You Ain’t Goin’ to Heaven When You Die

Make the most of your life now

by Adeeba Folami

Anytime a relative or friend dies or a discussion of death/afterlife comes up, I find myself keeping silence in deference to the many who speak so assuredly about how the recently departed one is “in heaven now” or “looking down on us,” or “will be waiting to greet us at the pearly gates” one day. So many in this society truly believe these types of things but I’m one who does not, even though I was raised in the Christian church where such beliefs are standard.

I first began questioning the logic of “life after death” as a young teen. Many times I sat pondering over what, exactly, a person can do in heaven forever and ever and ever. I figured, the Bible says a day is as 1000 years (2 Peter 3:8), so maybe I’ll spend the first day in heaven just relaxing and recuperating from the life I had here on earth. That wouldn’t be too bad since the time would seem only like a day instead of 10 centuries. Then, because so many friends and loved ones will also be in heaven, the next day (1000 years), we’ll all spend having a  reunion to catch up on things. Next, maybe a day (thousand years) in prayer, sitting on a fluffy white cloud or walking the streets of heavenly gold that Christians have been assured exist. After that, maybe a whole day (1000 years) feasting on the sumptuous treats, foods and drinks that heaven has to offer. Then what? How about singing and praising in the heavenly choir for a whole day (thousand years), but then what?

Somewhere along the line, I concluded that heaven was not a place I wanted to go to because it would lock me into an eternity of boredom without end and with no way to escape. Later in life, I adopted a new belief based on the teachings of a church denomination that taught there was no afterlife in heaven but, instead, the righteous, on the day of judgment, would be resurrected to an eternal life to live again on the earth in the “New Jerusalem.” I also abandoned that concept as I continued to study, evolve and began to see the contradictions present in those doctrines compared to what the Bible actually says.

Reality is, the Bible nowhere promises an eternal life to anybody, in heaven, on earth, (or even in hell). In fact, the book plainly says “no man has ascended to heaven at any time,” (John 3:13). Ecclesiastes 1:4 says “one generation goes and another generation comes but the earth abides forever,” indicating the only thing eternal is the earth, not the generations of people that have been coming and going since the beginning of time and will continue doing so until the end of time.

Ecclesiastes 12:7 says when a person dies, their body returns to the dust/earth but their spirit (or breath) returns to the God who gave it. The New Testament goes on to explain that a physical body without the spirit (or breath)  is dead (James 2:26). There is no life any can have with spirit (breath) separated from human form. No life ….. none.

In lining my beliefs up with what I saw, it was a life changer for me. It seems many who believe they will continue living after they physically die take life for granted more than others, whereas, knowing that this is all I’ve got, the here and now, the only shot I’ll be given, makes me more determined to do the best I can during the relatively short time I have amongst the living.

Some truly believe that they’ll get that pie in the sky after they die, even if they’ve misused, hated or lacked appreciation for the life they currently have. Would a just God give more life to people like this? After all, the book says those who are faithful in little will also be faithful in much (Luke 16:10), so if people can’t even be faithful, responsible and productive with life in this physical realm, what sense does it make to believe the God would give them a much better and higher (spiritual) form of life?

How logical is it to accept that a fair and just God would give more life to someone who was plagued by suicidal tendencies or succeeded in killing their own self because they hated their life on earth? If a person hates life now, what makes any of us think they’ll have love for any other kind of life? If we can’t even master this, why should we believe we’ve got something else coming, particularly since we will do the same with another life that we’ve done with this one.

The belief or view I hold is not common and is why, in conversations with others, I choose to bite my tongue while allowing them to speak about how they’re certain this person or that is “looking down on us all” or was taken away to heaven to “be with the Lord” and given a new, spiritual, “glorified body.” Sad thing is that people really believe this stuff and would pity me or think I’m in error for not going along to get along and because I refuse to just accept (in faith) doctrines that make absolutely no sense and really could be classified in the category of “fairy tales.” But, to each his and her own.

My spiritual evolution continued as I became a student of the teachings of the Nation of Islam where it is taught that heaven (and hell) are 2 conditions of life that we create, (or not), for ourselves on this earth. The Qu’ran likens death to sleep, (Chapter 6:60), and we all know when we are sleep we are inactive and at rest. Death is final, other than how we will live on in the lives of those we touched while alive, (Ch. 2:154).

As my spiritual evolution continues, I claim no titles (Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, etc.) but continue to be a student of life, ever in search of truth, peace, elevation and light. When it comes to this subject, however, bottom line is that life is too short and tomorrow is not promised to anyone. The only life that we KNOW for fact that we will have, is the one we’ve got now, therefore, it would be wise to make the most of it.

© 2011 – All Rights Reserved – The Black House News
Unlimited online distribution allowed with acknowledgement of bhonline.org as the source

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