I don't have a point, just a question:
Why is it that when we envision heaven, it is a place where we can, in God's presence of course, indulge in pleasurable and leisurely experiences constantly? It seems as though we picture heaven as the most perfect theme park, where it's always a perfect sunny 70 degrees, where we're hanging out with all our friends, and we can do whatever we want.
Why do we make heaven into our picture of what would satisfy the desires that we wouldn't consider very Christian to indulge while we are here on earth? Why don't we see heaven as a place where we only do what God wants us to do? Is it because that's not much fun?
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21 comments:
Heaven is our reward, not our inherent right. It's something God gives us, not something we get because we demand it. That indicates to me that it's going to be the way God wants it-- not the way we decide it'll be.
The few (comparatively speaking) that actually make it to heaven won't care about the weather and the entertainment system anyway-- true satisfaction doesn't lie there, it lies in a proper response to God and his desires for us.
It will most definitely not be focused on pleasure. It will, however, be a place of perfect existence, which will seem to us, I presume, as quite pleasing. God is so great, so good, and so creative. Why would we have reason to doubt that pleasure and joy and happiness would not be met in Him while finding less but still greatly pleasurable, joyful, and good things elsewhere?
I never have thought that Adam and Eve had no joy and physical pleasure in the untainted garden, even as they had their greatest pleasure in God. Thus, I do not think heaven will be less glorious. In fact, I believe it will be better than the first.
Why do people have the idea of much pleasure--pleasure that does not, somehow, mean sin--in heaven? Because they associate good with what feels good. Now this, of course, is not always true and much of the time--I think it is safe to say--not ture. The greatest form of good--the greatest form of love--that can occur on Earth is laying down one's life for a friend. That--I also believe it is safe to say--is not pleasurable in feeling. But, that is not to say that pleasure is wrong. There was a time that sin did not exist; pleasure, in all its many forms, was not tainted then.
Pleasure is an image. God wants to be pleased. We know how it is to be pleased, whether wrongly or rightly. Thus, in our likeness of God, we can relate, though on a very base level, with Him, how He wants to feel. Also, we desire to please for in our pleasing of someone else, we receive a positive response from that someone. This gives us an idea, though--again--very base, of how it truly is and will be when we please the Father. (In the end of course, the crowns we receive shall be cast to Him--for that will be His greatest pleasure and our necessary action and, to those who are in Christ Jesus, our greatest pleasure.)
I think I agree with you both.
Heaven will be the way God wants it, as Hannah points out, for it is a gift from Him; yet, it won't be drab, dreary, or dissatisfying, as Isaac points out, for pleasure in itself is not sinful.
I think the thing that bothers me is that when we describe "what will heaven be like", we tend to come up with a self-centered picture. The pleasure that we envision heaven as providing is self-indulgent, when that doesn't make sense with what God teaches us here -- as you both point out.
Hey Andrew, thanks for commenting on my blog! Personally, I get super bored and depressed if I don't have anything to do for more than a couple of hours. I go looking for work. So I can't imagine heaven is like that all the time.
Hope to see you around again!
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