Sometimes I like to go through the search terms that people use and end up on my blog.\u00a0 It’s interesting, useful, and sometimes hilarious.\u00a0\u00a0 I’m not really sure how “teach my wife to blow me” ended up finding a link to SR…<\/p>\n
Anyhoodle, the title of this post is a search term that caught my eye.\u00a0 What if Heaven doesn’t exist?<\/p>\n
I’m going to take this from a position of someone who isn’t an expert in theology (though I’ve studied it quite a bit) or a philosopher (there are some experts here at SkepticINK), but from just me.\u00a0 Let’s start with some defining questions.<\/p>\n
What would it mean for a random person’s life if heaven didn’t exist?\u00a0 Well, honestly probably not a whole heck of a lot.\u00a0 Heaven is that invisible carrot.\u00a0 It’s the treat at the end of a long, painful life.\u00a0 It’s telling a 6-year-old that he’d better be good or Santa won’t come… in January.\u00a0 It’s a totally nebulous concept.\u00a0 We have stories, but we have no stories about what heaven is like from anyone who has claimed to have been there, much less any evidence.<\/p>\n
In my experience, most people have some idea of what heaven is like.\u00a0 It’s what they WANT heaven to be like.\u00a0 Some people want an end to suffering.\u00a0 Some want to watch sinners burn in hell.\u00a0 Some want mansions (John 14:2 KJV).\u00a0 Some want diamond cities and streets of gold (Revelations).\u00a0 Some, just want to see their loved ones again.<\/p>\n
But what does heaven mean for us that are still alive?\u00a0 Absolutely nothing.\u00a0 The only way to heaven is to be dead.\u00a0 Even the Bible only talks of one person who went to heaven without being dead (and it wasn’t Jesus).\u00a0 So heaven really doesn’t have an effect on us here in the living world.\u00a0 Except as it is a nebulous promise, with no support.\u00a0 The Nigerian bank scams have the same relative worth and at least we know that Nigeria exists.<\/p>\n
What does it mean for the dead Christians?\u00a0 Well, first, there are lots of groups of Christians and several of them have pretty strict requirements on how to get into heaven.\u00a0 So, the requirements are pretty vague and\/or arbitrary.\u00a0 So, there may even be some Christians to whom heaven is meaningless even after death.<\/p>\n
What does it mean for those who get into heaven?\u00a0 Who knows?\u00a0 Again, there are no reports of what it’s actually like.\u00a0 My own religious upbringing talked about 24\/7 singing praises to god.\u00a0 Well, given my voice, that would be pure hell for those around me.\u00a0\u00a0 My upbringing also talked about no sin, no suffering, no pain.\u00a0 Well, that’s interesting, because (I’ve said this before) that’s what makes us human.\u00a0 If there is a heaven and my grandfather sees me as an atheist, is he sad?\u00a0 Or can he just not see me at all and has forgotten about me?\u00a0 I guarantee you, my grandfather would have preferred to remember me in hell than forget me in heaven.\u00a0 Honestly, my grandfather was better than heaven deserves.<\/p>\n
Do people just forget their spouses, children, parents who don’t get into heaven?\u00a0 That would make them less than who they were.\u00a0 They aren’t\/can’t be themselves anymore.\u00a0 They would be just mindless praising robots.\u00a0 God could have made that easily enough, why give us even the semblance of free will, given that the ultimate reward is becoming less than what we are.<\/p>\n
Finally, heaven is the ultimate in discriminatory cliques.\u00a0 It’s the greatest fraternity\/sorority ever.\u00a0 Almost everyone wants in, but Rush lasts your entire life and you really don’t know if you’re going to get in until you’re dead.<\/p>\n
So what if heaven doesn’t exist?<\/p>\n
It doesn’t mean that you should be a immoral, unethical jerk.\u00a0 It just means that this life is the only one you have, live it.\u00a0 Treating people as you would want them to treat you is a pretty good philosophy to live by (and it was around long before the authors of the Bible stole it).<\/p>\n
Humans (and other animals) have empathy.\u00a0 It’s an evolutionary result.\u00a0 It means that we can act as if others have feelings and that others can be important to us.\u00a0 We have a society that sets rules about what is acceptable behavior and what isn’t.\u00a0 If there’s no heaven, it doesn’t mean that those rules still aren’t a good idea.<\/p>\n
But it’s not heaven that sets those rules.\u00a0 It’s not God or Thor or the Flying Spaghetti Monster.\u00a0 It’s just us.\u00a0 We set the rules and as we develop as a culture and a species, those rules change.<\/p>\n
It’s not heaven that tells us killing other humans is wrong.\u00a0 It’s biology.\u00a0 Killing other members of one’s species is a quick way to extinction (with some variation for species that generally have massive harems).\u00a0 We have empathy for fellow humans to keep our species alive.<\/p>\n
All those things that people think come from god, don’t.\u00a0 They come from us.\u00a0 Heaven isn’t a treat at the end of life.\u00a0 It really doesn’t exist.\u00a0 So enjoy your life.\u00a0 Be kind to your fellow organisms on this tiny little ball of dirt (except for mosquitoes, you can hate mosquitoes all you want).\u00a0 Do things that would make your children and your neighbors proud to be associated with you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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