N.T. Wright tells the world how Heaven really is…and ruffels a few feathers….
Monday, February 11th, 2008
If you do not know it, I love N.T. Wright! He is an amazing scholar, Theologian, and author! And if there is a living theologian that I agree with most often (when I can read his writtings 3-4 times to understand what he is saying, heh….then I agree and “get it”.
And this time he explains in a new book what Heaven is really like.
So here is an interview to wet your whistle, who knows maybe even get some discussion going here on the blog… Here is the link to the article…and a little bit to get you interested enough to click the link:
Christians Wrong About Heaven, Says Bishop
(a TIME article interview by: DAVID VAN BIEMA
TIME: At one point you call the common view of heaven a “distortion and serious diminution of Christian hope.”
Wright: It really is. I’ve often heard people say, “I’m going to heaven soon, and I won’t need this stupid body there, thank goodness.’ That’s a very damaging distortion, all the more so for being unintentional.
TIME: How so? It seems like a typical sentiment.
Wright: There are several important respects in which it’s unsupported by the New Testament. First, the timing. In the Bible we are told that you die, and enter an intermediate state. St. Paul is very clear that Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead already, but that nobody else has yet. Secondly, our physical state. The New Testament says that when Christ does return, the dead will experience a whole new life: not just our soul, but our bodies. And finally, the location. At no point do the resurrection narratives in the four Gospels say, “Jesus has been raised, therefore we are all going to heaven.” It says that Christ is coming here, to join together the heavens and the Earth in an act of new creation.
TIME: But it’s not where the real action is, so to speak?
Wright: No. Our culture is very interested in life after death, but the New Testament is much more interested in what I’ve called the life after life after death — in the ultimate resurrection into the new heavens and the new Earth. Jesus’ resurrection marks the beginning of a restoration that he will complete upon his return. Part of this will be the resurrection of all the dead, who will “awake,” be embodied and participate in the renewal. John Polkinghorne, a physicist and a priest, has put it this way: “God will download our software onto his hardware until the time he gives us new hardware to run the software again for ourselves.” That gets to two things nicely: that the period after death is a period when we are in God’s presence but not active in our own bodies, and also that the more important transformation will be when we are again embodied and administering Christ’s kingdom.
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OK so what do you think? leave a comment of two below…let us know…. KUTPs!!!
