Feature
The Road to Heaven
It is full of mystery and foreshadowings.
(Page 2 of 2)
The next thing I knew was waking up in the hospital where the doctor was taking my temperature, saying, “I think he’ll be all right now.” In medical terms, I was later told that I had been through the “pneumonia curve” when the temperature soars to critical heights. It either goes on rising and the patient dies, or it suddenly falls. Apparently it had been a close-run thing.
There were oddities to my delirious dreams, which later seemed perplexing. Although I had been unconscious at the time, my descriptions of the scene around my bedside, down to details and snippets of the nurses’ conversation, were 100 percent accurate. The people I met in the garden had been dead for some years. One of them, my Canadian grandmother, had never met me in life. Yet I was able to describe her well, right down to the locket she wore round her neck. None of this seemed particularly important until, much later, I read articles and books about out-of-body experiences. What I now know is that many peoples’ out-of-body experiences have been remarkably similar to mine. Not in every respect, but common features recur time and again. We can’t all be making this up.
THE CONTEMPORARY “EVIDENCE” of out-of-body experiences may not convince Mr. Derbyshire, but it has persuaded a good few people at least to wonder about what happens on the other side of the grave. “Nothing, a void, the end, period,” say the atheists. “Rising in heavenly glory,” claim believers. Who is right?
Because we mortals are creatures of time, we are unable to get our heads round the concept of eternity. Even when we believe in God, “we only understand the outskirts of his ways,” says the Book of Job. So after citing any number of biblical passages, religious traditions, visions, artworks, experiences, and theological libraries full of “evidence,” we are still only guessing about heaven. But at least we can ask the right questions before we guess.
The first question is: Are we satisfied with an earthly life that ends in nothingness? Our free will entitles us to answer in the affirmative and to take no interest in God or where he dwells. The flaw in that approach was well summarized by the lyrics of the 1960s Peggy Lee song.
Is that all there is?
Is that all there is?
If that’s all there is my friend
Then let’s keep dancing
Let’s break out the booze
And have a ball
If that’s all there is
The second question, only to be answered by those who have moved on the assertion that human life consists merely of DNA strands, is: Do we have any spiritual curiosity about what might be in store for us beyond the horizons of our earthly sight?
If we do have such curiosity, the full title of Peter Kreeft’s seminal book, Heaven: The Heart’s Deepest Longing, becomes highly relevant. For what he and other writers on this subject argue is that many of us, deep down, instinctively understand that this world is not our home. We experience in one form or another a call within our hearts of dissatisfaction with the earthly nature of our daily lives. Augustine of Hippo caught this mood when he wrote, “Our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee.” It is a restlessness that cannot be satisfied by booze, balls, bank balances, promises of politicians, or symbols of success. Once we have stumbled our way to this reality, we have begun our quest for heaven.
Inevitably, this quest is a mystery. There are two main schools of theological opinion as to where it leads. The traditional view is that heaven is a place to which our souls travel after death. It will be peaceful, beautiful, restful, joyful, and full of the glory of God. We will be reunited with our loved ones, and we will have heavenly rather than earthly bodies. If it is anything like my grandparents’ dining room, to which I may have made a fleeting visit at the peak of my pneumonia curve, well, Hallelujah! But I suspect that the joys of heaven are far more profound. There is encouragement in the words of Jesus: “In my Father’s house are many mansions.” (John 14:2)
The modernist view of heaven does not encompass mansions, gardens, angels, seraphs, or throne rooms. It is not a place but a space—God’s space. We enter it not by our work but by his grace. And his space fills our hearts as our hearts open up to his grace. As the ancient liturgy says, “We pray that we may dwell in Him and He in us.”
None of this will make sense to Mr. Derbyshire, who seems determined to deny the existence of both God and Heaven. But perhaps his rejection is not quite as absolute as it seems. I was amused by his qualifying penultimate line: “If the admission standards are low enough to get in…” Amen to that from me and from all the rest of us sinners facing our uncomfortable interviews at the pearly gates. For the answer to that Oxford essay question mentioned in the opening paragraph of this article is:
Heaven is where God dwells, and its population will be full of surprises.
About the Author
Jonathan Aitken, The American Spectator’s High Spirits columnist, is most recently author of John Newton: From Disgrace to Amazing Grace (Crossway Books). His biographies include Charles W. Colson: A Life Redeemed (Doubleday) and Nixon: A Life, now available in a new paperback edition (Regnery).
Letter to the Editor View all comments (38) | Leave a comment
Related Articles
More Articles by Jonathan Aitken
More Articles From Feature
http://spectator.org/archives/2012/06/20/the-road-to-heaven
Follow us:
ADVERTISEMENT
Current Issue
- The Continuing Crisis
- The Demise of Money and Credit
- Self-Righteous Republic
The Spectacle Blog
Former IRS Commissioner Refused to Say That Targeting Conservative Groups is Wrong
Benjamin Brophy | 2:27PM
SPONSORED LINKS
FLASHBACK TO: 1995
-
Pope Culture
A man of faith in a godless age is hitting Americans where it hurts.
-
Why the GOP Does Not, Like, Totally Suck
Mr. and Mrs. American Spectator Reader, let P.J. O’Rourke talk sense to your kids.
-
Dames at Sea
-
In the Absence of Guns
In Britain, defending your property can get you life.
-
The Metaphysical Martini
-
Counting the Costs of Clintonism
The debacle of this president’s administration is both a cause and a symptom of the decline of American values. Unless Congress impeaches him, that decline will go on unchecked. An eminent jurist surveys the damage and assesses the chances for the recovery of our culture.
-
Chuck McHagel
It won’t take long for conservatives to scratch this presidential wannabe off their 2008 scorecard.
-
The Legacy of Old John and Mother Fresh-Roasted
-
It’s the Best Time of the Year
The American Christmas, like the songs that celebrate it, makes room for everybody under the rainbow. Is that why so many people seem to be hostile to it?
-
The Bush Crack-Up
Was the President done in by the economy, or by the politics of the economy?
Clip of the Day
ADVERTISEMENT
Appleby| 6.21.12 @ 6:54AM
I am looking forward to Heaven, and I have no doubt whatsoever that it exists and is a place of perfect rest -- kind of like retirement only without any worry about the stock market taking away all my savings, or a worried evening with the bills. As the old hymn says, 'There is a place of quiet rest/near to the heart of God" ... and I have the assurance that one day I'll be done with trouble and sorrow and walk in the cool green fields of peace with God and my friends and family and all the racing drivers who ever lived.
My Daddy, who was not a fanciful man, once suddenly asked me if I thought his father (whose photo is in the dictionary next to Sinner) could be in Heaven. I told him the truth -- that only God knows our hearts, and probably many people whom we never expected to see will meet us there...and they will say they never expected to see us.
KyMouse| 6.21.12 @ 4:41PM
We cannot say whether or not a particular person is going to Heaven, but we CAN say what is required to go there -- and that is faith (obedient trust) in the Jesus of the Bible.
Not good works, not baptism in the Jordan River, not membership in a certain church or denomination, not going to church every day and twice on Sundays.
We have Jesus' word on it -- in John 3:14-18, for example:
“…And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness [Numbers 21:4-9], even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
“He who believes in Him [Jesus] is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God….”
I believe Jesus knew what He was talking about. I'm grateful that He paid for ALL of my sins on the cross, and I trust Him to keep all of His promises to me.
"My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me, and I give to them eternal life; and they shall never perish..." -- John 10:27-28
Jack in Wi| 6.21.12 @ 10:26PM
This is a fine, well written essay. Lets hope they have more of such in this publication. My sincere complements to the author.
Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 6.21.12 @ 6:55AM
You're right.
Stormzeye| 6.21.12 @ 8:04AM
"All the way to heaven, is heaven."
- St. Catherine of Siena
Ryan| 6.21.12 @ 8:29AM
"Further up and further in!" - CS Lewis
Bill84728| 6.21.12 @ 9:15AM
What's the current consensus on the resurrection of the body, which we Christians say we believe in, in the Apostles' Creed?
Do we come back in our bodies, and are our bodies our ideal bodies or the ones we lived in with all flaws?
Is it still frowned on among Christians to be cremated?
David T| 6.21.12 @ 2:36PM
For the model of the resurrected body, we look to Christ's "glorified" body after he rose from the dead. He had a physical body but he was not constrained by physical forces. He was recognizable by those who knew him before, but he could also make himself unrecognizable if he so chose.
As for cremation, it is acceptable as long as the ashes are accorded the same dignity as the body. In other words, proper burial in the ground or placement in a columbarium--no sprinkling of grandma's ashes or putting them in an urn on the mantel.
Bill84728| 6.21.12 @ 4:41PM
Bad news for my plan to have my ashes sprinkled in a particular desert river, where I could flow down to the Sea of Cortez, thence to the Pacific.
SusyQue| 6.21.12 @ 9:27AM
Mr. Aiken...thank you for sharing your experience. Let us remember, Jesus Christ is the Door into heaven. Why? Because God is Holy and cannot look upon sin. Jesus bore our sins of the Cross when we believe that and confess that.., the door to Heaven is open to us because we have been cleansed by His Precious redemptive Blood. Glory to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit who are
ONE in our new hearts.
Denver Todd| 6.21.12 @ 9:42AM
Who is getting into heaven? The answer is simply divine!
C. Vernon Crisler | 6.21.12 @ 10:18AM
I wonder, if Derbyshire were to grant for a moment that heaven exists, would there be any blacks there?
Frances| 6.21.12 @ 10:36AM
I read this book while my father was in hospice and it gave me tremendous peace. "90 Minutes in Heaven" by Don Piper. This book will bless your life.
Appleby| 6.21.12 @ 11:35AM
I have read it, and I agree. It's fascinating.
Dave Williams| 6.21.12 @ 12:31PM
Oh, for Pete's sake, the fact that 21st-century adults armed with all the knowledge that science has provided us should still believe medieval nonsense is MOST depressing. Heaven...is....a....FICTION.....as is hell, and as is any afterlife whatsoever. At the moment of death, the brain releases all sorts of feel-good chemicals, and so it is no wonder that life's most pleasant memories come floating back to the surface. This life is ALL there is, so it's important to live it with courage, integrity, humor, and compassion FOR THEIR OWN SAKES, and not for the hope of some disembodied pie-in-the-sky payoff.
Stormzeye| 6.21.12 @ 2:07PM
Dave, live your life as if there's a Hell and we'll all be better for it.
David T| 6.21.12 @ 2:16PM
Mr. Williams--I'm intrigued. I did not realize science had disproved the existence of heaven and hell and the afterlife. Please provide more detail....
C. Vernon Crisler | 6.21.12 @ 2:21PM
"This life is ALL there is, so it's important to live it with courage, integrity, humor, and compassion FOR THEIR OWN SAKES...."
Why?
Bill84728| 6.21.12 @ 4:36PM
So we can just disregard singularities and quantum mechanics, right?
Ryan| 6.22.12 @ 9:14AM
If you know anything about science, you would know that we understand less now than ever before.
henry| 6.21.12 @ 12:42PM
In the course of forty plus years as a doctor I’ve seen many people die. One day I visited a man in the ICU who was terminal. He seemed very thoughtful but not downhearted or afraid.
After he greeted me he asked me if I had noticed the three men at the door. I looked but there was no-one there. He said the men had told him they were there to fetch him, and asked me if I knew anything about it. An hour later he was dead.
I spoke to a man once who was an engineer, stationed in the Amazon forest. He had a heart attack, and his wife, a nurse, and an orderly took him to hospital by ambulance. He was unconscious while she gave him CPR. He described to me afterwards how he saw her doing this from an elevated position, and even described the appearance of the back of her neck.
I had a child in my practice who drowned. It took an hour to resuscitate him, while he was deeply comatose. I asked him afterwards what he remembered. He told me he saw that he was at the bottom of the pool, and that he looked and saw his mommy coming to fetch him.
I’m afraid that I agree with Shakespeare: there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamed of in our philosophy.
GW| 6.21.12 @ 12:48PM
“If I discover within myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world” --C.S. Lewis
The problem with Derbyshire's experience, both with God and Lewis, is that of pure ignorance. Lewis's novels had much deeper meaning than whatever silly names he gave to his characters, and it is only the obtuse materialist who treats Lewis with such disdain. But, as it's said, we loathe what we don't know.
Mr. Aitken's experience is not atypical, and whatever heaven is like it will be even grander and more satisfying than anything we could imagine. But one doesn't have to have a near-death experience to believe heaven exists.
Jesus said, "In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you." This promise is to all who believe in Christ as their personal savior, which Christians have good reason for.
GW| 6.21.12 @ 12:48PM
http://www.reasonablefaith.org.....n-of-jesus
Four, largely accepted historical facts exist regarding the events surrounding the Resurrection. Jesus was crucified for blasphemy, his tomb was empty a few days later, hundreds of his followers claimed to have seen appearances of Jesus, and his closest disciples all strongly believed Jesus indeed rose from the grave.
One of those disciples, John, went on to write a gospel, three epistles, and the Book of Revelation under inspiration from the Holy Spirit. In the final book of the New Testament, John writes, "And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."
We were indeed not made for this world, but the next. All experience tells us this, despite what blind materialists assert.
irish19| 6.21.12 @ 10:26PM
One small nit. I don't think the John who wrote Revelations is the same John who wrote the Gospel and epistles. I could be wrong.
Silver Bullet| 6.21.12 @ 12:55PM
Mr. Derbyshire (and other non-believers) would not want to believe in a divinity whom they could examine under a microscope and "understand." If you understand "it," then it cannot be God.
The issue is whether Derbyshire believes that "he" exists at all -- an autonomous agent of free will.
If so, and if not believing in "God," then he has just made himself into "god" -- and humanity as a kind of god-in-the-making, en route to creating an eternity and a universe of their own -- or at least in a race against the clock of the known universe to do such a thing.
If Derbyshire does not believe in free will, then he must take the dismal view that pleasure is "god"; and that he exists solely to maximize his own, before his expected demise.
Who would want to live in a such a way? Well, I guess quite a few people, given the likes of Larry Flynt and his minions. There is no shortage of people quite overtly living for the moment, for themselves, for pleasure -- partying til they drop.
It is why I have often thought that the National Anthem ought to be Kool and the Gang's "Celebration" -- "Celebrate Good Times!! Come On!!" It might be a far better representation of the national ethos these days than the "Star Spangled Banner."
Bill84728| 6.21.12 @ 4:37PM
If God could be understood, He wouldn't be God.
Who Knows?| 6.21.12 @ 1:35PM
Are you conscious? Are you aware of being conscious? When in orgasmic bliss, are you in heaven or hell?
The prime problem in our times, wherein conventional wisdom is utter belief in scientific materialism and religious provincialism, has to do with consciousness.
We’re all materialists! This means that cutting edge belief is simply recycled flat-earth-ism. So, most “normal” people believe consciousness is a feature of material, an attribute.
So, you have knee jerkers who believe all those near death experiences are just the PHYSICAL brain flickering off.
In truth, materialism is an attribute of Consciousness, which is Being, as well as Bliss. Consciousness is ALL there is, as weird as that seems, in our “heavy, man” stepped down frequencies of Light, as energy.
Belief IN whatever doesn’t cut it!
Any putatively educated fool can repeat e=mc(squared). AND not have the slightest clue of what it means, or its TRUE implications. I dare you to ask the first person you see, today, to tell you what it means. Or, try to explain it, to yourself---and I’ll bet 90% of you can’t do so.
Mr. Know-It-All, “Who Knows?”, is ever ready to help—
Energy and matter are ONE and the same, only apparently different.
That means, when you SEE (or otherwise sense) all the weighable stuff in your world, it is simply slow moving energy. Picture ice from liquid water from steam from—light.
This IS Heaven, always and already, folks.
E B | 6.21.12 @ 1:49PM
Thanks for sharing your insights and experience. They match up with my own understanding of heaven, as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Mormons believe that families can be together forever, that we will all come before God to be judged on our faith and works, and if we are cleansed of our sins through Christ, then we can live with Him forever in incomprehensible joy and love and peace. Following Jesus Christ and becoming like Him is the core belief in the LDS (Mormon) Church. We also believe that the opportunity to learn about Christ is given to those who have died who did not learn about him in life, to give all the opportunity to know Him and be saved.
www.conservativemormonmom.blogspot.com
MK48| 6.21.12 @ 5:58PM
EB.......families can live together in "heaven" and you don't get there by good works. How could you be judged by God if you are in a cult.
Saved you say the only way is to believe Jesus died on the cross for you. The last time I looked this up in the book of mormon gee ......I couldn't find it.
Try the real bible..................:-)
Who Knows?| 6.21.12 @ 2:01PM
Mr. Aitken, if you haven’t already done so, read “The Tibetan Book of the Dead.
Best, though, if you “believe” you’re going to die, is “Easy Death”, by Da Free John, from 1983, a book with the following quote from Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, M.D., author of “On Death and Dying”, on the back jacket—
“Easy Death is an exciting, stimulating, and thought-provoking book that adds immensely to the ever-increasing literature on the phenomena of life and death. But, more important, perhaps, a confirmation that a life filled with love instead of fear can lead to ultimate meaningful life and death. Thank you for this masterpiece.”
Petronius| 6.21.12 @ 3:45PM
The old Baltimore Catechism began with the question, Why did God create us?
Ans. "God created me to know, love, and serve Him in this world and be with Him in the next."
This antique teaching has now been supplanted with the demands of those who believe they have the right to acceptance by any and all on their own terms. So it goes with sinners who turn pro. And the Father will do as He will when we pass and the demands turn to cries. Better to make no noise and expect nothing.
Peggie from Georgia| 6.21.12 @ 4:01PM
Let’s just say that all the atheists are right and all Christians are wrong.
Then I am no worse off when I die than you are when you die.
BUT, as a Christian, if I am right and you are wrong, then you are a Hell of lot worse off.
Butch| 6.21.12 @ 5:57PM
I remember reading a general behavioral science text in graduate school by an author named something like Keuhn. You can either believe or not believe, and you will be either right or wrong.
Four possible outcomes: believe and you're right, eternal salvation; believe and you're wrong, you missed out on a lot of fun; don't believe and you're right, nothingness; don't believe and you're wrong--uh oh.
The author was positing that a rational evaluation of these possible outcomes was why most people believe. Never forgot it.
Kingofthenet| 6.21.12 @ 6:22PM
It's called Pascal's Wager, and it's flawed, what if you Worship the wrong God? What if the belief isn't genuine, and merely a ploy?
Stormzeye| 6.21.12 @ 7:47PM
God knows what's in your heart.
Kingofthenet| 6.21.12 @ 4:36PM
'Near Death' occurrences are what the Brain does when it's semi-conscious and lacking in oxygen.The same results can be obtained with drugs (LSD) or direct electrical stimulation of parts of the brain, nothing magical here folks.
Bill84728| 6.21.12 @ 4:39PM
How do you know? When was the last time you experience death?
Not near-death, but death itself.
oldbuck| 6.25.12 @ 8:50PM
Each of us Jesus Freak, Bible thumping, Evangelicals that hold this Heaven as our life's final and everlasting home, must as some point find closure on the subject or die doubting. I've settled it for myself with a rhyme I wrote sometime ago.
I will copy part of it here if there is room.
Our lovely dog Snickers
Much of the rhyme is not here for the sake of space.
Some time a while back, I read of two men.
Who were speaking of Heaven, but of course hadn’t been.
One fellow wondered, would they barbecue there,
Will they melt down some smores, Could the steaks be grilled rare?
Will they use charcoal briquettes, or does propane heat the air?
Would there be a choice of soft drinks, Or is it just water there?
They were so filled with queries, about life then in heaven.
Well one of the questions, I would ask of those two.
Will my Snickers be there? On my slippers to chew?
Will Heaven be heaven? If that really ain’t so.
Is it finally the place where I’ll want to go?
I'll not forget how it ended, Then came the conclusion.
Perfection in heaven, Is no foggy illusion.
For as my dog had her favorites, Chew toys and a chair.
She’ll be as happy as ever, when her master gets there.
That seems now so clear, that’s settled for me.
I have hope and joy, as the end now will be.
If when at the gate, I don’t, my little dog see.
I’ll know I’m in heaven, for my Master will be.