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The Rules of Heaven

I have long since moved past the question, Is heaven real? I have no problem believing that it is or that Im going there. But there remains a philosophical question regarding the Biblical description of paradise that has continued to sit in the corner of my head for several years now and I think its time I asked it: Is the existence of heaven even ethical? It seems that we continually debate the ethics (or lack thereof, depending on which side youre on) behind Gods earth-related decisions; his continuous allowance for pain, sickness, and suffering in the world of men. But we never discuss the ethics behind heaven as it is described in the Bible. I think its time we did and I think we should start with this: (3) And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. (4) He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. -Revelations 21: 3-4 ESV These verses are telling us that, in heaven, we will no longer be able to feel any emotional pain or sadness. This seems like it would be marvelous, but isnt relieving us of our ability to experience negative emotions the same as taking away half of our ability to feel? Part of the

humanity God breathed into us includes experiencing emotionsGod himself designed us to feel. If He strips half of that away under the pretense of a perfect world, isnt that also taking away part of the human experience? One might say that there is nothing about which to have negative feelings in heaven, so we would not need the ability to feel these emotions. But its not just our lack of an emotional range once we arrive in heaven that disturbs me, it is the implication that any negative earthly memories that have potential to cause mourning, crying, or pain will be removed... and without our permission. ~ For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind. -Isaiah 65:17 ESV Upon first glance, this may seem to suggest that once we make it to heaven, we will not remember anything from our time spent on earth. After all, the verse does not mention which former things (if not all of them) will be forgotten. However, if we look at the verse in the context of the verses following it, we can see that Isaiah (one of them at least) uses Jerusalem as a symbol for Gods people. This is not surprising, considering the times in which this passage was written and redacted and whom it was originally written for. Admittedly, Isaiahs audience was not familiar

with the world of 2013 and could more easily relate to a metaphor in which their specific city and people were referenced. That being said, there are further contextual pieces of information which make it quite clear that the phrase former things should be interpreted to mean the former problems experienced by the Jewish people. The same phrase appears in Isaiah several times in specific reference to the Jews.1 This series of verses suggests a strong indication of Ecclesiastesthat there is a time and place for everything. God tells his people at one point to remember the former things and at another point, to forget them because new things are in their future. So what does this mean for

us? If Jerusalem is being used as synecdoche for all of Gods people, then the trials of Jerusalem
must be metaphors for the tribulations of all of Gods people on earth. This brings us back to the description of heaven in Isaiah 65that the former things shall not be remembered. If the former things mentioned is symbolism for our past trials and tribulations, then forgetting these things must equate to forgetting memories that impact(ed) us negatively. I suppose this may mean that positive memories could stay with us after death but even if that is true, what happens when we begin to speak in terms of peoplecomplicated multifaceted individualsinstead of simply isolated events? If a heaven bound Christian has a loved one that does not come to heaven with him, wouldnt that be a negative memory? Further, wouldnt that create new negative emotionsan occurrence that is also against the rules of heaven? What if it is

impossible to separate the positive memories of a loved one from the negative ones because that loved one is not even in heaven with you? Is your entire memory of that person erased for all eternity? Based on the definitive way the passage reads, it doesnt seem like we get a choice in this matter, but well come back to that. The question of a hell bound friend or relative leads me to the next question evoked by the Biblical description of heaven: will we even be able to recognize our loved ones there? It looks, based on my Biblical findings, as if the answer is yes. (13) But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. (14) For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. (15) For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. (16) For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. (17) Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. (18) Therefore encourage one another with these words. -1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 ESV

Paul speaks about a reunion of believers with each other. Why would he be telling bereaved family members that they had hope in order to comfort them if he knew that they would never see (or at least realizing they were seeing) their sleeping deadloved ones again? Further, in Mark 9:4-5 we see that, during Christs Transfiguration, Elijah and Moses (who had long since been dead) were recognized by Peter, James, and John. So, based on examples in scripture, it seems obvious that we will at least know who our loved ones are when we arrive in heaven. Of course, that could be a potential issue which could very easily break the no mourning rule. If we are, indeed, able to look at the group of our friends, family, and loved ones in general, wouldnt we be able to tell automatically which ones are not present? By default, that can only mean one thingthe ones you dont see in heaven must be in hell. A heaven bound Christian might be greeted by an ecstatic cousin Paulie and overjoyed uncle Bob, but what about sweet Great aunt Christine and your moms friend Sam who raised you like a daughter? Either we will realize were missing loved ones, (and feel negative emotions, which is against the rules) be forced to forget completely about the ones who did not make it, (which would be a violation of at least my free will, considering I would never choose to forget family) or heaven will be one giant spiritual family with no actual familial distinctions, meaning everyone is everyones relative and your Great Aunt Christine means as little to you now as some strangers Grandpa George. To tell the truth, none of these three optionsI guess I shouldnt say options

possibilities sits well with me, but if I did get the choice, I would rather keep the memories of my
loved ones regardless of their presence in heaven and regardless of how sad it would make me feel. Why? Because my memories belong to me and ripping them away without my permission is a gross violation of my free will. As mentioned before, Revelations tells us of our new half-emotionless heavenly conscious and I admitted feeling partially robbed of my humanity, but a lack of emotions is not the only issue I have with the humanity leeching Biblical description of heaven. We will also be drained of our normal, natural human desires, such as the desire to have sex, children, romance, or marriage desires that we were intended to look forward to during our human lives. The Biblical sources for these accusations are all over the place. In Matthew 22: 29-30, a religious group called the Sadducees who did not believe in resurrection asked Jesus a rather tricky question for the purpose of trying to make Him look ridiculous. They told him the story of a woman who had taken seven husbands throughout her lifetime because each one had died before she had. The Sadducees asked Jesus which one of her husbands would be considered her husband in heaven. Unperturbed by this, Christ answered them by saying, You are mistaken, not understanding the scriptures, or the power of God. For in the resurrection, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.

Why do I equate this passage to a heavenly lessening of humanity? It implies that the spousal relationships of humans in heaven will be totally dissolved (which leans toward support for the big happy spiritual family theory of heaven). According to the implications of Jesus response, people will not, in heaven, experience old marriages or new onessingle men and women will never know romantic love and previously married people will never sexually desire each other again for all eternity. There are several reasons for this, the most important of them being that the love of God trumps all other kinds of love that have ever existed. The ultimate version of marriage is Christs relationship with His church and our relationships with Christ will be of utmost concern to us. Everyone in heaven will have his face turned toward Christ in worship, leaving to room for concern for earthlike romantic relationships of any kind. In addition, human marriage will no longer be necessary because procreation will no longer be necessary. God placed Adam and Eve together to populate the earth, not to populate heaven. Wanting to have children, another common human trait, is also wrested from our minds. Why? Because loving God enough to surrender the humanity he gave you is supposed to be a choice. If a child is born into paradise, shes not choosing God because God is being chosen for her. However, these things are not supposed to disturb or disappoint us because we are expected to look forward to the fact that our humanity will be replaced by something betterthe

eternal love of Christ. But I think I should be able to keep my memories and worship Christ at the same time and Im pretty sure I could do both for all eternity. I suppose one could argue that Gods dismantling of our basic human traits is not technically against the rules of heaven because God only promised free will to us as humans. Once we arrive in paradise well be more than human though; well be perfect like angels in heaven. To become more than human, I guess we must agree to have bits and pieces of our humanity stripped away and then further agree to forget it happened so we can be happy forever. Now, it is understood that admittance into heaven requires the removal of basic human traits such as jealousy, anger, and selfishness. One could argue that the influence of Satan is removed and thus only positive human traits remain. But is an all-positive outlook decidedly human? Our ability to feel and act on a plethora of emotions is what makes us human. Other animals try to survive just long enough to procreate, but us? We want to self-actualize, to learn for the sake of learning, to enjoy life! And sometimes, that means feeling sad from time to time. Why is it perfectly human to be moved by tragedies? Do I have an eternity devoid of good literature to look forward to simply because Shakespeare doesnt fall within the rules of heaven? In fact, how many great literary legacies will we lose because we are not permitted to be reminded of human suffering? Will we even be allowed to keep our precious memories of moving tragedies and dramatic poetry that we have already read?

My question is, does God violate our free will by ransacking our human nature without asking as soon as we take that first step through those pearly gates? At first glance Id say yes, but the answer is technically no. You see, God did ask. All of this is in the Bible, which we are expected as believers to both read and research. When we agree to accept God into our hearts, we are already agreeing to the rules of heaven and therefore also agreeing to the fine print. Technically, no, God does not violate our free will in this sense; however, we must remember that God makes the rules. In order to look forward to the death of our humanity along with the perishing of our bodies, free will must willingly be given up. While we are on earth, accepting Christ, we are in that process of agreeing not to want our humanity when we are in heaven, and thats not Gods problem because we were supposed to read His book which clearly spells out: No crying, no pain, no marriage, no negative emotions, no sexual desires So how are losing our humanity and losing our free will related? The loss of our humanity consists of having our ability to feel negative emotions taken away, but the loss of our free will means not being able to choose to have that ability taken away. If we willingly signed a contract that said, singing this document will relieve you of several of your basic human traits including the following THAT is losing humanity, but not free will because nobody forced our hand to write our name. If we were forced to sign the document, THEN we have lost both. However, neither of those instances are scenarios with which are compelled to deal. In actuality,

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God has presented us with the contract, given us a pen, and has let us decide. But this contract has scores of fine print which he knew most of us wouldnt notice or take the time to read as he was drafting the page on his iMac. Even so, our free will was not technically violated or was it? Though God is not forcing us to accept this Biblical description of heaven, if fundamentalists interpretations are correct and refusing to accept Gods terms results is a ticket straight to hell, then this figurative document also includes a fateful and morbid provision which would say something along the lines of, In the event that a person refuses to sign on the dotted line, his existence will either be terminated or he will be tortured for all eternity (depending on the version of hell you believe in). So, we choose a life of utopian paradise with only happy thoughts and no emotionally charged literary masterpieces, or we refuse to have our human nature chopped to bits and thus end up using our grand free will to send ourselves straight to hell. Though, there is a loophole. ~ The wall was built of Jasper, while the city was pure gold, clear as glass. The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of jewel. The first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald - Revelations 21: 18-19 ESV

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We have to ask ourselves why God chose to create our paradise out of precious metals and stones, and more importantly, why did he choose to have that particular description appear in His Word? Humans associate heaven with paradise because that is how it is described, but why does God mention the jewels? It is because we value them. If we saw in the Bible a description of heaven where the streets were made of asphalt and the walls were made of brick, it would not seem as visually appealing. God knew that the humans who would read about heaven would be in awe of the golden city. God wanted the description of heaven to serve the purpose of being so amazing in was incomprehensible and a transparent city of Gold does the job. Of course, the literal heaven cannot be described with our woefully inaccurate human vocabularies. God had to let us read something we could visualize, even if the description itself must be symbolic. What if humans did not value gold and sapphire and emerald? What would the walls of heaven described in the Bible be made of then? I dont think the answer matters because the point of the passage was that we equate heaven with fantastic and transparent golden walls that seem to be physically impossible as a supportive structure work perfectly to meet that end. So, if the physical description of heaven is not literal, it is entirely possible that the emotional and physiological experiences described to us have been written in a figurative manner as well, rendering all my concerns and worries about the eradication of my free will totally unfounded and laughable.

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I leave you with this: if what I have proposed is indeed true and if the fundamentalist interpretation of heaven is indeed correct, is God blowing a gaping chasm right through the center of his own rules by describing heaven the way he has? Is it ethical to give us an ultimatum between letting go of any loved ones that didnt use their free will correctly and living for all eternity separated from the God we confessed our belief in? Is it ethical to make us live our whole lives falling in love with the human condition and then to destroy half of it without asking? And the biggest question of allif it turned out that my opinions voided my ticket to heaven, did I even want to go in the first place?