Charles, Me, Heaven & Hell

After both Charles and I escaped unscathed and intact from our first interaction, it’s my turn to continue our sharing of definitions and meanings.

Adhering to that great theological admonition to “go big or go home”, I suggested the following as a topic:

Heaven and Hell: Where are they, what are they, and who’s going?

Regular Wavers will know that it is my fervent belief that we have made far too much of life after death, when it seems to me that Jesus was here teaching us primarily what to do about life before death. That alone should give you some clues as to where I may go with these thoughts…

For starters, I don’t believe that Heaven is a place, “out there” somewhere. I also don’t believe that Heaven is a destination, where we will go to be with Jesus when we die. I believe that Heaven is a realm. I’m just about through N.T. Wright’s Simply Christian, and so much of what he says on the subject of Heaven resonates: “Heaven… is God’s space as opposed to our space, not God’s location within our space-time universe.” In other words, Heaven is a current reality, not a future one. Wright goes on to call the common view of Heaven a “distortion and serious diminution of Christian hope.”

In an interview I linked to last month Wright says:

“Never at any point do the Gospels or Paul say Jesus has been raised, therefore we are we are all going to heaven. They all say, Jesus is raised, therefore the new creation has begun, and we have a job to do.”

The exciting aspect of Heaven, or the Realm of God, is to look to see how and where our space and God’s space “overlap and interlock.” In the Old Testament that point of intersection was the Tent of Meeting, a single location where Heaven and Earth came together. With Jesus though everything changed. Through his death he became the point of intersection, and with his resurrection and the coming of his Spirit that door was permanently wedged open. Heaven is not a place that only springs into existence with our death. It exists now, and we have the ability to peer through that open door. Perhaps not to the extent that John did as recorded in the book of Revelation, but the Realm is all around us if we choose to see it, and to live within it. (To be honest the door analogy doesn’t really work either; God’s realm is spilling into ours as His redemption plan, fulfilled in the death of Jesus, continues to unfold.)

But what about our death? What happens?

Wright goes on in the interview to refer to the time after our death as a resting period. Then comes what we’ve been waiting for, life after life after death, if you will.

“The period after death is a period when we are in God’s presence, but not active in our own bodies… [T]he more important transformation will be when we are again embodied and administering Christ’s kingdom.”

Our goal is not Heaven, but Heaven and earth joined fully together, finally, permanently. I could wander off here onto my favorite subject, the notion that ours is a participatory Gospel, that we have a role to play in helping to bring about this transformation, but we’ll leave that for another time.

Now… what about hell?

First, I think there is a lot of room for movement around the Old Testament notion of Sheol, and the New Testament terms hades and geena. I also believe that in Ancient Near East mythology we can find many parallels to these biblical ideas. Further, I believe that most of what passes for doctrine around the issue of hell in western evangelicalism is a man-made construct, with little support in Scripture.

All that being said, my own view of hell is echoed by a chapter heading from Brian McLaren’s A New Kind of Christian. That is, it’s none of my business. Here’s how Brian’s character Neo puts it:

“It’s none of your business who does and does not go to hell. It is your business to be warned by it and to run, not walk, in the opposite direction! It is your business to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, to love your neighbor as yourself, to have confidence in Jesus Christ and live as Jesus lived. Let the imagery of hell remind you that life is serious business, that there are real consequences to how we live and believe, that justice and injustice ultimately matter more than most of what people worry about. Now stop speculating about hell and start living for heaven!”

I can be clear on one thing that should be obvious based on some of what I’ve already written: I do not believe (as I once did) that accepting Jesus as my personal saviour—not a biblical term, by the way—gets me into heaven, and conversely I do not believe that failing to do so earns me a one-way ticket to hell. In fact, as I’ve already indicated, I do not believe that two destinations such as those exist, so the discussion of who is going and how they get there is moot!

This is neither flippant nor callous, but an honest acknowledgment that for too long we’ve been focusing on the wrong thing. Jesus came as the embodiment of God’s redemptive plan for Creation, and our old linear models of Heaven and hell just cannot absorb that reality.

Around this issue I often get two questions:

• “What about Evangelism?” I assume this question comes because the asker is motivated to share the Good News by the morbid confidence that without it the listener is going to hell. I think we’ve covered my thoughts on that. This is not to say though that I don’t care about spreading the news. Not at all! I want my friends, enemies, strangers—everyone!—to turn from life in the world to life in God’s Realm. Here’s the key: I want them to do it, not because of potential guilt, but because I want them to share that joy, and to align themselves with God’s purposes!

• “Are you a Universalist?” Again, this is a “damned if I do, damned if I don’t” kind of question. No pun intended. Universalism says everyone goes to Heaven and no one goes to hell. Given what I perceive to be the enormity of God’s grace, this notion once held some appeal for me. But again, this makes the discussion about a destination. As I now say, Universalism is the right answer to the wrong question.

I’m rambling now. In true postmodern fashion I’ve probably failed to answer the question to the satisfaction of those looking for linear solutions. But as I’ve tried to communicate, albeit poorly, I think this is exactly the point.

Please feel free to ask for clarification where needed. I’m reading it over and even I need some clarification! It’s a difficult subject to discuss without giving in and responding in a manner that I no longer believe has much bearing in the conversation.

Charles' response to the same question can be found here.

Comments

[Steven Carr]

'“Heaven… is God’s space as opposed to our space, not God’s location within our space-time universe.”'

Wow! Wright can read old books, and tell us about other dimensions.

Amazing!

[lynne]

Reminds me of what we heard a couple of Sundays ago.
There's a lot of Christians who are happy to have a "one time" Savior (to carry them off to Heaven).
There's not so many Christ followers, who want an "every day" Lord (to help bring about Heaven on earth in the here & now).
I myself found that very convicting.

[george]

"Not at all! I want my friends, enemies, strangers—everyone!—to turn from life in the world to life in God’s Realm. Here’s the key: I want them to do it, not because of potential guilt, but because I want them to share that joy, and to align themselves with God’s purposes!"

How does one do that? What joy do you have that someone without Christ does not have? How does one participate in the Kingdom of God? How does one enter it? What do you say to your good friend about why he should follow Christ?