HEAVEN AND HELL

Kreeft & Tacelli, Chapter 12

Belief in heaven and hell are controversial and often argued against in modern society - in fact hell is often one of the first beliefs to be abandoned as defending in it can be a burden to the believer.This section tries to deal with unbelievers objections to heaven and hell.17 objections to the idea of heaven will be given - though this is not giving a theology of heaven or providing a picture of it.

HEAVEN #1:REINCARNATION IS MORE REASONABLE

Reincarnation is rejected by Christians:1. The Bible contradicts it - Heb 9:272. All orthodox church tradition contradicts it

3. It implies God made a mistake in giving us bodies for our souls - in fact we are pure spirits in prison

4. Psychology and common sense suggest it is wrong - it denies a psychosomatic unity

5. It makes us think in a low way about our bodies - in effect they are a punishment

6. The idea is that we are reincarnated in order to learn lessons we failed to learn in a previous life - this contradicts common sense, how can I learn something if there is no continuity of memory? Mistakes are learned from only if remembered.

7. Evidence for past lives being reincarnations could be explained as mental telepathy from other beings, or from demons or other souls in hell.

#2: THERE IS NO SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE FOR HEAVEN

There are many other ideas which even science has no valid evidence for - when a scientist kisses his wife he believes there is more than hormones, neurons and molecules.There is no scientific evidence for only things that science has proved (evidenced) existing. Do we say if there is no scientific evidence it does not exist? This is an assumption based on no scientific evidence.

#3: HEAVEN IS OBVIOUSLY WISHFUL THINKING

If heaven did not exist we would have to invent it as a “necessary dream”.- the Bible in the heaven is not about our dreams or wishful thinking, in fact it is about selfless, self-forgetful love and saintliness, not the gratification of sinful desires.

#3: HEAVEN IS OBVIOUSLY WISHFUL THINKING

If heaven did not exist we would have to invent it as a “necessary dream”.- the Bible in the heaven is not about our dreams or wishful thinking, in fact it is about selfless, self-forgetful love and saintliness, not the gratification of sinful desires.

- and if there is a correlation between our innate wish and desire for heaven, why can’t that be a response to something planned by God and placed within us? It does not have to be a man-made thing, but could well be God designing it.

#4: THE IDEA OF HEAVEN IS THAT OF MYTH OR LEGEND

All ideas of heaven are a version of “the happy hunting grounds” or the Elysian fields.- we must distinguish between image and reality (substance). We cannot mistake one for the other just as we do not look for a literal “man in the moon”- the fact that all religions have some idea of heaven is evidence in favour of it (weight of numbers)

#4: THE IDEA OF HEAVEN IS THAT OF MYTH OR LEGEND

All ideas of heaven are a version of “the happy hunting grounds” or the Elysian fields.- we must distinguish between image and reality (substance). We cannot mistake one for the other just as we do not look for a literal “man in the moon”- the fact that all religions have some idea of heaven is evidence in favour of it (weight of numbers)

#4: THE IDEA OF HEAVEN IS THAT OF MYTH OR LEGEND

All ideas of heaven are a version of “the happy hunting grounds” or the Elysian fields.- we must distinguish between image and reality (substance). We cannot mistake one for the other just as we do not look for a literal “man in the moon”- the fact that all religions have some idea of heaven is evidence in favour of it (weight of numbers)

Elysian Fields - (Greek mythology) the abode of the blessed after death

Ancient Greek paradise reserved for heroes to

whom the gods had granted immortality. Homer described it as a land of perfect happiness at the

end of the earth, on the banks of the Oceanus River. From the time of Pindar (c. 500 BC) on, Elysium was imagined as a dwelling place for

those who had lived a righteous life.

#5:BELIEVING IN HEAVEN IS ESCAPIST

- CS Lewis asks the question, “who speaks most against escapism?” - answer: jailers- is it escapism for the unborn to think of life after birth, for a person cast adrift to dream of land? Heaven is simply a fulfillment of good desires.

#5:BELIEVING IN HEAVEN IS ESCAPIST

- CS Lewis asks the question, “who speaks most against escapism?” - answer: jailers- is it escapism for the unborn to think of life after birth, for a person cast adrift to dream of land? Heaven is simply a fulfillment of good desires.

- heaven is not escapist because it is real - to say it is not real is a lie based on atheism. Thinking about heaven is realistic. In fact the first question about any idea should not be asking if it is escapist, but if it is true. People who say it is escapist need to prove the idea false.

#5:BELIEVING IN HEAVEN IS ESCAPIST

- heaven is not escapist because it is real - to say it is not real is a lie based on atheism. Thinking about heaven is realistic. In fact the first question about any idea should not be asking if it is escapist, but if it is true. People who say it is escapist need to prove the idea false.

#6: HEAVEN IS A DIVERSION - TRUE OR FALSE IT IS A DISTRACTION FROM PRESENT TASKS

- if heaven is real and our final destination then our tasks here distract us from it.- concern for heaven does not devalue concern for earthly things: concern for the future of an unborn baby does not devalue or detract from its present need.- historically people who have cared most about heaven have made the biggest impact on earth

#7: HEAVEN IS A BRIBE - IT MAKES RELIGION SELFISH

Heaven makes us work for our reward not out of pure love.Some rewards are not mercenary but natural - for a team who have worked hard to be rewarded with success. Heaven is not an external reward added on to life but is in fact the perfection of the love of God and love for our neighbour.

#8: HEAVEN IS EGOTISTICAL

What right do you have to think you will be spiritually married to God?In fact God said this (in the Bible) we did not say it, or devise it.

#9: HEAVEN WILL BE BORING - ENDLESS WORSHIP

- Boredom is a fallen emotion - old languages have no word for it - in heaven we will be good and wise, and never bored- heaven is about joy not being contented (which gets boring)- heaven is perfect love and work, the two things needed to make life worth living - the love-work is of knowing and loving God, others and yourself.

#10: HOW CAN WE BE HAPPY IF PEOPLE WE LOVE ARE IN HELL?

- there will be no sadness in heaven, Rev.21:4 God manages not to be sad even though people he created to know and love him are not with him, he will teach us how to do this.- heaven and hell are not parallel worlds which can be travelled from. Hell is a place of eternal death not life (which heaven is) and so what exists there are what CS Lewis describes as “remains”

#11: HEAVEN IS ETERNAL - IT IS INHUMAN WITH NO POTENTIAL FOR CHANGE OR WORK

Heaven is about passive, changeless adoration of God.- the whole premise stated above is faulty: there is work in heaven, that work is to love (as work was a love before the fall), only after the fall did work become an onerous thing. Heaven will restore and surpass all that was good in Eden

#12: ARE WE FREE TO SIN IN HEAVEN - IF NOT WE ARE ROBOTS

Free to sin is like saying “a healthy disease” - it is a freedom of slavery. Free will is the means to a higher liberty, this is the freedom from evil and its effects.No one will sin because no one will want to - we will see the beauty and joy of God and realise the ugliness and joylessness of sin - so all motive to sin will be removed.

#13: IF WE ARE ALL PERFECT IN HEAVEN WHERE IS THE INDIVIDUALITY?

Won’t we all be boring copies?- we will be like God - copies of him cannot ever be dull- allowing God to rule your life is like adding salt to food it brings out all of the flavours of the differing foods - you will become more like you than ever was experienced before.

#14: THERE WILL BE NO PRIVACY IN HEAVEN

God’s light and truth will permeate everything - so nothing private.- privacy is needed only because of sin: we hide from others because of shame or fear of misunderstanding. In heaven there will be no shame etc. In fact in heaven we will have the intimacy which we fear here

#15: IS THERE SEX IN HEAVEN?

- modern people would not want to go without there being sex - but this says more about the person than about heaven- there is sexuality in heaven but we will be like the angels with no giving in marriage Matt 22:30- assuming our bodies remain in the same state as they are then surely sex would be possible - would we want to do it when there is greater pleasure in God?

#16: LOVING HEAVEN IS BEING DISLOYAL TO EARTH

The Bible says heaven is our home, not the earth - we should be loyal to heaven.

#17: HEAVEN SOUNDS SO ALIEN TO ME

It sounds weird, just not for me.- heaven will feel like home, after all it is what you have been made and designed for. God is a good tailor he has made it a right fit for you.

HELLHeaven is more important than hell - we know more about heaven than hell. But it is an area of doctrine that is under great attack today - from within and without. Kreeft suggests hell is like a vital organ in a body - if removed then all other organs are affected and eventually the body dies.

1. Believing there is no hell says that both the church and the Bible (both of which teach it) are liars.2. Jesus was more explicit and adamant about hell than most [any] others - therefore he is also a liar.3. If we drop hell because we are uncomfortable with this idea then we can drop other doctrines which we do not like. Christianity is then about ideology not about divine revelation.

1. Believing there is no hell says that both the church and the Bible (both of which teach it) are liars.2. Jesus was more explicit and adamant about hell than most [any] others - therefore he is also a liar.3. If we drop hell because we are uncomfortable with this idea then we can drop other doctrines which we do not like. Christianity is then about ideology not about divine revelation.

“A Christian who does not believe in HELL is a contradiction of terms, because a Christian is one who believes Christ, and Christ is one who believes in HELL. The only way to believe in Christ without believing in HELL is to reconstruct Christ according to your own desires. If there is no HELL, Christ is not only a deceptive teacher but a wicked one, for he terrifies us needlessly, falsely and harmfully. In fact, the greatest, kindest, gentlest, most loving and compassionate man who ever opened his mouth has warned us with the greatest seriousness, strenuousness and sternness about HELL. That is the irrefutable argument for it.”

4. If there is no hell then life’s choices no longer make an infinite difference - “If a game is to be taken seriously, it must be possible to lose” CS Lewis in The Problem of Pain5. If there is no hell then salvation is universal and automatic - this means ultimately there is no freewill. Freewill and hell go together.6. If there is no hell to be saved from Jesus is not our saviour - or any of the other things he claims.

7. If there is no hell then religious indifference follows - why should we care about it? There should be no evangelism or missions - recall all missionaries and apologise.8. If salvation is automatic then Christ’s death was a tragic and stupid mistake.9. If we don’t need to believe I hell then surely we also don’t need to believe in the love of God - in fact the love of god is the most often quoted reason for not believing in hell, yet they have the same foundation.

Why do we believe that God is love? Not by philosophical reasoning or logic?How do we know God is love? Not by science - for no experiment has ever measured or weighed that God is love. Not by conscience - which tells us what is right and wrong and what should be done, but does not tell us that we are forgiven. Not by history for this reveals human selfishness.

There is only one reason that anyone ever came to the conclusion that god is love, mercy and forgiveness - that is the character of God revealed in the Bible and culminating in Jesus. This gives us the authority to believe God is love - and also to believe in a hell. These two beliefs stand and fall on the same ground.

10. Some state that if there is a hell then God is a god of wrath, vengeance and hate - does this follow? In fact Kreeft argues that the love of God constitutes the torture of hell. That love of God threatens and tortures the very egotism that a sinner clings to.Consider a child who has a fit of rage and in sulking feels the love and hugs of his parents as torture.Thus the fires of hell are made of the love of God, or at least of the damned persons hatred of that love.

10. Some state that if there is a hell then God is a god of wrath, vengeance and hate - does this follow? In fact Kreeft argues that the love of God constitutes the torture of hell. That love of God threatens and tortures the very egotism that a sinner clings to.Consider a child who has a fit of rage and in sulking feels the love and hugs of his parents as torture.Thus the fires of hell are made of the love of God, or at least of the damned persons hatred of that love.

God hates sin and loves sinners - just as a surgeon hates the cancer he removes from a sick persons

body. People going to hell do so only because they refuse to

repent of their sin.

God is perfect in love, mercy and forgiveness - but these appeal to our freedom - any such appeal

must be accepted and chosen: we do not receive simply because we

do not choose to accept

11. Hell is not forced on anyone - and is not enjoyed - it is chosen by a love of self rather than a love of God. Happiness on your own selfish terms does not exist!12. If hell is chosen how does that reconcile with human sanity? Who prefers hell unless they are insane? The answer is that all of us do at one time or another - simply through the sin we commit we reveal our insanity.

13. Kreeft suggests the worst idea of hell is a Calvinistic form of double predestination. In this God decrees and designs some souls for death even before they are born - God wills their damnation.Kreeft says that Matt 18:14 and moral sanity reject such claims.Just because there is a hell does not make God a capricious being - we need a full understanding of God and his ways to ensure the right approach to the idea of hell.

THE PROPER USE AND MISUSE OF THE DOCTRINE OF HELL

Many objections to hell are based more on people who have misused the idea - people rejecting hell suggests that it is based on fear, hate, a desire to dominate and control - as these are the fruit produced by it.We might argue the same about heaven - if misused it produces a careless life, a lack of concern for this world and manipulates people.

In fact any idea can be used properly or misused. Such action does not reveal its validity or truthfulness.We believe in hell because it is true - and because it is like a warning sign for those wise enough to pay attention.Preaching hell does not make you popular - just look at Jesus, he did not go to the cross for the popular things he said. But preaching hell is necessary and loving even if we might suffer unpopularity for it.