A Theological Fantasy
“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him”—
- 1 Corinthians 2:9 -
Prepare to be bored.
Seriously, deeply bored. I mean, how exciting could a story possibly be if there's no danger involved?
No damsel in distress.
No crisis to resolve.
Nothing but absolute perfection, day, after day, after day... But you get the idea.
Or, do you?
Maybe you don't get it. Perhaps I should try to explain my problem.
Life's a Beach
Image courtesy of Glen Jackson and http://unsplash.com
You see, I'm in Heaven.
No, not that "puffy cloud, robes and harps" rubbish you've seen in the cartoons. I mean, the real, honest to God, eternal universe sort of Heaven that you'd know about if you bothered to pay attention to your bible.
What's that? You're a Christian?
Why the hell don't you know about this?
No wonder your neighbors aren't jealous - you're not giving off any excitement about your amazing future.
OK, ok, maybe it's not entirely your fault. In fact, that's one reason I'm writing this now.
My friend Amy (that's her doing pirouettes on the beach) said I ought to write a few stories about life here, for your benefit. She reminded me that you're somewhat handicapped. After "God's beloved, chosen, gathered people" fossilized into "the church," the fellows who used to pass for preachers weren't exactly visionaries.
Amy said, "Duncan, why don't you write some stories? Stir up some excitement? Give them a glimpse of what's really in store? "
So here we go.
I apologize in advance if the really good stuff ends up getting redacted.
Not that you'd ever know. One or two things we take for granted now may be literally "forbidden knowledge" to you. Nevertheless, I'll try!
I'll keep this conversational, like a chat over drinks, or like I'm writing you a letter. If you're reading this, either angelic dispatch worked — this was delivered by special courier — or I've been able to convey it to my past self in a dream.
Just another day at the beach...
Image courtesy of Ishan @seefromthesky and http://unsplash.com
What's life in heaven really like?
It's surprisingly like life on Earth. In fact, it is life on Earth because Heaven and Earth are now completely merged. There's no longer any distinction. Earth has been utterly purged and renewed, along with all that you might imagine that could mean. Everything is pristine, Edenic.
It might be more productive to tell you what life in heaven is not like.
No pollution.
No litter.
No bloody assholes to ruin your day.
Since arriving here (entirely by Jesus/God's kind grace, BTW, nothing I ever did to deserve it), one of the most interesting things I've noticed is a change in my vocabulary. There are lots of words that I rarely, if ever, use any more. And no, I'm not talking about "profanity."
You want examples?
"Tired." I never say "I'm tired" any more - well, I just did, but only so you'll understand.
"Sad." Hahahaha! Never again!
"Hurt." Nothing hurts any more. Not a thing.
"Lonely." How could I possibly be lonely when I'm surrounded by beautiful, loving friends?
Oh, the words still exist... in the dictionaries, and in the Library of Heaven... but purely for historical reasons.
Phrases, too.
"I don't have the time." Hahahahaha! I have all the time I'll ever need to be and do and become anything I've ever dreamt of.
"I can't afford it." Really? I have the wealth of the universe at my disposal.
"You're not allowed to do that." Anything I want to do, and can imagine, is now possible. Anything.
But wait, there's more.
"Old." What does that even mean?
Just as he promised in the book, Jesus has made everything new.
I have a new body.
I live in New Heavens and on a New Earth.
New, new, new!
God's mercies are new every morning.
But, hey, there's so much more to tell. Especially about these new bodies... I mean, wow, if your head isn't in the bible, it's not likely you can imagine how incredibly good they are... So I'll just have to tell you.
Willie Nelson sings "Whispering Hope"
Next time.
To be continued...
© 2017, Duncan Cary Palmer. All rights reserved.
with a tip of the hat to John J. Geddes for suggesting I write more fiction...
