HEAVEN AND EARTH

Having read this again, I want to say that this is my statement of belief as it stands at the moment. I am on a journey of discovery, so sometimes I have to live with uncertainties, and that is fine.

What would be your vision of heaven? Would you have to die first before being there, or could you experience it here on earth? Besides is it just a matter of perception, like the man who at the United Nations spoke about dying for forty-five minutes and supposedly Jesus entering the ambulance and God healing him? This man then goes on to warn his hearers to accept Jesus before it is too late.

I am not impressed by his rudeness and arrogance. Perhaps he did die for that length of time and for some unaccountable reason he was given a “second chance”, but to have the temerity to go on to pronounce judgment on his hearers either directly or by implication is inexcusable. If he were a salesman, he would have failed in his sales record, and no doubt would have been told that unless he used different methods to win customers instead of browbeating them, he would be fired.

God is love, and the message he wants us to share with a hurting world is that heaven is a safe place where you can be loved unconditionally. Heaven can be formed here in our relationships with one another, as a foretaste of what we can expect after we pass through the gate of death. If we are supported and encouraged along the journey of life, we will be able to live with our uncertainties with equanimity, because we will not be in “this” alone but with others in the same position.

Being true to ourselves is vital if we want to understand something of God’s love. He or she waits for us to reach the place of authenticity and integrity. He or she waits out of love for us. There is absolutely no coercion or compulsion. Just a gentle pressure towards our destiny, bit by bit - at times painful, at times full of light and joy. It does not depend on us. We are after all made in the image of God, and we live in his or her light, which enables us to grow in maturity and dependence. Independence takes us off track into darkness. Once we have found ourselves, then we can see ourselves in relation to God - which makes complete sense.

That to me is heaven - the knowledge of who we are and where we are. I believe the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden is allegorical, and serves a purpose to show us what it is like when we are in harmony with God and his creation, of which we are a vital part. The book of Revelation, which tells of a new heaven and a new earth, describes the restoration back to the “Garden of Eden” state. Again the language is allegorical and full of imagery, but also contains truth, which goes beyond the physical and material.

For our finite minds, it is a stretch of reasoning power to comprehend the picture before us. We are told to “live by faith”. That is all very well, but we have brains to use, and are not automatons without sense and feeling. I end by asking a question. Can we really experience heaven on earth, and if so, can we describe the experience in such a way that others can understand something of what we have been through? To be honest, you cannot give an affirmative answer with certainty.