He wants to be a part of it. Of course.

Jesus a.s.sures him that he'll be with him in paradise . . . that day. The man hadn't asked about today; today; he had asked about he had asked about that day. that day. He believes that G.o.d is doing something new through Jesus and he wants to be a part of it, whenever it is. He believes that G.o.d is doing something new through Jesus and he wants to be a part of it, whenever it is.

And that's all Jesus needs to hear to promise him "paradise" later that day. Just around the corner. In a few hours.

According to Jesus, then, heaven is as far away as that day when heaven and earth become one again and as close as a few hours.

The apostle Paul writes to the Philippians that either he would go on living, or he would be killed and immediately be with Christ (chap. 1).

Paul believed that there is a dimension of creation, a place, a s.p.a.ce, a realm beyond the one we currently inhabit and yet near and connected with it.

He writes of getting glimpses of it, being a citizen of it, and being there the moment he dies.

Paul writes to the Corinthians about two kinds of bodies. The first is the kind we each inhabit now, the kind that gets old and weary and eventually gives out on us. The second kind is one he calls "imperishable" (1 Cor. 15), one immune to the ravages of time, one we'll receive when heaven and earth are one. Prior to that, then, after death we are without a body. In heaven, but without a body. A body is of the earth. Made of dust. Part of this creation, not that one. Those currently "in heaven" are not, obviously, here. And so they're with G.o.d, but without a body.

These truths, about the present incompleteness of both earth and heaven, lead us to another truth about heaven: Heaven, for Jesus, wasn't less less real, but real, but more more real. real.

The dominant cultural a.s.sumptions and misunderstandings about heaven have been at work for so long, it's almost automatic for many to think of heaven as ethereal, intangible, esoteric, and immaterial.

Floaty, dreamy, hazy.

Somewhere else.

People in white robes with perfect hair floating by on clouds, singing in perfect pitch.

But for Jesus, heaven is more real than what we experience now. This is true for the future, when earth and heaven become one, but also for today.

To understand this, let's return to that Greek word aion, aion, the one that we translate as "age" in English. We saw earlier how the one that we translate as "age" in English. We saw earlier how aion aion refers to a period of time with a beginning and an end. Another meaning of refers to a period of time with a beginning and an end. Another meaning of aion aion is a bit more complex and nuanced, because it refers to a particular is a bit more complex and nuanced, because it refers to a particular intensity of experience intensity of experience that transcends time. that transcends time.

Remember sitting in cla.s.s, and it was so excruciatingly boring that you found yourself staring at the clock? Tick. Tick. Tick. What happened to time in those moments? It slowed down. We even say, "It felt like it was taking forever. forever." Now when we use the word "forever" in this way, we are not talking about a 365-day year followed by a 365-day year followed by another 365-day year, and so on. What we are referring to is the intensity of feeling in that moment. That agonized boredom caused time to appear to bend and twist and warp.

Another example, this one less about agony and more about ecstasy. When you fall in love, those first conversations can take hours and yet they feel like minutes. You're so caught up in being with that person that you lose track of time. In that case, the clock doesn't slow down; instead, time "flies."

Whether an experience is pleasurable or painful, in the extreme moments of life what we encounter is time dragging and flying, slowing down and speeding up. That's what aion aion refers to-a particularly intense experience. refers to-a particularly intense experience. Aion Aion is often translated as "eternal" in English, which is an altogether different word from "forever." is often translated as "eternal" in English, which is an altogether different word from "forever."

Let me be clear: heaven is not forever in the way that we think of forever, as a uniform measurement of time, like days and years, marching endlessly into the future. That's not a category or concept we find in the Bible. This is why a lot of translators choose to translate aion aion as "eternal." By this they don't mean the literal pa.s.sing of time; they mean transcending time, belonging to another realm altogether. as "eternal." By this they don't mean the literal pa.s.sing of time; they mean transcending time, belonging to another realm altogether.

To summarize, then, sometimes when Jesus used the word "heaven," he was simply referring to G.o.d, using the word as a subst.i.tute for the name of G.o.d.

Second, sometimes when Jesus spoke of heaven, he was referring to the future coming together of heaven and earth in what he and his contemporaries called life in the age to come.

And then third-and this is where things get really, really interesting-when Jesus talked about heaven, he was talking about our present eternal, intense, real eternal, intense, real experiences of joy, peace, and love in this life, this side of death experiences of joy, peace, and love in this life, this side of death and and the age to come. Heaven for Jesus wasn't just "someday"; it was a present reality. Jesus blurs the lines, inviting the rich man, and us, into the merging of heaven and earth, the future and present, the age to come. Heaven for Jesus wasn't just "someday"; it was a present reality. Jesus blurs the lines, inviting the rich man, and us, into the merging of heaven and earth, the future and present, here here and and now. now.

To say it again, eternal life is less about a kind of time that starts when we die, and more about a quality and vitality of life lived now in connection to G.o.d.

Eternal life doesn't start when we die; it starts now.

It's not about a life that begins at death; it's about experiencing the kind of life now that can endure and survive even death.

We live in several dimensions.

Up and down.

Left and right.

Forward and backward.

Three to be exact.

And yet we've all had experiences when those three dimensions weren't adequate. Moments when we were acutely, overwhelmingly aware of other realities just beyond this one.

At the front edge of science string theorists are now telling us that they can show the existence of at least eleven dimensions. If we count time as the fourth dimension, that's seven dimensions beyond what we now know.

So there's left and right, and up and down, and front and back.

Got that.

But is there also in . . . ?

and out . . . ?

or around . . . ?

and through . . . ?

or between . . . ?

or beside . . . ?

or beyond . . . ?

Jesus talked about a reality he called the kingdom of G.o.d. He described an all-pervasive dimension of being, a bit like oxygen for us or water for a fish, that he insisted was here, at hand, now, among us, and upon us. He spoke with G.o.d as if G.o.d was right here, he healed with power that he claimed was readily accessible all the time, and he taught his disciples that they would do even greater things than what they saw him doing. He spoke of oneness with G.o.d, the G.o.d who is so intimately connected with life in this world that every hair on your head is known. Jesus lived and spoke as if the whole world was a thin place for him, with endless dimensions of the divine infinitesimally close, with every moment and every location simply another experience of the divine reality that is all around us, through us, under and above us all the time.

It's as if we're currently trying to play the piano while wearing oven mitts.

We can make a noise, sometimes even hit the notes well enough to bang out a melody, but it doesn't sound like it could, or should.

The elements are all there-fingers, keys, strings, ears-but there's something in the way, something inhibiting our ability to fully experience all the possibilities. The apostle Paul writes that now we see "as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face" (1 Cor. 13).

Right now, we're trying to embrace our lover, but we're wearing a hazmat suit.

We're trying to have a detailed conversation about complex emotions, but we're underwater.

We're trying to taste the thirty-two different spices in the curry, but our mouth is filled with gravel.

Yes, there is plenty in the scriptures about life in the age to come, about our resurrected, heaven-and-earth-finally-come-together-as-one body, a body that's been "clothed in the immortal" that will make this body, the one we inhabit at this moment, seem like a temporary tent.

And yes, there were plenty of beliefs then about what the future would hold, just as there are now.

But when Jesus talks with the rich man, he has one thing in mind: he wants the man to experience the life of heaven, eternal life, "aionian" life, now. For that man, his wealth was in the way; for others it's worry or stress or pride or envy-the list goes on. We know that list.

Jesus invites us, in this life, in this broken, beautiful world, to experience the life of heaven now.

He insisted over and over that G.o.d's peace, joy, and love are currently available to us, exactly as we are.

So how do I answer questions about heaven?

How would I summarize all that Jesus teaches?

There's heaven now, somewhere else.

There's heaven here, sometime else.

And then there's Jesus's invitation to heaven here and now, in this moment, in this place.

Try and paint that. that.

Chapter 3.

h.e.l.l First, heaven.

Now, h.e.l.l.

Several years ago I was getting ready to speak in San Francisco when I was told that there were protestors on the sidewalk in front of the theater. They were telling the people standing in line waiting to get in that they were in serious trouble with G.o.d because they had come to hear me talk. A friend of mine thought it would be fun to get pictures of the protesters. When he showed them to me later, I noticed that one of the protestors had a jacket on with these words st.i.tched on the back: "Turn or Burn."

That about sums it up, doesn't it?

Fury, wrath, fire, torment, judgment, eternal agony, endless anguish.

h.e.l.l.

That's all part of the story, right?

Trust G.o.d, accept Jesus, confess, repent, and everything will go well for you. But if you don't, well, the Bible is quite clear . . .

Sin, refuse to repent, harden your heart, reject Jesus, and when you die, it's over. Or actually, the torture and anguish and eternal torment will have just begun.

That's how it is-because that's what G.o.d is like, correct?

G.o.d is loving and kind and full of grace and mercy-unless there isn't confession and repentance and salvation in this lifetime, at which point G.o.d punishes forever. That's the Christian story, right?

Is that what Jesus taught?

To answer that question, I want to show you every single verse in the Bible in which we find the actual word "h.e.l.l."

First, the Hebrew scriptures. There isn't an exact word or concept in the Hebrew scriptures for h.e.l.l other than a few words that refer to death and the grave.

One of them is the Hebrew word "Sheol," a dark, mysterious, murky place people go when they die, as in Psalm 18: "The cords of Sheol entangled me" (NRSV). There's also mention of "the depths," as in Psalm 30: "I will exalt you, LORD, for you lifted me out of the depths"; the "pit," as in Psalm 103: "The LORD . . . who redeems your life from the pit"; and the grave, as in Psalm 6: "Who praises you from the grave?" . . . who redeems your life from the pit"; and the grave, as in Psalm 6: "Who praises you from the grave?"

There are a few references to the realm of the dead, as in Psalm 16: "My body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead," but as far as meanings go, that's the extent of what we find in the Hebrew scriptures.

So what do we learn?

First, we consistently find affirmations of the power of G.o.d over all of life and death, as in 1 Samuel 2: "The Lord brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the grave and raises up"; and Deuteronomy 32: "There is no G.o.d besides me. I put to death and I bring to life."

We do find several affirmations of G.o.d's presence and involvement in whatever it is that happens after a person dies, although it's fairly ambiguous at best as to just what exactly that looks like.

In one of the stories about Moses, G.o.d is identified as the G.o.d of "Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." Those three-Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob-were dead by the time this story about Moses takes place. Where Where exactly Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were at that time isn't mentioned, but Moses is told that G.o.d is still their G.o.d (Exod. 3). exactly Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were at that time isn't mentioned, but Moses is told that G.o.d is still their G.o.d (Exod. 3).

Once again, it's an affirmation of G.o.d's enduring and sustaining power over life and death, and yet very little is given in the way of actual details regarding individual destinies.

Second, the Hebrews often used the words "life" and "death" in a different sense than we do. We're used to people speaking of life and death as fixed states or destinations, as in you're either alive or you're dead. What we find in the scriptures is a more nuanced understanding that sees life and death as two ways of being alive. When Moses in Deuteronomy 30 calls the Hebrews to choose life over death, he's not forcing them to decide whether they will be killed on the spot; he's confronting them with their choice of the kind of life they're going to keep on living. The one kind of life is in vital connection with the living G.o.d, in which they experience more and more peace and wholeness. The other kind of life is less and less connected with G.o.d and contains more and more despair and destruction.

Third, it's important here to remember that the Israelites, who wrote the Hebrew scriptures, had been oppressed and enslaved by their neighbors the Egyptians, who built pyramids and ornate coffins and buried themselves in rooms filled with gold, because of their beliefs about life after death. Those beliefs appear to have been a turnoff for the Jews, who were far more interested in the ethics of and ways of living this this life. life.

There is a story about the death of King David's child, in which David says that if he can't bring the child back, he would go to where the child is (2 Sam. 12). There are several mentions in the book of Job about lying down, descending, and being buried in the dust-all references to death.

But, simply put, the Hebrew commentary on what happens after a person dies isn't very articulated or defined. Sheol, death, and the grave in the consciousness of the Hebrew writers are all a bit vague and "underworldly." For whatever reasons, the precise details of who goes where, when, how, with what, and for how long simply aren't things the Hebrew writers were terribly concerned with.

Next, then, the New Testament. The actual word "h.e.l.l" is used roughly twelve times in the New Testament, almost exclusively by Jesus himself. The Greek word that gets translated as "h.e.l.l" in English is the word "Gehenna." Ge Ge means "valley," and means "valley," and henna henna means "Hinnom." Gehenna, the Valley of Hinnom, was an actual valley on the south and west side of the city of Jerusalem. means "Hinnom." Gehenna, the Valley of Hinnom, was an actual valley on the south and west side of the city of Jerusalem.

Gehenna, in Jesus's day, was the city dump.

People tossed their garbage and waste into this valley. There was a fire there, burning constantly to consume the trash. Wild animals fought over sc.r.a.ps of food along the edges of the heap. When they fought, their teeth would make a gnashing sound. Gehenna was the place with the gnashing of teeth, where the fire never went out.

Gehenna was an actual place that Jesus's listeners would have been familiar with. So the next time someone asks you if you believe in an actual h.e.l.l, you can always say, "Yes, I do believe that my garbage goes somewhere . . ."

James uses the word "Gehenna" once in his letter to refer to the power of the tongue (chap. 3), but otherwise all of the mentions are from Jesus.

Jesus says in Matthew 5, "Anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of h.e.l.l," and "It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into h.e.l.l." In Matthew 10 and Luke 12 he says, "Be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in h.e.l.l," and in Matthew 18 and Mark 9 he says, "It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of h.e.l.l." In Matthew 23 he tells very committed religious leaders that they win converts and make them "twice as much a child of h.e.l.l" as they are, and then he asks them, "How will you escape being condemned to h.e.l.l?"

Gehenna, the town garbage pile.

And that's it.

Those are all of the mentions of "h.e.l.l" in the Bible.

There are two other words that occasionally mean something similar to h.e.l.l. One is the word "Tartarus," which we find once in chapter 2 of Peter's second letter. It's a term Peter borrowed from Greek mythology, referring to the underworld, the place where the Greek demiG.o.ds were judged in the "abyss."

The other Greek word is "Hades."

Obscure, dark, murky-Hades is essentially the Greek version of the Hebrew word "Sheol." We find the word "Hades" in Revelation 1, 6, and 20 and in Acts 2, which is a quote from Psalm 16. Jesus uses the word in Matthew 11 and Luke 10: "You will go down to Hades"; in Matthew 16: "The gates of Hades will not overcome it"; and in the parable of the rich man and the beggar Lazarus in Luke 16.