Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Thoughts about resurection
So here is what I have been thinking about.....basically I think the moderns church focus on heaven has systematically been missing the bigger picture...I have been reading a book called "Resurection of the son of God" by NT Wright and it has just stimulated this thought process. So I mean historically, if you think about it, the west has really really been influenced by Greek thinking. If you read such individuals as Rick Warren who essentially describe what we do on Earth as practice for heaven there is a sense in which Christians seem to have this notion to despense with the flesh so that the spirit could be free. This is Greek thinking, straight up. It makes it seems that there is a sense in which you are just doing an in between activity before we get to heaven where eternity will go down. See what i have always found confusing is that "heaven" doesnt really seem present in scripture (not like the popular notion). Admitedly Heaven is a pretty borad topic. The word ouranos (greek word for heaven) appears 255 times not counting variations of the word. That leaves some questions for a consistent use of the imagery or at least it does to me. There seems to me to be far more specific emphasis placed on resurection than on "Heaven." Revelations likes the image of rresurection. This seems to be far more consistent with the culture that this was written in...I dont know, I get resurection. I dont get the whole heaven thing. I dont want to sit on a cloud playing a harp or if CS Lewis has his way walking around in a big field.... I am not attempting to aspound anything specific, these are more just ramblings to sort of help me process my ideas since i have been out of school for sometime.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
Tyler, I couldn't agree with you more. So many people have told me that in heaven we will just be singing praises and worshipping God. I don't know about you but I hate singing. Heaven is one of those things that will never be mentally attainable for us on earth. That's what is so great about heaven. I'm not sure what heaven is going to be like or what I'm going to be like in heaven. All That I know is that you me dave and jesus will have some pretty kick ass games of Settlers
Derek
Welcome to the wild world of blogging, Tyler.
Good thoughts. I think heaven is overrated too, and I agree with the way you described the influence of Greek philosophy on our most cherished theological concepts.
I also think that people hold on to popular understandings of heaven for pastoral reasons, not theological ones. They want comfort, for the most part. It could be argued, I suppose, that a Pauline concept of resurrection does the trick just as well. Maybe so.
Interesting stuff Tyler. It's true that our lives on earth aren't just a dress rehearsal. What heaven is, or what it should be don't seem clear to me at all. I think most people anticipate reuniting with loved ones, and closer communion with God, the resurrection is a much more tangible concept.
If you look at the different concepts of the afterlife in different cultures, there are many definitions of what a "heaven" would be like. Could be anything form the dark and abysmal nothingness (I think that was the Assyrians, I'll have to look it up) to your 90 some odd virgins (honestly, that's a lot more work than a reward!) to Vahlhalla- a great open plain full of wild plantage... long winded point short:
Heaven is what YOU make it to be. Just don't come hovering around me when you're gone. I'm not going to be delivering any of your messages to anyone still here! They're too LONG!!! bwaahahaahaha..haa...haa..ha...ha.
So what do you think of the fact that the only person who is at the present fully resurrected, Our Lord, is also sitting on a throne in heaven? And when He returns, according to the imagery from the end of "Revelations," He'll be bringing heaven down with Him to create the new heaven and earth. Both old and new testaments believe in a transcendent reality where God dwells--heaven; Elijah in the Old Testament periodically saw fire coming down out of it, and Jesus in the New Testament was taken in a cloud up into it (I know that Tom Wright doesn't necessarily think that He bodily rose into heaven but I can't figure out why). As we learn more about the NT reality of our hope in a bodily resurrection, let's not forget that it also tells us of our firm hope in fully participating in the life of heaven. At the end of it all, our immortal bodily resurrection and God's heavenly reality will exist together thanks to Jesus.
By the by, this is Rob.
Post a Comment