Friday, April 28, 2006

I've been thinking a lot of what heaven is about has been lost by conceiving it as an eschatological event, a place where we go when we die. By focussing solely on this aspect of heaven the world has been seen as a sinking ship and we need to get as many people into the life raft of heaven as possible. Even the view that says that the earth won't be destroyed but rather renewed ends up drifting towards getting people to be resurrected into this new earth rather than viewing the continuation from the present into this new earth. This is all true and good but it is not the whole story and this incomplete view of heaven has shaped evangelism and its message. Heaven begins here and now. Those who will dwell in heaven in the future already dwell in heaven here and now. This is not to say they walk with their heads in the clouds and a happy dazed smile on their faces rather these people dwell in the world and see the pain, hurt, and suffering in the world. This is the church.

Furthermore, a changed and transformed view of sin needs to take place. Sin is a lack of wholeness, a failure to be all that we were meant to be (for a brief synopsis I again refer you to this post). As such focussing solely on liars, thieves, and adulterers (as per the black book) is again incomplete, these do cause a lack of wholeness but are not the only way. A person who is sick or injured may not be whole. A person who is poor may not be whole. This is where the church is to stand a people of the dispossessed, of the broken, the lost, the searching, the lonely, the hurting. We are called to provide for all of these to clothe the naked, feed the hungry, house the homeless (its all about isaiah 58). However, it is not always what is visibly wrong with a person that is their lack of wholeness (that is very clumsily worded). For example, a person who has lost a limb can be more than physically crippled by the injury whereas someone else who has lost the same limb may only be physically crippled. While we can have a hope that in the eschatological kingdom both will be restored to a physical wholeness that is impossible at the moment there is a wholeness that needs to come to the first person, a bringing of heaven into their lives.

I'm not saying that being Christian means being whole and that if you're not then you're not a Christian because that is not true. There is a wholeness that is still to come a completion and perfection which the whole earth is moving towards. However, there is a progression and perfecting that begins here on earth. To which we should all strive.

2 Comments:

Blogger Ruth said...

It's like Te whare tapa wha (which is a maori model of health but it could be applied in this kind of thing...)! It basically means the house with four walls and in this model health (or wholeness) is represented by a house. All four walls of the house need to be strong in order for the house to be strong. the walls are
tapa tinana- which is bodily/physical health
tapa hinengaro- emotional/mental health
tapa whanau- family/community relationship health
tapa wairua- spiritual health.

I really like this model and I just realised it can be applied to a lot of things (thanks Jared). As christians, I guess the thing that seems immediately relevant (or sometimes the one that we are scared to talk about) is tapa wairua but it's good to remember that the other walls hold up the house too.

12:22 pm  
Blogger AJ said...

cool post jrodicuss. you brighten my life:)

7:26 pm  

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