Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Harps in heaven?

I've been doing a lot reading/thinking about what the Bible has to say about heaven and hell recently.  Am working through N.T. Wright's book "Surprised by Hope."  In general, I think we need a more robust, realistic view of heaven.  Most of the images and ideas that are put in our heads about heaven come more from art and culture than serious reflection on what the Bible has to say.  Does the idea of body-less souls floating around really sound exciting to anyone?  Does playing harps on clouds really get anyone to hope for that day?  Thankfully, I think the Bible paints a picture that is much more real (we will probably still work; we will certainly have bodies) and exciting.  In this vein, I was excited to find this quote by C.S. Lewis yesterday.  It made me chuckle.

C.S. Lewis writes, “There is no need to be worried by facetious people who try to make the Christian hope of heaven ridiculous by saying that they do not want to spend eternity playing harps.  The answer to such people is that if they cannot understand books written for grown-ups, they should not talk about them at all.  All the scriptural imagery-harps, crowns, gold, and so on-is of course a symbolical attempt to express the inexpressible...People who take these symbols literally might as well think that when Christ told us to be like doves, he meant that we were to lay eggs.”  (The Great Divorce)

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