Then what else might we need to re-consider?…
NT Wright debunks the myth that you go to heaven after death and it is the ultimate reality. Try preaching that on Sunday…
I was in a church recently where the pastor did. As I wandered in the crowd afterwards a few people expressed concern at the wayward sermon.
It does make you wonder though… if were wrong about heaven…
At least he is saying Heaven comes to us
with the return of Jesus and the Nerw Heavens and the New Earth…… Gav
It is good to be back from Long service leave!
i have always dreaded the ‘eternal worship service’ view of heaven. i enjoy a good sing along, but i dont know if Khe Sahn will be a main stay of that order of service….
This is a good subject to explore. I think we do need to come to a biblically based recognition of heaven. Soceity has very much shaped our views.
At the same those who are trying to “reimagine” heaven have also gotten off track.
Right on, we do need to really study what Heaven really is… I took an eschatology class in bible college that had a very similar view as to Wright, so this intrigues me a lot. I thought that maybe my professor was a bit too literal. There are some differences, but most of it is quite similar… although in the Time article he doesn’t really address the hell issue, just the part of what Christian will be doing….
Didn’t have time to read it all, but very helpful article, I think. Not so different from a considered point of view that you will find in some Christian circles. My fave part is: “the New Testament is much more interested in what I’ve called the life after life after death”
Gee Hamo between this and the Pagan Christianity you’ve just totally deconstructed the Western Church.
Does this mean that people can go back to singing John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’ in church again now?
Just got my hands on Wright’s book “Surprised by Hope” yesterday in which he explores these matters. Can’t wait to get stuck into it – love Wright’s stuff!
I don’t think the church has necessarily had it totally wrong about heaven. I just think in general we haven’t given it much serious though, instead just going along with the pop cultural myth of a disembodied “pie in the sky” type place in the clouds with pearly gates and harps etc. Hopefully people like Tom Wright will inspire more of us to explore what the Bible really says about this, and thus give us a clearer idea of what our future hope is as Christians.
And anything which contributes to John Lennon being allowed in church can’t be bad 🙂
I hate that song. God is dead, viva humanity.
Last year the Christian Unions in Perth had their annual mid year conference on the topic of resurrection. I was the speaker, and came to a firm conclusion that, biblically heaven isn’t all its cracked up to be. (Compared to the new heavens and new earth, that is.)
People seemed to come with me, so, unless they were being polite, there should be about 160 young people in Perth churches who think heaven is overrated!
(The curious thing about this issue is than, anyone you read whose worth their weight on eschatology follows Wright’s line to a greater or lesser extend. It’s not particularly controversial, I don’t think. So I can’t work out how pastors all go to College, learn about the biblical hope of the resurrection and the renewal of all things and then keep serving up an unreconstructed ‘heaven’ as the ultimate goal of the Christian hope. What goes wrong?)