by jimwalton » Mon Aug 12, 2013 3:51 pm
The afterlife is a matter of justice and fairness that those who join with God in a relationship reap the rewards of that relationship, and that those who reject him don’t get to have that relationship. Faithfulness in the relationship results in deeper relationship, while cutting off the relationship naturally results in the loss that relationship. It’s a false dichotomy in Christianity to present the possibility of “religion” without an afterlife, because Christianity is a relationship with God where God’s life flows in a person such that he or she will never experience death. Dallas Willard, Christian professor of philosophy, mused that when he passed from this life to the next it might take him a while to recognize that he had passed through the “portal”. There is no line between life and afterlife. The images of heaven that the New Testament portrays (gold, trees, rivers, etc.) are not literal, but are all metaphors of the life that a believer shares with God now and which, by definition, never ends, but gets even richer the further we go. Have you ever been in love? These biblical images of the afterlife are images of the love and life Christians share with God now and later, seamlessly.
It’s a misunderstanding to think that God holds out the carrot of heaven to motivate us to be better people. It’s not like, “Be good and Santa will give you lots of toys,” but instead, “if you live in love you will experience love to the fullest.” Life and the afterlife are about a relationship with God, not “cool stuff when I get to heaven”. So, in that sense, and keeping with the teaching of the Bible, your question is like, “Can I live in a loving relationship and not experience love?” For a Christian, it’s a false question.
The afterlife is a matter of justice and fairness that those who join with God in a relationship reap the rewards of that relationship, and that those who reject him don’t get to have that relationship. Faithfulness in the relationship results in deeper relationship, while cutting off the relationship naturally results in the loss that relationship. It’s a false dichotomy in Christianity to present the possibility of “religion” without an afterlife, because Christianity is a relationship with God where God’s life flows in a person such that he or she will never experience death. Dallas Willard, Christian professor of philosophy, mused that when he passed from this life to the next it might take him a while to recognize that he had passed through the “portal”. There is no line between life and afterlife. The images of heaven that the New Testament portrays (gold, trees, rivers, etc.) are not literal, but are all metaphors of the life that a believer shares with God now and which, by definition, never ends, but gets even richer the further we go. Have you ever been in love? These biblical images of the afterlife are images of the love and life Christians share with God now and later, seamlessly.
It’s a misunderstanding to think that God holds out the carrot of heaven to motivate us to be better people. It’s not like, “Be good and Santa will give you lots of toys,” but instead, “if you live in love you will experience love to the fullest.” Life and the afterlife are about a relationship with God, not “cool stuff when I get to heaven”. So, in that sense, and keeping with the teaching of the Bible, your question is like, “Can I live in a loving relationship and not experience love?” For a Christian, it’s a false question.