jesus was human until his death and
then made divine; perhaps it could have been anyone but Jesus was the first
human to truly live out a righteous life.
Those who believed that Jesus’ childhood was full of miracles, perhaps even
bringing back a bird from death when he was just a young boy.
The predominate thought of Jesus’ second coming being “any day” was soon abandoned
to the acceptance that we will not know the date / time of the second coming so
we must be prepared. Soon we had the readings of revelation – written as a
prophecy and like all prophetic writings, considered something that could
happen but may never happen if we change – take over the view of the end
times. But how does the end times view
and the view of heaven come together?
Well according to the Times article there are two camps: the camp of
traditional Christians who believe in the pearly white gates, who believe in a
Christ who because of his death made us all worthy (or entitled) to heaven and
it is not works that get us there. This
article, portrays this camp a camp that doesn’t worry about getting to heaven, doesn’t
take seriously the passage in Matthew in which God says “whatever you do to the
least of these you have done to me.” Essentially claiming that this group in
looking into themselves and not out for the good of humanity and maybe his
claims are right; but theology of the pearly white gates aren’t the reason they
aren’t looking outward.
The second camp is a new camp headed by the Bishop Wright who believe in
creating the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth.
This camp believes in living out the Matthew passage and is encouraged
to “do” and “act.” This camp of believers is trying to merge Heaven and Earth
and thus in doing so are looking out for the world…they are greener and more
society oriented. Here is gets mucky
with theology – do they believe in a heaven in the hereafter or not? Is this the same camp of the folks who
believe that Jesus’ second coming was his resurrection and thus merging already
the kingdom of Heaven with the Earth?
The reality: there have been many sets of beliefs on the idea of the Kingdom
of Heaven and the Bible gives validity to most of them.
First belief: the pearly white gate – this one is a little harder to find in
the Bible. But the belief stems from the
fact that Jesus’ resurrection gave way to the resurrection of all upon
death. Jesus was the first. The Hebrews long believed that death would
lead to a long peaceful slumber until the coming of the kingdom of God. This got merged into the belief that Jesus
was the first to be resurrected and united with God and all those after would
be too. So from their our imaginations
have taken hold and our hearts have painted a picture that not only comforts us
in our dying moments but provides comfort for our loved ones in believing that
one day we will be reunited. For one to
enter the Kingdom a few “key” things must happen – believing in Jesus Christ is
a pretty big one for most Christians (but several now accept the understanding
that there are more than one path). This
pearly white gate belief does usually accept the idea that Jesus Christ who
died for our sins and not only set the way for our resurrection but also made
us all worthy. But we don’t just sit
back in our entitlement to the Kingdom, for through grace and the Holy Spirit
we are pulled to live out a better life, a life for Christ. A life that FULLY lives into scripture,
especially scripture that suggests that we make our world a better place! There are plenty of green Christians out
there who believe in the pearly white gates.
Especially since many churches in our Christian faith are what is called
confessional churches. One aspect of
being a confessional church is the understanding that not only do we need to be
worried about ourselves but we also have to be worried about humanity. We don’t just confess our own sins but the
sins of the world. We don’t just worry
about what we are doing, but also how we are affecting the world and
interacting with society.
Second Belief: Revelation. There is
pretty strong evidence that when we die we don’t get lifted up to meet our
maker and get our judgment but instead are lead into a deep and peaceful sleep
until the day of rapture. When rapture
occurs, not only are the living going to be zapped up to heaven but also those
who have been awaiting in their graves.
In this scenario, those who are believers should be striving to prevent
revelation by creating an earth that is the Kingdom of God. For like I said, revelation is preventable,
it is only one scenario of how things could be.
Maybe if we work hard enough, trying to create a humanity that resembles
and embodies Christ message, we can indeed merge the Kingdoms of Heaven and
Earth and create a real paradise. Those
in this camp aren’t just looking out for themselves and their own sinful
actions, they are focused on humanity and the whole of world. We thus, believe in a greater sense of
mission work. We believe in living out
fully the word of Christ in order to bring not only Christ’s message to the
world but to make a world a better place.
Although we look a bit more “outward” in the sense of the commitment to
the secular world, we don’t “do” more because of theology than any other
camp.
Third belief: Jesus’ has already come again!
There has always been throughout history of the church a pretty good
amount of people believing and preaching that Christ’ second coming has already
happened. That Christ’s resurrection and
walking on Earth with his disciples was his second coming. Thus, we believe then that Christ present is
much more evident on Earth then the others.
Truly believing that the Kingdom of Heaven is available on Earth. We don’t just help the poor because God says
so but because we believe that Jesus is there with the poor, his presence real. Like the second group, this also allows us to
be very mission centered and look out at society.
But which ever belief of heaven you choose (and there are others) the
reality is that if you are reading the scripture then you are trying to live
out your Christian faith – DOING and ACTING in the world. Any way you want to see it there will be a
day of judgment, when you aren’t going to be the judge but be judge! My biggest dislike of this article is that
although this second belief is the bang wagon it doesn’t mean that all those in
the first belief are horrible people – are some YUP. We will never know what awaits us when we
die, but as Christians we should be looking toward scripture and living out our
life according to God.
