Heaven

I've been thinking about this a lot over the past few weeks, so I might as well try to formalize my thoughts into a blog. Sorry for the length, I won't pressure you to read it. :)

Many of you have heard about Rob Bell's controversial new book, Love Wins. If not, he wrote a book that critics have claimed is heretical, Unitarian, and blasphemous. Although I think people stop short of accusing Bell of being the anti-Christ, a few have not hesitated to label him a false teacher doomed to destruction. I've leafed through the book (I didn't want to spend $20 on it!), and although I don't agree with him on everything, he really got me thinking - what do we really know about heaven and hell?

I started by writing down everything I thought I knew about the subject: Heaven is where you go after this life if you believe in Jesus. Hell is where you go if you don't. Heaven is with God, hell is not. Heaven is joy and happiness, hell is pain and punishment. Jesus described hell as darkness, fire. Both are eternal. Next, I set that aside and tried to find any references in the Bible itself.

I quickly found that Jesus never gave the 'answer' we're looking for.. when he talked about heaven, he talked about the Kingdom of Heaven, now, on earth, starting.. 2000 years ago. The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed, a fisherman's net, a little yeast. Outside, there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. It's spiritual, like God. And in many of the verses where we get much of our beliefs/theology about heaven/hell, Jesus wasn't even talking about that.. he was usually using them to illustrate other points! When Jesus sent his disciples out, he told them to preach that the kingdom is near and to repent. Or later, to share the good news that he is alive, not dead! NOT (that we know of) to preach that if you don't believe in Jesus, you will go to hell.

Now, Jesus talked about more than just the kingdom.. he talked about his return, and judgement. But all his teachings about his return were not about Christians -> heaven, everyone else -> hell, they were about righteousness. God will judge us as a shepherd separates sheep from goats, wheat from chaff. We believe that Christ is our righteousness, not any works that we have done. But although we want to put 1+1 together, I don't believe Jesus ever plainly said, "everyone else is going to hell." Hence, 2000+ years later we're still debating these issues.

OK so that's what I've found. Yes, there are a lot more versus and I hardly hit any specifics. What about Revelation? What about John ch. 14? What about..? I know. But this blog is long as is. So comment if you have other thoughts/comments and we can talk more if you'd like.

Next, I thought I'd get some different opinions. I found a $2.50 copy of Jonathan Edward's Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. This is my favorite quote, and fairly famous, you may have heard it before:

The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some detestable insect, over the fire, detests you, and is dreadfully provoked: His wrath towards you burns like fire; He looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be thrown into the fire; He eyes are too pure than to bear to have you in His sight; you are ten thousand times more abominable in His eyes, than the most hateful venomous snake is in ours. You have offended Him infinitely more than ever a stubborn rebel did his prince: and yet, it is nothing but His hand that holds you from falling into the fire every moment.

Many who have attacked Bell cite that the Bible is full of God's wrath, and God is just and has every right to throw all of us into Hell. But because of his love, he saved us from himself. The Bible says that our works are as 'menstrual rags' compared to Christ's! But still, when I read this Edwards sermon, it doesn't sound/feel to me like Christ speaking. When he was on earth, that's not how he spoke! Maybe - maybe - to the Pharisees.. but even then, not quite.

I can't tell you everything I don't mean by all this. I'm not saying there's no Hell, or that everyone will go to heaven or anything like that. My point is merely this: that our doctrines about the next life are not necessarily right. They could be.. but the also might not. Frankly, I don't think we know as much as we think.

I just finished C.S. Lewis' book, The Great Divorce, which is a fictional story of a man's travel from hell/purgatory to heaven. (That right there wouldn't necessarily fit in with most church doctrines.. and it's Lewis!!) I loved it, and the main reason being because it makes me want to come to know and love God. Heaven, Lewis thought, would be a pretty hellish place if you didn't love the Lord. And we Christians have many things in our lives that, although we may not ever admit it, we love more than God. Its premise kinda fits in with one of Bell's other books: Jesus Came to Save Christians.