The Afterlife: Heaven

Ask Me Anything

Week 6: The Afterlife: Heaven

What are the varying perspectives on heaven and hell? Are we truly deemed to one place for eternity?
What about people who aren't Christian but have never heard of Christianity?
I have SO many questions about heaven and hell but don’t know where to start.

What do you believe about heaven?

A 2015 Pew Research study found that 72% of Americans believed in heaven. This is regardless of religious leaning. People roughly defined heaven as a place where "people who led good lives are eternally rewarded." Eschatology is the section of theology that focuses on the afterlife. In Christianity specifically, our thoughts on the afterlife have shifted dramatically in the past 2,000 years. Interestingly, what we believe about heaven and hell are not spelled out in the Bible. There is a New Testament scholar named Bart Erhman, who has done a lot of research on the evolution of the afterlife in the Christian faith. He released a book in March of 2020 called Heaven and Hell: The History of the Afterlife, which talks about the history of what we have believed and how we got to this place of belief.

Beliefs About Heaven: How did we get here?

Let's talk first about the context of ancient Jewish belief on the afterlife. According to Erhman, historically, Jews did not believe in the concept of the soul the way we see it. It was not a life for trapped within a human body, that in itself is a very Greek belief. Instead, Jews believed that breath was our animating force. We see this from the creation story, God breathes life into Adam. Therefore, the overwhelming belief was that when the body dies, so does the breath. There wasn't an idea that the soul went to heaven or hell. In the 6th century B.C.E. there was a shift in Jewish teaching. The Jews believed that God was going to redeem Israel and restore the temple. This later evolved to include the resurrection of individual bodies. The idea of "afterlife" was more of a restoration of this physical world and the physical body. It wasn't tied to the destination of the soul.

Around 200 B.C.E. there is a rise in Jewish apocalyptic teaching. This is where we begin to see the belief that God would send a Messiah to destroy forces of evil, restore the nation of Israel, and resurrect all of the dead people of Israel. This would restore paradise on earth, in which all of the Hebrew people would get to enjoy with God. This was dependent on the idea of the apocalypse or "end of days"; it was the merging of God and humankind. At this time, Jews believed there was God's space, "heaven", and our space, "earth”, and this was still the predominant teaching when Jesus was alive.

John the Baptist heavily preached apocalyptic theology: the idea that Jesus was the Messiah that would restore Jerusalem and resurrect the dead. Many early followers of the Jesus movement saw Jesus as the perfect blend between "heaven" and "earth", therefore believing He was able to fully bring about the resurrection of the dead by first being resurrected. It is extremely likely that this is what most early believers thought. Pope Clement I, who was the fourth Pope of Rome (from 88-99 B.C.E.), doesn’t talk about heaven after death, but instead about a slumber, before we are raised from the dead. Similarly, Paul teaches heavily that Jesus will be coming back soon, therefore we need to keep life as simple as possible. This is where we see a lot of Paul's writings encouraging people to quit their jobs, not get married, get divorced, or altogether change their station in life. He believed Jesus was coming any second. It is by the end of the 1st century that we see a shift in belief of afterlife. Paul, and many other early Christians, begin to realize that Jesus might not come back in their lifetime and begin to grapple with what that could mean. Paul begins to teach that Christ-followers can be in the presence of God spiritually before the final resurrection of the dead takes place. So instead of dying and just being dead (as Jews would've previously believed), the idea rose that heaven would be a waiting place for the end times. Early followers latched onto this. It was a comfort to think that even if they didn't see Christ's second coming within their lifetime, they would be united with God in the afterlife.

Like with all other theological points, there was a wide range of beliefs. It’s important to note that the audience and author of a particular text matter when we think of scripture that refers to the afterlife. For instance, the Gnostic Gospels wrote Jesus as discussing the soul and the idea of a spiritual heaven. The Gnostics, who were eventually labeled heretics, believed that the body was repulsive and that the soul was essentially trapped within the body, and it would escape the body in death. For Gnostics it was all about the soul and spiritual being, whereas the canonized gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) all rely heavily on the idea of the resurrection of the dead, and Jesus coming again. For Jewish-Christian converts, there would have been a heavy focus on the body and the physical resurrection of the dead. For Greek-Christian converts there was a big focus on the soul, so the idea of a physical body being raised from the dead would've been repulsive, we can see a lot of Greek influence in early Christian thought because there were so many Greek converts. This debate between ascension of the soul or resurrection of the body has never been resolved within Christian thought. Different audiences interpreted the Jesus event differently. So while there are places in scripture that have come to inform our thoughts on the afterlife, they all need to be read with the historical beliefs and understandings they would've had.

In the second century there are religious writings from Papias, who was a bishop. Many of his writings were lost, but there are remaining fragments that discuss heaven as 3 separate layers: heaven, city, paradise. He claimed that "there is this distinction between the habitation of those who produce a hundredfold, and that of those who produce sixty-fold, and that of those who produce thirty-fold." So it is clear that after the first century, things begin to shift rapidly. Irenaeus, who we talked about in week two of this series, was a 18-20 year old Greek bishop in the second century. He quoted other church leaders claiming "[T]hose who are deemed worthy of an abode in heaven shall go there, others shall enjoy the delights of paradise, and others shall possess the splendor of the city; for everywhere the Savior shall be seen according as they who see Him shall be worthy." By the third century, it is pretty solidified that church leaders believe we will go to heaven when we die. This is important, because it was in the third century that Constantine called for the council of Nicaea and believed in creating one mainstream orthodoxy. You can learn more about Constantine's impact on Christianity in week two of this series. So because of this, we get the Nicene Creed which says,

For us men and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary,
and became man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate,
he suffered death and was buried,
and rose again on the third day
in accordance with the Scriptures.
He ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory
to judge the living and the dead
and his kingdom will have no end.

Methodist Theology

Specifically within Methodist theology, our concept of Heaven is pretty loose. There are a few uniform specifics, but we believe that there is a lot of room for individual belief and interpretation. We do believe in the Nicene and Apostles' Creed which state similar things around Jesus coming again, being the judge, and that Jesus's kingdom will have no end. John Wesley himself believed that Jesus would come again and there would be a physical resurrection of the dead, however that is not a maintained Methodist belief. We believe that heaven is a place where we will be united with God for eternity. It is hugely important to note that as Methodists we do not believe it is anyone else's judgement as to where a person ends up in the afterlife. Therefore we have no right to claim someone will go to heaven or hell. According to Methodist Doctrine: The Essentials, as Methodist's we believe that we are to help bring about a better world, "It is a vision of the transformation of the earth until God's justice, mercy, and love prevail throughout the whole."

In the end, belief in afterlife, is about hope. It is about a hope for a better future, for a time where justice will reign and there will be an end to suffering. In general, the way we approach the afterlife is very narrow and dualistic. We believe there is specifically heaven and hell, and as we can see, we haven’t always believed the same thing. It is ever evolving, and that is okay. Part of faith is mystery and ever changing thoughts on how we as humans can interact with the divine. In a book by Catherine Wolff called Beyond, she interviews people of different faiths and beliefs regarding the afterlife. One of the biggest takeaways in her research was that we have such a narrow, dualistic view. I think it is important to dream and imagine. We are learning so much more about science, identity, personhood, the concept of the soul and are in a time where I think we should re-approach this conversation with a little wonder.

Discussion Questions

What were you taught about heaven growing up?
Does understanding how humanity’s beliefs about heaven have evolved over time impact your views? If so, in what ways?
If you feel comfortable sharing, have you been in spaces where those around you have made judgments as to where you’ll end up in the afterlife? In contrast, what does it feel like to be in a space where the belief that only God can make those judgements is upheld? How can we, as individuals, hold ourselves accountable in not making judgments that only God should?