“You’re probably going to Hell.” That’s what a friend of mine half jokingly said to me one evening as we had a disagreement over something in the Bible. It was quite late so I didn’t hold it against him, but it got me thinking. Is that what faith is about? Is the reason that I am a Christian solely because I want to go to Heaven instead of Hell?
Is Christianity really just about your destination when you die? People say to me “You won’t know if any of this is true until you die.” We see controversial preachers and churches telling us that we’re going to Hell if we don’t agree with their teachings. There’s great debate between churches about whether dogs are allowed in Heaven. Time and time the chief selling point for Christianity seems to be a place in Heaven when you die. We’ve made Christianity about the afterlife, and wonder why, in a culture where life expectancy is only getting higher, people are less and less interested.
Now don’t get me wrong, I know that a big part of Christianity is centred around the notion of life after death. The Bible says Jesus came into the world and died in our place so that we could inherit eternal life, and that is utterly fantastic. But if Heaven is just our destination, what relevance does Christianity have to my life right now? We know that because of grace, we don’t need to do anything except accept Jesus’ sacrifice for us in order to get eternal life. But if that doesn’t start until we die, does it matter what I do right now? If eternal life starts when we die, then why don’t we just get on with our lives until we die because we’ve got our place in Heaven. Our destination is decided by the blood of Jesus, no need to worry, right
Except eternal life doesn’t start when we die. Rob Bell, in his ever controversial book, Love Wins, said:
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“To say it again, eternal life is less about a kind of time that starts when we die, and more about a quality and vitality of life now in connection to God. Eternal life doesn’t start when we die; it starts now. It’s not about a life that begins at death; it’s about experiencing the kind of life now that can endure and survive even death.”
In the book of Luke, Jesus said:
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“‘The kingdom of God (Heaven) doesn’t come by counting the days on the calendar. Nor when someone says, ‘Look here!’ or, ‘There it is!’ And why? Because God’s kingdom is already among you.’”
The Kingdom of God (Heaven) isn’t a place we go to when we die, but a reality we can live in now that lasts forever. When we give our lives to God, we enter into this reality, and we are light in the world, bringing Heaven to Earth as we live for Jesus in the now.
Heaven is among us.
When Jesus taught us how to pray, he included the lines “Your kingdom come, your will be done on Earth, as it is in Heaven.” When we make Heaven our destination and not our present reality, we fundamentally miss the point of this prayer and what it means to follow God. We make it about getting people to Heaven when they die rather than inviting them to experience Heaven right now.
You only have to turn on the news, to see that Hell is a reality that many experience right now. War, famine, poverty, murder, rape, people trafficking, the list goes on and on. The world is full of pain and suffering. Rob Bell writes:
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“If this understanding of the good news of Jesus prevailed among Christians, the belief that Jesus’s message is about how to get somewhere else, you could possibly end up with a world in which millions of people were starving, thirsty, and poor; the earth was being exploited and polluted; disease and despair were everywhere; and Christians weren’t known for doing much about it. If it got bad enough, you might even have people rejecting Jesus because of how his followers lived. That would be tragic.”
When God created humanity, he created us in his image. He created us to reflect him and to be his hands and feet in the world. We have the power in us to bring hell to Earth, to bring destruction, pain and suffering. Or we can choose to bring Heaven. We can choose to go to the places of darkness, brokenness and hell on Earth, and bring the light and love of Jesus. When we choose to follow Jesus, we don’t sign up to a destination when we die. That would be the easy option, but eternal life is a much higher calling. When we choose to follow Jesus, we are invited to be people who bring heaven to Earth.
What if Christianity wasn’t known for telling people they are going to Hell, but for bringing people out of Hell? What if instead of telling people how to get to Heaven, we instead showed them the reality of Heaven in the way we live and love?
