All people operate with some idea of heaven. Or rather, the idea floats through all human minds at some point. Not that it necessarily settles and grows into a solid hope of anything special. But it comes through. I wonder why that is.
Is it because we are naturally hard-wired to hope in heaven? Or, is it because we need it to console ourselves? Like having some sort of reward coming, which will make up for all the hardship we ever experienced. In short, why do we hope in Heaven?
For this question I was reading McGrath, A Brief History of Heaven.
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(Photo: Allard One)
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“If there’s no heaven, what is this hunger for?”
EmmyLou Harris, “The Pearl”
Just the other day I was reading a Jay B. McDaniel book where he was talking about heaven for other creatures as well as humans. And his basic reason was because so many lives (including animal lives) end with things not completed and resolved. So we hope for heaven because we hope for extra time to resolve things, to get what we missed out on in this life. McDaniel said it wouldn’t have to be an eternal heaven, just however long it takes to make up for however much life sucks right now. So we hope for heaven because life is often incomplete.
Interesting. That heaven should be only enough to make up for the incompleteness of this life. I think Moltmann would support that, too.
Anyway, here’s my response question: Why would we need to resolve or finish life if not for some “greater” purpose? I guess I don’t understand the notion of completion if that also means the end beyond which there is nothing. Can you conceive of completion as “closure”?