Sacred Cows #3- Going to Heaven When We Die
Of the things I've posted so far, this may be the most confusing because what many folks think they know from the Bible isn't really there, yet what is really there they don't know. In fact, what most folks think the the Bible says, and what is commonly heard at funerals is just a warmed up version of 2nd century gnosticism.
A common view of the afterlife runs something like this. When we die our souls go to heaven and that's the end of the story. At times this is embellished to talk about our souls escaping the prison of the body. Eternal life in this view is purely about souls in heaven for all eternity. Unfortunately, we hear this preached all too frequently in funeral sermons.
Allow me to explain the problems with this view before I delve into what the Bible makes clear. In the first century after the New Testament era the most damaging heresy the church faced was gnosticism. Among the views of the gnostics was the notion that everything that was physical or fleshly was evil. In gnostic thought, salvation was obtained through special "gnosis" or knowledge. Salvation amounted to souls, spirits escaping the evil flesh of this world. In this view the god who created the world in the Old Testament was a bad god, because the physical created order was bad. Likewise, Jesus could not have actually come in the flesh because the flesh of a physical body is evil.
What then happens to us when we die? The Bible isn't very clear about this. We know that we (our souls at least) are with Christ in some way. In Luke we read of Lazarus in "paradise." Paul writes that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Beyond this the scriptures aren't very clear. More commonly this state is thought to be conscious, though some Christians have argued that this is an unconscious state- "soul sleep." The existence the believer has upon death is not the final act, it is in fact an intermediate state. The final joy of heaven, an eternity worshipping around the throne of the Lamb lies at the end as a final act.
The final act is what should be proclaimed as loudly as possible at every funeral. Black Gospel preachers of the 20th century have been described by some writers as "God's trombones." At funerals every minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ should declare as loudly and clearly as a trombone that our ultimate hope is resurrection. Resurrection is not simply souls going to heaven, it is nothing short of the raising of the dead back to life incorruptible and imperishable. The great creeds of the church include a phrase about the "resurrection of the body." This is not merely a statement about Jesus' resurrection, it is a declaration that we too who are in Christ will one day rise as well, as Paul makes so clear in 1 Corinthians 15 and Philippians 3 and elsewhere. The resurrection is a part of the great recreation of the created order John describes near the end of Revelation when he sees the "new heavens and the new earth." Anything less than a resurrection of the body means that God doesn't defeat death, only arranges a negotiated truce with it. In short, the grave is not the final resting place of our dearly departed loved ones in the faith.
A common view of the afterlife runs something like this. When we die our souls go to heaven and that's the end of the story. At times this is embellished to talk about our souls escaping the prison of the body. Eternal life in this view is purely about souls in heaven for all eternity. Unfortunately, we hear this preached all too frequently in funeral sermons.
Allow me to explain the problems with this view before I delve into what the Bible makes clear. In the first century after the New Testament era the most damaging heresy the church faced was gnosticism. Among the views of the gnostics was the notion that everything that was physical or fleshly was evil. In gnostic thought, salvation was obtained through special "gnosis" or knowledge. Salvation amounted to souls, spirits escaping the evil flesh of this world. In this view the god who created the world in the Old Testament was a bad god, because the physical created order was bad. Likewise, Jesus could not have actually come in the flesh because the flesh of a physical body is evil.
What then happens to us when we die? The Bible isn't very clear about this. We know that we (our souls at least) are with Christ in some way. In Luke we read of Lazarus in "paradise." Paul writes that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Beyond this the scriptures aren't very clear. More commonly this state is thought to be conscious, though some Christians have argued that this is an unconscious state- "soul sleep." The existence the believer has upon death is not the final act, it is in fact an intermediate state. The final joy of heaven, an eternity worshipping around the throne of the Lamb lies at the end as a final act.
The final act is what should be proclaimed as loudly as possible at every funeral. Black Gospel preachers of the 20th century have been described by some writers as "God's trombones." At funerals every minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ should declare as loudly and clearly as a trombone that our ultimate hope is resurrection. Resurrection is not simply souls going to heaven, it is nothing short of the raising of the dead back to life incorruptible and imperishable. The great creeds of the church include a phrase about the "resurrection of the body." This is not merely a statement about Jesus' resurrection, it is a declaration that we too who are in Christ will one day rise as well, as Paul makes so clear in 1 Corinthians 15 and Philippians 3 and elsewhere. The resurrection is a part of the great recreation of the created order John describes near the end of Revelation when he sees the "new heavens and the new earth." Anything less than a resurrection of the body means that God doesn't defeat death, only arranges a negotiated truce with it. In short, the grave is not the final resting place of our dearly departed loved ones in the faith.
Very clear. Thanks for writing this.
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