The Hope of Heaven

The prospect of heaven has long been a source of hope and encouragement for Christians. Some Christian traditions place great emphasis on heaven. They stress the need to be assured that you’re going there and that this present life is merely a prelude to the eternal symphony of the afterlife spent with Christ and all the saints. Other traditions of Christianity, while acknowledging heaven, place more emphasis on this life. They stress the need to be engaged in God’s reconciling work of love in this present world. Many people, Christian and not, while valuing heaven, are also more focused on this life. For these people, heaven is something that’s nice to know about. That is, it’s nice to know that when you die, it’s not the end. Most people, regardless of their belief about heaven, aren’t in any rush to get there.

There is an old saying in some Christian circles, “don’t be so heavenly minded that you’re no earthly good.” This is a jab at the person whose thoughts are always in the clouds, always elsewhere, and never concerned with the practical realities of life. However, if one did a quick survey of those who are involved with the world’s most neglected and despised people: the poor, the hungry, and the sick, one will typically find a high percentage of people who might be described as “heavenly minded.”

The whole point of being “heavenly minded” is not so that we might disregard the challenges of the present life. Quite the opposite, the Lord’s Prayer tells us that we should live our lives so that things in our world will mirror the realm of God, in other words, “on earth as it is in heaven.” Heaven gives us a picture of how things should be and motivates us to not be satisfied with the broken and hurting world as it is (for more on what heaven is like click here). One of the reasons that Christians are supposed to live lives that differ so radically from others is because we stand with one foot in heaven and one foot on earth. Heaven is something we experience on earth when we do God’s will.  Going to heaven then, is simply placing both feet into that mystery which we have already experienced in small glimpses and small tastes while on earth. 

Getting Ready to Die

Death is not a popular or comfortable topic in most of North America. Our popular culture is obsessed with unnatural youthfulness and everything is done to keep death hidden away from our minds, our eyes, and our ears. Death must be acknowledged if our lives are to be lived meaningfully.

The greatest preparation for death is to live a full life here on earth. For the Christian, fullness of life is found in loving God and loving our neighbor (Matthew 22:36-40). Some people die without warning, for them the only preparation for their death is the content and character of their lives.

However, many people are aware that they are coming closer to death. This could be because of illness, advanced age, or violent circumstances. When we know that death is coming we should prepare ourselves as best we can.

This involves four basic steps:

#1 Trust in Christ. Be assured that you have professed belief in Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Recognize it's His death and His resurrection that gives you the guarantee of your resurrection to eternal life. It’s not unusual for people to have attended church their whole life yet never made a personal commitment to Christ.

#2 Wrap Your Earthly Affairs. When you know that death is coming soon it’s important to take care of your earthly affairs. Hopefully, you’ll have already written a will and made your wishes known to your family. But at this point you need to finalize these matters so you can focus on the final transition from this life to the next.

#3. Make your Confession. It’s important as death approaches to come clean with God, with friends and family. Seek to make amends where possible. Make sure to tell the people in your life that you love them. Also, many Christians have benefited from making a final private confession with their parish priest. This is a way of spiritually cleaning house before you enter into the fuller presence of God.

#4. Receive Holy Communion and Prayer on a regular basis. Plus seek encouragement from your pastor, church, and family. Seek to accept that your time here on earth is done, and that you are now moving on to the nearer presence of God. Relish the time you have remaining. Make a point to bless others each day.

Christians believe that Jesus overcame death through His life, death and resurrection. This is a great consolation for the believer (for more on what happens when you die click here). It does not, however, remove the necessity to prepare ourselves for death.

Sex and the Christian Life, part 6

Homosexuality

Everything that I write in this post about homosexuality assumes all that I have written in the previous posts of this series. If you have not read these previous posts I encourage you to do so, because without having read them, much of what I say may not make sense. While the vast majority of Christian Churches (meaning denominations) still hold to a traditional position on homosexuality, there are a number of Christians and Churches who are wrestling with this traditional teaching and wondering if in fact God has a different view on the subject. Because this subject is such a controversial one I am going to challenge those holding to both positions.

For those holding to the traditional view

While the vast majority of Biblical teachers and scholars agree that the Bible condemns homosexual behavior (or at the minimum the cultures who read the Bible condemn this behavior) are you fully living into what the Bible says about loving your neighbor? Our disagreements with others who don’t share our faith or our ethical positions are to be grounded in the love of Jesus. This means disagreeing gently, with respect, and – when appropriate- sharing the truth in love.

It is to our shame that many persons are under the impression that homosexuality is grounds for damnation. No behavior damns us to hell, it is our acceptance or lack of acceptance as Jesus as our Savior and Lord that determines our eternal fate (John 3:16-18). Furthermore, sin is sin. Sexual sin is sexual sin. It’s all equally sinful before a holy and just God. Are you treating homosexual behavior as one sin among many or do you make it a worse sin than others? How can we so vehemently (and often it appears hatefully) decry the sexual sins of others when research tells us that the percentage of Christians having sex before marriage and  having extramarital affairs are virtually the same as those of non-Christians?

Do you know any gay people? Have you taken the time to hear their stories and to feel their pain?  Do you really believe that most gay people choose their sexual orientation? As if sexual orientation is a simple choice, like choosing what kind of car to buy? I am not denying that those with same sex attraction have a choice to make, but traditionalists show themselves naïve when they characterize this choice in simplistic terms.    

For those holding to a newer view

As Christians we are people of the Book, the Bible. We believe that God inspired the writings of Holy Scripture for our benefit, to give us insight into God’s will and guidance for the kind of lives we are to lead. Have you wrestled with the Scriptures about this topic? Many who hold a newer view on this subject do so from the perspective of “rights” and other secular ideologies. These are ok in their proper place, but to make a Christian argument for the acceptance of homosexuality means you have to deal with the building blocks of Christian belief, Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition. Have you done your spiritual homework? Or do you simply dismiss or ignore all portions of Scripture and Tradition that disagree with your view?

The evidence that homosexuality has its origins in genetics is a popular view, but is not yet an undisputable fact. Let’s say that it is proven that in some cases homosexuality can be traced to a person’s genetic make-up. Does this solve the entire problem from a Christian perspective? Not really. Let us consider the reality of addiction. It has been demonstrated that certain individuals have a genetic predisposition toward alcoholism. We don’t say that because they are genetically oriented toward this behavior that we should bless it. Instead we recognize that these individuals are going to have a harder time in this area than the average person. Their genetic predisposition means they will need extra grace from God, and extra compassion from others to live faithfully in this area.  The same argument can be applied to homosexuality. Have you wrestled with this argument and the larger questions it raises concerning God’s costly grace and our need to submit our wills to God’s will?

If you are going to argue that same-sex relationships are compatible with Christian teaching then you have to teach homosexual Christians about chastity and celibacy (see previous posts). Chastity is something all Christians – gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, trans-gender, and straight- are called to. If you’re argument for the acceptance of homosexuality involves the approval of sex outside of marriage you are clearly stepping away from classical Christian teaching. Here is where Christians in favor of same-sex marriage could make a Biblical argument, but they usually don’t. That is, since sex is to be limited to marriage for Christians, there is a need for same-sex marriage so that gay Christians can walk faithfully in this area.