Yesterday I blogged a bit about not living completely in the Christian-ecosystem that sometimes is known as the “Bubble”.
Today…
I would like to explore what people are saying about Heaven as well as pain (even if the pain isn’t even spoken about).
What are people saying about life after death?
As a Christian living in this world I recognize that to me this life is a gift…but that doesn’t always mean there isn’t pain and difficulties along the way. Life is not just about the destination but also about the journey.
QUESTIONS ABOUT SUFFERING
Sometimes the journey is painful.
Why do some people endure more pain than others?
Why is there suffering in this world?
I understand that suffering and pain is a part of our fallen world but to me that answer sometimes just isn’t good enough…I want more. I yearn to get to the bottom of this whole pain thing. Isn’t that why some doctors feel called to their practice in the first place? They want to help ease the pain in this life? Isn’t there relief in sight? Sometimes I look around me and am staggered by friends who have lost parents and other loved ones through the blight of cancer and other terminal diseases.
It hurts my heart to see servants of God, who deeply love God and serve Him and yet they are afflicted with these cancers that eat away and ravage the body. I often ask “Why God?”
When I think of the verse that Jesus said (even within the context of loving your enemies) – “He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” I recognize that God is fair and just in this world. I also recognize that the fallen nature of this world is the ultimate cancer that ravages our world. The rains can, and some times do, include times of emotional and physical drought for the sinner and the saint. The rains can include times of healing and times of sickness…and even death.
Although I know this to be true, can I be honest with you? It doesn’t do much to ease my hurt when I see friends hurting. I hurt right along with them as they suffer…but as a Christian I do know that there is ultimate healing and that death is not the end.
What other people are saying…
Last night I asked friends of mine a question. The question was -” who else do you long to see in heaven besides Jesus?“
Their answers ranged from grand parents, spouses, relatives and friends and even children that some had lost.
Even though we have this hope and assurance of Eternity with Christ we still endure hardships and sufferings. Life is not easy and we still carry these wounds of those loved ones we have lost along with us. Sometimes their memories comfort us while other times they help us to endure through rough patches we ourselves are going through.
BUT HEAVEN IS FOR REAL…RIGHT NOW!:
Here’s a revelation, perhaps you already know this – We don’t have to wait for heaven to get here to experience God’s Kingdom now!
Luke 17:20b-21 (NIV) Jesus said, “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst [or,within you].”
Jesus experienced suffering in His very human life. He was hurt by betrayal, but abandonment and He even suffered the worst of deaths. I think it is safe to say that Jesus knows a little bit about human suffering and what we go through still today. Despite the fact that suffering exists here’s a source of hope for you and for me: The Kingdom of God is here and now! Jesus may have been implying the He was the Kingdom in physical form and though He isn’t physically here His Presence in the form the Holy Spirit is. We are not alone in this world…we never were. God’s Kingdom is among us still. Eternity is around us…we just haven’t recognized it yet.
It is true that when we die we will see Eternity in all of its glory, but we do not need to wait for that day to experience God’s presence every day! His presence is the essence of eternity and despite the sufferings of these human forms and the fallen world we live in, He can provide us the victory through it all! This may be difficult to swallow for some of us…I still struggle with it myself, but I do believe despite pain and suffering God is very present with us right here and right now!
Heaven is for real, so is pain and suffering, BUT the Almighty is also very, very real as well!
-Just a thought.
Pastor's Ponderings 
Excellent point of view. One of the things that we forget is the Jesus proclaimed the Kingdom of God now, not some time in the future after we die. Nowhere in the Bible does Christ say, “When you believe in me, you will go to Heaven after you die.”
Pain suffering and personal humiliation I know plenty about, but heaven? the bible says no suffering no pain in heaven,ok whatever. If people who have somehow managed to walk close to the Lord in this evil sick demonic world He created, where temptation overwhelms everyone, one way or the other. Plus all the invisible power He gives to this sick monster and demons to enter peoples bodies at will,and power to evil people to rule over us….if people can actually pass this sickening test and walk into heaven… good for you. And those who make it there and don’t suffer or have any sorrowful feelings and don’t have to watch see or hear about what goes on here on this brutal evil planet….then I would have to say the people in heaven r a pile of hypocrites.
As long as this horrible concept continues there will be suffering everywhere!!!
In heaven where the bible says there is no suffering…there had to be some kind of suffering when one third of the angels rebelled against the Lord…somebody had to have gotten a good smack in the mouth from both sides. Something huge like a rebellion which happened in heaven could have not just happen over nite. There must have been a long process of talking and probably debates which made both sides angry and un easy.
For One 3rd of beautiful angels to turn against the Lord in heaven…their must have been one big huge reason for so many angels to turn against the Lord. And thats before He turned them into devils and cast them on us.
The concept sucks, it’s a catch 222 a win win or a lose lose. Many people believe in the Lord, and where does He lead them to? a whole pile of false prophets, left right and centre..it sucks bigtime! and the very few, if there is any like that guy job in the bible , who walks perfectly with the Lord (which is super super hard to do) and still, all that sickening evil and the inocent people and animals who get slaughtered because The Lord says yes to a pile of garbage.
I know I’ll never get to heaven, cuz I just don’t have what it takes to become so perfect, plus, when I read about the story of Job….and that he was the only man on the face of the earth to walk perfectly with the Lord, and the Lord still did what He did to him…that turns me off, bigtime.
So make it to heaven and turn your eyes and ears off so there will be no suffering from this evil planet earth…. I don’t believe it