Biblical Reasons Why We Should
And Practical Suggestions on How We Can
Create Heaven on Earth
Many people have objected to full preterism on the grounds that if it were consistently applied, it would force us to conclude that we are now in heaven.
The objection is logical. If the resurrection and last judgment are behind us, what separates us from heaven?
It's a persuasive argument. Many partial preterists find it to be an utterly decisive objection against full-preterism:
If this is heaven, then God certainly hasn't kept His part of the bargain. I mean (if I may be blunt) this life sucks, and if this is all we get for our troubles, then we worship the wrong god, right? Heaven is supposed to be perfect. You call this perfect? Weren't we promised immortality, streets of gold, and a life of ease? I've got bills to pay, my daughter's dating a hoodlum, and every night on TV I hear of more Americans getting killed. And this is supposed to be all there is?
On the other hand, over and over again, Jesus and the Apostles said that the end of the world was near. If this isn't "the New Heavens and the New Earth," then Jesus and the Apostles have a lot of explaining to do. They repeatedly spoke of all the wonderful things that were "at hand" and "must shortly come to pass." If they didn't come to pass in some way, then they were all wrong.
That conclusion flies in the face of the most basic of my life's presuppositions: the trustworthiness of the Scripture. So it seems I must choose between two unattractive conclusions:
Intellectually this is an easy choice. Emotionally it is not. But I don't allow my emotions to rule over reason. I scrutinize my emotions. And it doesn't take a lot of scrutiny to see that our emotions are based on mythology rather than Scripture, and lead in some unethical directions.
Whenever I advance the argument that we're in heaven now, I hear counter-arguments like the one I described above as an "utterly decisive objection." I call them "this life sucks" arguments. And sometimes it's frightening how selfish and lacking in gratitude these arguments can be. I don't like to see people in this state of mind, so I have written a book which tries to engender gratitude and a more scriptural outlook on "heaven."
The book begins here, and your comments would be appreciated.
| Table of Contents |
|
