Imagine there's no heaven...

In less than an hour, Melinda and I are headed to the Garden State (New Jersey, for anyone who's unaware) to meet up with good friends of ours. As I usually do for any road trip, I made a mix CD. Now, a mix CD is a curious breed. It's a cut above the classic mix tape because a CD can be made with far less effort, and there's no need to change up the song order just to fit the sides of the cassette. The mix CD was the format of choice in the '90s; I'm still not yet able to just bring my iPod along in the car. No adapter in ye olde Subaru.

The last mix CD I made was not met with rave reviews from Melinda. I made the mistake of stocking it with all new songs, so there really was no comfortable ground to return to after visiting an exotic or unfamiliar musical destination. So, this time, I tried to make sure that there were enough old standards to keep the mix enjoyable.

One of the old songs I chose for the CD was John Lennon's "Imagine," a classic among classics. I always liked the emotions evoked by the song, but was troubled by the lyrics. I mean it's hard to square being a Christian with lines like:

Imagine there's no heaven

It's easy if you try

No hell below us

Above us, only sky

By traditional Christian standards, it's heresy to imagine there's no heaven. I mean, heaven is where God's will is done, where his presence is made manifest, and where the faithful go when they shuffle off their mortal bodies. So, to "imagine" there's no heaven is to shoot a big hole into Christian theology.

Lately, however, I've realized just how ugly the traditional idea of heaven can seem to other people. If Christians are living for heaven, that means they're basically fine with the world going to hell. I'm not saying this is true of everyone, but it stands to reason that if heaven is our destiny, and there's no continuity between this world and the next, then who cares about our planet, our cultures, and the people all around us who don't give a rip about Jesus, right?

To someone not in the fold, this worldview is not only weird, it's downright ugly. No wonder John Lennon could long for a world without a heaven to dream of. Maybe then, people would start trying to make this world a better place. However, I can't embrace his vision; a worldview without a heaven is just extreme and problematic as one where heaven is the only hope, goal, and prize.

And I don't believe either worldview does justice to the biblical picture of heaven. In the book of Revelation, John is caught up into heaven and views, among other things, the end of the story. The curious thing is that the earth is not completely destroyed - it is recreated as a new earth. Neither are the faithful turned into ethereal spirits who dance on the clouds (except, of course for the baptists, who would never dance - even in heaven). Instead heaven is brought to earth - God comes to live with his people:

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away" (Revelation 21:3-4, NIV).

I realize some may object by saying that the old earth has passed away, but there must be some continuity between the old and the new. Why else would the apostle Paul write, "The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies" (Romans 8:19-23, NIV).

Also, the tongues, tribes, and nations worshiping God in heaven point to a continuity between this life and the next. What good are languages and cultural markers if there is to be no connection with the world of the past? It's as if God takes everything good - everything hopeful and beautiful that the world has ever known - and strips away the sin, the evil, the sorrow, the pain, and the incompleteness, in order to make everything "good," as it was in the beginning. What human beings have created is given eternal value in God's divine judgment.

The hope of the Bible is the reconciliation of heaven and of earth; it's the fulfillment of Jesus' prayer: "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:10, KJV). Now, if we really believed that the good, beautiful, positive, true, and graceful things we did on this earth - in this life - had eternal value, I think the hope of heaven would be something that even the biggest cynic could get behind.

I imagine there's no heaven like the one that many are wishing for.

Source: John Lennon, "Imagine."