Thoughts on Heaven

or

Where Am I Going

“…but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.”¹Now, that is a great idea! One could paraphrase this and say, “If one could prove that there is a heaven by the statement of a resurrected person, then everyone would surely believe.”  The context of this excerpt from Luke involves a poor man named Lazarus going to heaven and a rich man named “Rich Man” going to hell.  Rich Man sees Laz enjoying heaven and would like some heavenly relief (ain’t going to happen).  Rich Man’s second idea is for someone to return from death and warn his brothers so that they will not join him in hell (what belated brotherly love). The conclusion of the story is that even the words of a resurrected individual would not be enough to convince people to make the ultimate right choice.

I have stated before that there are really only three possibilities for the afterlife: heaven, hell, and oblivion. Many men and women are betting their lives and ultimate destiny on the last.  I will discuss the reverse order below. The two preceding essays in this worldview series dealt a lot with the book of Genesis in discussing “Where did I come from” and “Why am I here?”; let us deal with Revelation in this third and final essay as we conclude with the consideration of heaven or “Where am I going.”

Oblivion Is No Destination

Post-modern men and women are mysteriously satisfied with the concept that when one dies, nothingness or oblivion begins.  If that is the case, then nothingness began long before their death. Life itself becomes an absurdity; it has no meaning.  Not only is there no exit, there was no entrance.  My advice to these people is that you know better.  Oblivion simply becomes a four-letter word that begins with “h” and ends with “l.”

Hell is a Bad Destination

The Luke passage above is not an exhaustive dissertation on hell, but there are a few takeaways.  One is that Rich Man went to hell and Laz went to heaven.  As a result of how they lived their lives, Someone made that destination-decision; the text makes it clear that that decision was not arbitrary or based on chance.  The second takeaway is that hell is bad.  It is an awful picture with the eternal awareness of pain, the unending regrets, and the constant realization that there really is a heaven after all.  A third takeaway is that one’s final destination is not reversible.

Heaven Is the Good Destination

The last chapter of the Bible describes a pretty good destination for people.  “No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship Him. They will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads.  And night will be no more.  They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.”²Again, one could paraphrase and say: “the bad (accursed) is gone; the Good remains…forever.”  Just as I trust God with creating as He saw fit, I trust Him with finishing creation as He sees fit, and heaven is the “finishing.” Living forever (i.e. for eternity) in such a place should be a choice that no one could refuse.

Promise, faith, trust are not modern man’s favorite words.  He prefers the world of signed contracts and proofs.  The concept of God designing the beginning, the end, and the in-between seems too simplistic and infantile.  It is so much easier to see, feel, touch, smell, and hear.  Relativism is much more comfortable than truth…always has been.  The senses relate to me and mine.  I love the frequently used phrase, “My truth,” because it shouts “relativism,” and so clearly illustrates modern man’s attempt to control the uncontrollable.  The above Lazarus was also a modern man once upon a time; during his life, I can just hear him say, “I make the rules, not some Rule-Maker!”

There was another Lazarus who was a friend of Jesus.  He had two sisters, Mary and Martha, who grieved when their brother died.  They were a little miffed that Jesus had not arrived soon enough to prevent his death.  Jesus did not seem to follow “their truth.”  Let me share a statement that Jesus, “the way, the truth, and the life,”³shared with Martha: “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who live and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”⁴Not much relativism here.  This also sounds a lot like heaven.  Martha replied, “Yes, Lord; I believe.”⁵I have also replied, “Yes. Lord, I believe.”

The truth is that God has created human beings, has told them how to live and has offered heaven to them.  There is a reason for life, how to live it, and how to leave it.  That is my worldview.  That is God’s worldview.  Why is it not your worldview?

 

1. Luke 16:30
2. Revelation 22:3-5
3. John 14:6
4. John 11:25,26
5. John 11:27

Introduction

I practiced medicine for forty-four years…practice, practice, practice.  When retirement arrived, I realized that that season of that practice was over; a new season of practicing had begun.  That new season could be called many things like the practice of that over-used word retirement, like the practice of pre-burial-living, or like the practice of self-pity and regrets.  But there is another practice that requires a little more effort. That is the practice of fine-tuning my worldview.

Why not philosophy rather that worldview?  Philosophy in a pure sense has to do with academic theory and has a more general application to the masses.  It involves books, lectures, and teaching positions.  Did I say that it has to do with theory?  Worldview has more to do with one’s particular and personal understanding of life.  It is personal because no one else is more of an expert in my worldview.  It is particular because one views the world with certain parameters.  One’s worldview is like an onion: it has layers.  One layer might be personal appearance.  Another might be the value of being friendly or neighborly.  A deeper layer could be integrity, etc. But in the center of that onion lies the question of “WHY”.

Some components of the “WHY” are where did I come from, what am I to do here, and where am I going???  After my recent treatment of cancer, another component that came into focus is when will it end?  One’s worldview does not have to answer all the above; but it will provide the framework in which to think of each.  In this essay, I would like to focus in on the first question of where did I come fromor better, how did it all start?  My thoughts on the other two follow in other essays. Continue reading →