This kind of sums it up, written by a minister:
How Important is the Afterlife to Your Faith?
I have noticed a change in funeral and memorial services. Many people request of me that they don't want a funeral but a celebration of life service for their loved ones. When they say funeral they usually mean some kind of sermon that speaks about heaven and hell that you often find in the Bible Belt. Instead they want to acknowledge the life of the person and celebrate that. I notice in this trend that people seem less concerned about the fate of their soul/consciousness after death and more concerned with life itself-- this life. Personally, I find this to be a healthy trend.
Yet Christianity has often focused on the afterlife as being its central concern, particularly avoiding hell and getting into heaven. Many people in the church and without have left that notion behind as a relic of a superstitious past. So what is Christianity without a focus on the afterlife? What does Resurrection symbolize if it is not interwoven with the afterlife?
I addressed this issue in one of my early posts, Choose Your Afterlife . I spoke about it again in Sunday's sermon, "Imagine There's No Heaven " in my series "Beliefs Worth Letting Go in Order to Grow." Here is a snippet on Hell:
Hell is the easiest one for me to let go. With the exception of using it as a swear word or as a symbol for suffering, cruelty, and despair, I have dispensed with it. The idea that God would send people to hell doesn't make sense to me at all. It is a cruel doctrine. The idea that god, as biblical scholar Robert Price put it, who is a cranky theology professor and gives out big rosy "F's" to those who don't have their beliefs correct and sends them down the chute to eternal fire--is weird.
However, not everyone is ready for that. If a belief in hell is the only thing that keeps you from dealing drugs or killing your neighbor, then by all means, keep believing it. If you haven't developed a moral compass on your own nor dealt with your own anxieties, then simply ceasing believing in hell may not be the best thing for you. That is true with all beliefs. If we do not come to terms with the feelings underneath them, then we will simply substitute one belief for another.
But what about Heaven?
Heaven is a bit more complicated. As a minister I know that many people find comfort in the idea that they will see their loved ones again or that they are in heaven and at peace. The idea that heaven is a better place when this life seems unbearable can be a great comfort. If that belief works for you, then keep it.
That sounds perhaps too pragmatic, but I think what works is a good way to evaluate our beliefs. If believing that when we die, there is a better place enables us to get up in the morning, breathe more deeply, enjoy this life better, then by all means believe it. I would add that if there is a heaven, then it is for everyone, including those people we don't like too much.
As far as other beliefs regarding the afterlife, such as reincarnation, or transport to a parallel universe and so forth, I am agnostic. I am not against it, I just don't know. How can I? Again, I am pragmatic. If it works, then believe it. We might, even so, ask why it is important for us. What fear or dissatisfaction does a belief in an afterlife address? We might ask ourselves, do I really need this belief? Again, if you are not ready to address the underlying feelings, be careful about discarding beliefs. They serve a purpose even when we are not conscious of the purpose.
I think the great Apostle Paul needs to be challenged.
My concern with beliefs about an afterlife is that they can (not necessarily so, but they can) lead one to devalue this life. This is my problem with the Apostle Paul when he writes: If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied."
Paul, as I read him, did not have a great value for this life. He advised people not to get married because the end was coming. He wrote some wonderful things. But not everything is a keeper. His was an interim ethic. This life is not good, it is coming to an end, so live this one in preparation for the next one.
I don't see things that way anymore. I think that this life is a good life and we should pay attention and enjoy it. Not only that, but we should work to make this life better for others too. We should live as if Earth is our home, because it is. Not only is it our home, but it is the home for all of life as we know it. It is the home for our future generations. I do not devalue life or Earth. It is a good place to be. Selling it short for some belief in an afterlife is irresponsible.
What to do with stories in the Bible regarding the kingdom of God or of heaven or of the New Jerusalem? Are they about our own personal survival? I think not.
I retain the symbol of heaven, not as afterlife, but as quality of life. Heaven for me is Presence. Presence of mind, presence of love, presence of God. Heaven within is what John Shelby Spong calls the courage to live fully and to love wastefully.
Why is it that human beings invented the concepts of afterlife at all? I can think of two reasons at least.
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Topic: What to do with you life ? (Read 12427 times)