Christians Wrong About Heaven, Says Bishop

Wright: There are several important respects in which it's unsupported by the New Testament. First, the timing. In the Bible we are told that you die, and enter an intermediate state. St. Paul is very clear that Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead already, but that nobody else has yet. Secondly, our physical state. The New Testament says that when Christ does return, the dead will experience a whole new life: not just our soul, but our bodies. And finally, the location. At no point do the resurrection narratives in the four Gospels say, "Jesus has been raised, therefore we are all going to heaven." It says that Christ is coming here, to join together the heavens and the Earth in an act of new creation.




I thought once you die, there's immediate judgement. If your born-again, you go to heaven . . . If not, you go to the other place. Folks who believed in God before Jesus came went to the intermeidate state called 'Abraham's Bosom' vs. heaven (because Jesus hadn't died and been raised from the dead yet). When the Rapture takes place, those who died knowing Christ will be raised from the dead and then the ones that are alive will be taken into heaven (the still alive ones will get their glorified bodies just like Jesus has).

 

I tend to agree with the writer. It's my personal belief that the earth we inhabit was supposed to be a heavenly state and the Garden of Eden is allegorical for that state. The fall of man was the destruction of that state of being. Eventually, I believe the Earth will be destroyed and recreated. Our souls will inhabit new bodies, both physical and spiritual, and heaven will be a state of existing permanently in the physical and spiritual realms at once. I don't believe it will exist that much differently than we see the Earth today.

 

It's interesting, but in the end, it doesn't really matter to me. I believe there will be some sort of afterlife/union with the divine, but I just trust that God's love will direct that appropriately when I reach that point in my life/death/life-after death journey. I trust that when my time comes, I'm in God's hands.

My focus is on living each day, to use Paul's words in Romans, as a "living sacrifice."

 

This is the bottom line, discussion is interesting though.

 

That's a possibility, but the language is awkward. It's also a bit of a departure from Jesus' usual grammatical structure. Out of 78 references, the only other one that couples "today" with "I tell you the truth" is at the last supper, and He meant that very day, He would be betrayed.

Another thing to consider about this passage is that "paradise" is not necessarily interchangeable with "heaven". The Greek word 'paradeisos' translated here as paradise is a combination of two words which literally mean "with God". We can assume that means in heaven, but it could just be Jesus saying, "Today, you'll be with Me."

 

If I'm not mistaken, that is a tenet of Mormon doctrine.

 

I'm with you, Paladin.

I asked one of the pastors on my church's staff once what he believed about the Tribulation period as described in Revelation. "There are pre-tribulationists, mid-tribulationists, and post-tribulationists. What do you think?" I asked.

He said, "I'm a pan-tribulationist. I figure whatever happens, it'll all pan out."