DANCING ON THE STREETS OF HEAVEN?

With the very recent death of a Christian friend from cancer, I've been spending a lot of time contemplating (strangely enough), death and the afterlife. Please note that by raising these questions I do not wish to bring additional pain to my Christian peers who are grieving with me this week, but the time seems appropriate to me as I ponder these important questions.

As a Christian-raised child, I've attended many Christian funerals and regularly heard people quote 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14
"But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus."

My Facebook feed has been all aflutter with comforting words and examples of this hope:
"He's gone home to be with Jesus"
"He's dancing on the streets of Heaven"
"He's started the next chapter of his existence"
"He's partying with the angels and my Mom/brother/sister/uncle/cousin/grandpa"
"He's living in perfect bliss where there is no crying and no more suffering."
"Our loss is heaven's gain."

I can certainly understand how faith in a happy afterlife can provide hope for the grieving. As natural as death is to life on this planet, few of us embrace it, and we loathe its intrusion into our relationships. Imagining a loved-one in a place of "perfect bliss" that one also hopes to eventually attain, would be akin to the pain of two long-distance lovers parting for a season with full expectation to meet again. Who wouldn't welcome the comfort of a future reunion with their loved one?

But what if that hope turns out to be misplaced? Is there any loss in believing in an afterlife of peace and bliss if it turns out to not be there? Religion can arguably impede and negatively affect one's life in many ways, but in the event that the faith turns out to be myth, can the holder of such a belief safely carry the hope of reuniting with loved ones? Is there any harm in the denial of believing in the afterlife if all it does is "provide hope"?

I can think of a few factors that may be cause for concern:


1. Hope reversal: Christians have an increased hope when a Christian loved-one dies - but what if that loved-one is a non-believer? When my grandfather died, our relatives were able to miss him while celebrating his life and rejoicing that he no longer suffered from his cancer. Meanwhile, my family and I were beyond ourselves with devastation as we imagined our beloved non-Christian grandfather currently writhing in flames and torment that would last for all time and eternity. Happy thoughts to live with!

2. Hope revoked: Can we really be sure that the afterlife we believe in is the real deal? The relatives of Egypt's nobility were sure they'd meet again in the underworld and went to great pains to preserve bodies and provide the canoes and food supplies they would need in the underworld. In a few thousand years of their afterlife no one has apparently laid claim to their preserved body or possessions, and as we put their graves and bodies on display, modern science/archeology seems to have decided their beliefs were invalid. Will our own afterlife hopes follow suit eventually?

3. Hope mistaken: Or what if our faith is the wrong one? The Muslim heaven looks quite different than the Christian one, and the requirements for entering are quite different, yet people of most faiths have hope of reunion when they bury their loved ones. Distinctions between sects of even the same religion also raise questions: are Christians going to enter heaven bereft because we failed to be sealed in the temple or follow the polygamous marriage principle of Joseph Smith? Will we be "partying with the angels" right away, or tossed into the fire of purgatory for a few decades? Even if there is a God and an afterlife, faith mistaken means some people's afterlife hopes won't be realized. Yikes!

4. Hope Irrelevant: Faith in an afterlife can potentially cause us to lose perspective on our current reality (the only thing we can all know with absolute certainty). It may cause us to care less about our current environment (this world is not my home, I'm just a visitor), and it may cause us to care less about the needs of individuals when we can simply defer them to a better world to come. If we are unable to live in the moment we may miss out on loving the people around us while we are united with them today, left eulogizing and singing their praises only once they're gone.


Death is an intruder. An equal opportunity thief, claiming lives across all species, from the sick to the healthy, to the rich to the poor, to the young and to the old. And even though we instinctively comprehend that the way of life is to reproduce and then make way for subsequent generations, our built-in survival instincts fight against the process. Most of us don't want to die, nor to lose our loved ones to death. When death interrupts our plans and our relationships, it's only natural that a creative species should demand an encore and an alternative.

I'd love to hear others' thoughts on this one. Even if you're a believer, can you ask "what if?" If it turns out that the afterlife is a myth, do you see faith in its existence as harmless or harmful? Do you agree with the concerns I raised? Can you think of others?