Heaven? No, I Mean the *Real, Ultimate* Heaven...

A written for steemit introduction to the "After-Life" - my original thoughts.

I appreciated an article written recently by one of the steemians that I follow, @mattclarke.

Kristin Bell and William Jackson Harper appearing in NBC's "The Good Place"

Matt's article, "To the 169 authors I follow.", is well worth reading.

It cogently explains why, though he is "following" me today, he may feel compelled to drop me tomorrow.

Matt points out that steemit is growing, and that its economy is based on the time-cost of curating the work of others:

"I get my fill of rambling, semi-coherent diatribes, clickbait rubbish and chain letters on facebook; and these are people with whom I already share history, affection and meatspace." - @mattclarke

Interestingly enough, Matt's article clearly expresses precisely the same logic that has caused me, a follower of Jesus the Christ, to prefer small congregations over mega-churches.

In this life, we all have limited time resources.

We have to be prudent about how we allocate our time. Consequently, who we interact with, and how much, must be carefully prioritized. There is only enough time to "expose" our lives to, and become authentically involved with a limited number of other people.

And so, I am grateful to Matt for his clear, truthful observation of the reality of our limited ability to interact with one another on steemit as the platform grows. ;)

I'm also grateful because...

I'm also grateful because interacting with Matt has inspired me to launch another series of articles, this time on the topic of "Heaven." I've been intending to write some original material here exploring what I've learned about "Heaven" in the course of a long and all too painful lifetime.

Originally, I thought I'd just revise and expand a theological fantasy novel I began long ago. The more I considered it, the more I realized that this may need to become two intertwined series.

One thread will be purely literary and fictional, and the other will fill in the biblical, logical, and theological background rationale for my very unconventional beliefs.

Heaven?

Photo courtesy of Sam Schooler and http://unsplash.com

It's About Time...

And so, this first installment is a reaction to Matt's observations about limited time. I'd like to present you with a completely different paradigm; a universe in which the limited-time logic @mattclarke so cogently expressed does not apply.

Jesus had this to say of his followers:

"I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand." - John 10:28

Have you ever considered the notion of eternity?

The universe I want to draw your attention to is a universe that has been marginalized in the popular mind. God's future universe has been badly caricatured, trivially labeled as "heaven," and relegated to banal conceptualizations such as cartoon images of white-robed angels floating on clouds and strumming harps in perpetual boredom.

There have been any number of popularized versions of "Heaven" portrayed on film and television. Many have been comedic, such as the recently launched "The Good Place."

Kristin Bell and Ted Danson in NBC's "The Good Place"

Credit: ADWEEK

The Church at Large has Done Us a Disservice...

Even worse than Hollywood, the church itself has done us a disservice by not adequately portraying what the reality of our hope as Christians is.

My perspective as a voracious student of scripture has persuaded me that the real, ultimate heaven will be a total regeneration of this universe from which all evil has been utterly purged. Scripture calls it "The New Heavens and the New Earth."

"But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells." - II Peter 3:13

I expect, for example, one radical difference that enjoying a never-ending life, i.e., infinite time, will make for us is that experiencing eternity will completely remove all pressure to allocate our attention in a miserly fashion.

Try to imagine a steemit where you were actually able to follow everyone of authentic merit, with all the time needed to leisurely interact with them on all topics of interest.

Ted Danson and Kristin Bell appearing in NBC's "The Good Place"

When I consider the complexity, diversity, and beauty of His creation,

I at times think of Jesus as an infinitely faceted gemstone with unfathomable qualities and attributes. I believe that He has shared some of His beauty with us as creatures "made in His image," blessing each of us with particular gifts.

Even now, when we have time to interact with one another, we can produce uniquely beautiful collaborative results.

Each of us reflect a few facets of God's glory, a subset of Who He is.

Light-years, then, from the cartoonish fears of heavenly boredom, we will have infinitely varied opportunities for meaningful engagement with one another on amazing projects and adventures. We will be able to combine the facets of His image in which we've been created in new and amazing ways as we work together.

Given infinite time (A.K.A. eternity), we well never again feel "time pressure" to limit the amount of time that we spend with any individual. Imagine what you could accomplish with 10, 100, or 1000 uninterrupted years working together with the best and brightest people you've ever known? Then try to imagine the delightful anticipation of moving on to your next extended project with a different mutual interest group.

Background Meme Image is a portion of an image courtesy of NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration (HubbleSite: gallery, NewsCenter) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

I don't know where you're coming from, spiritually speaking.

That you've read this far tells me at least you have some level of interest in the topic of an "after-life." If you are that rare person who sincerely wants to learn more, I'd like to extend to you a very personal invitation:

"The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price." - Revelation 22:17

Should you ever find yourself curious about how and why I describe myself as an anarchist while simultaneously worshiping Jesus Christ and submitting my life in service to Him as my Lord and Master, I'd love to dialog with you about that.

Dear Reader;

Meanwhile, I hope you will choose to stick with me for a long time to come. I may wander a bit in this series, back and forth between fiction and prose, side to side among topics as I compare and contrast the present age with the ages to come. Even if you are not yet a believer, you may find this somewhat entertaining. And I absolutely love hearing your comments and questions; please keep them coming!

Please consider following me and up-voting my articles.