“Heaven is a cop out” Matthew Hoffman doesn’t care about heaven as a reward for his life on earth, he lives his life well regardless of what “heaven” is or will give him for his belief or behavior.
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Faith is a funny thing. Faith is often based on emotion, but most religions want you to believe a certain set of rules. I’m not talking about the big things, like Christians believe in Jesus. I’m talking about very specific, usually unbending rules, like Catholics believe in Transubstantiation. If you don’t believe in the little, specific rules, you’re not as good a believer as your neighbor, who does. And if you choose to “come out” about your not believing something that you’re supposed to believe, you might face some serious scorn.
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If God created everything, then He is bigger than anything we can imagine. This isn’t to say He is physically bigger – after all, physical size/mass is just a function of the physical laws of this universe He created for us. In fact, that’s a perfect illustration. He is bigger/more expansive/more encompassing than anything we can dream up, so why even try defining Him? You might think you’re pretty clever, but nothing you can ever imagine will do justice to God.
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Language can’t describe God. Language is limited. Language fails us constantly when trying to quantify God. Where it’s amazing, however, is in giving us a way to describe our personal experience. So, when you look at the Christian Bible, for example, God is often described in terms like majesty, awe, awesome, fearful. Also, usually as “He” when God clearly would have no gender. It’s not like there’s a Mrs. God out there. Our limited human experience can’t describe “Him” in any detail, so we go to our plan B: How does God make us feel? And our language is great at describing that.
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Science cannot prove or disprove God, since He exists outside of the physical laws of the universe. To use an over-simplistic analogy, you can’t look around your house, which is warm and dry and brightly lit and conclude that the outside is warm and dry and brightly lit. It could be cold, snowing and dark. And, in this metaphor, there are no windows or doors to check the outside. So, as clever as scientists are, the question of God lies beyond them, and it always will.
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On a related point, God must be outside of time. Think about that. When you make dinner, you decide what you want, and then you make it, and then you eat it. God is the beginning and the end, so he decides on, makes and eats dinner in the same moment He’s making the universe and and listening to your grandchildren’s prayers. The very idea of cause and effect doesn’t apply to God. How can we even imagine that? It’s more complicated than Inception.
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Heaven is beyond our comprehension. For the same reasons that we can’t understand God, or put Him into words, Heaven is similarly obscured. There is a famous Christian song called “I can only imagine”, and the chorus illustrates this point well. “Surrounded by Your glory, what will my heart feel/Will I dance for you Jesus, or in awe of you be still/Will I stand in your presence or to my knees will I fall”. References to a heart (or feelings, which need an endocrine system), dancing (needs feet), standing (needs legs) knees, and falling (needs gravity) fail once you’re dead. None of those things is likely to exist in any sort of Heaven, but it’s the best we can imagine. If the very concept of Heaven is beyond our ability to imagine, where’s the profit in trying?
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Heaven is a cop-out. People use the idea of Heaven to make themselves feel better for not doing what they were supposed to do in the first place. If there’s a famine in some far-off land, you send in your $20, say a prayer, and forget about the
Don’t like ads? Become a supporter and enjoy The Good Men Project ad freeI’ll act as much like Jesus taught as I can because I feel that’s a great way to live. Will I get rewarded in Heaven? I don’t care. Really! I don’t waste any time wondering about Heaven…starving. Then, when you learn that thousands of people have died from that famine, you can think to yourself “Poor people. At least they’re in a better place now.” That’s a cop-out. We humans all need to get up off of our butts and do whatever we can to make the world better for everyone. This is the essence of most religions (Christian unconditional love, Buddhist compassion and so forth), that all of us together must make the world better for all of us together. Heaven is the loophole.
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Heaven triggers greed. People play the lottery hoping they will will millions. Others become investment bankers for the same reason. In fact, much of what humans do is driven by greed, one of the “Big Seven” deadly sins. Just imagine this: You’re walking out of the store and find a wallet on the ground. Inside there is cash – lots of cash. Very few of us wouldn’t at least consider taking the cash. In the end we might make the ethical choice and return the wallet, but the temptation is there. That’s because it is human nature (there’s a story with Eve and some fruit…same thing), and I feel that belief in Heaven plays into this. Who doesn’t want a happy afterlife? So people who believe in Heaven must be at least tempted to do good things just to get there. And if you’re doing what you’re supposed to do, but you’re secretly motivated by potential personal gain (a happy afterlife), then have you really done a good thing, or just a selfish thing with a good side-effect? Also, on a related note, how much evil has been done in the world by religious extremists acting with Heaven on their minds? Whether it be a sword-wielding medieval Christian crusader, or an explosive-strapped islamic terrorist, the choice to become a martyr is, essentially, a greedy choice.
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Be a good person because it’s the right thing to do and a good way to live. This is the final argument for me. You can say many things about Christianity, but this much is true: If you act the way Jesus taught people to act, you’ll be a “good person” and you’ll make the world a better place. This, of course, goes for many religions, if you get down to what they are really teaching. That’s enough for me. I’ll act as much like Jesus taught as I can because I feel that’s a great way to live. Will I get rewarded in Heaven? I don’t care. Really! I don’t waste any time wondering about Heaven, and I don’t act in my own self-interest to get there. Go ahead: Be cynical. But I behave the way I do because I feel it’s the right way to behave. I also have faith in God, but if there is no Heaven – or the reality of Heaven is so far from my earthly life that I can’t even imagine it – I can still say I acted with kindness wherever I could. When I’m gone, people might say I was a “good person”, and God might reward me with Heaven. Either way, I know in my heart that I tried help others, and if it matters to God, He knows that too.
Not everyone is a Christian. Far from it. I don’t even like the word “Christian” for all the baggage it now carries. I trust that God will do what He’s going to do, and what I believe can’t change that. But I can do whatever is in my power to help those with less than me, and to be kind and loving to others. Right here, right now. The way I do that has changed over time, but being kind and showing love – that’s my goal. When I die, I can say I did my part to make the world just a tiny bit better.
Photo: Flickr/Terry Dennis
Number 8 was the only reason I can agree with. The rest was just word salad.
When it comes to what lays beyond the known we simply must say we don’t know.
It’s OK to say we don’t know.
Hello, Greg, Glad you liked point #8. It’s basically the one underpinning all the others. And we don’t know what the answers are, you’re right. I don’t plan on telling anyone I do know. But what I know of science tells me exactly where we can’t find the answers, and that helps my faith. Incidentally, “word salad” has always been a pretty harsh term to me. As a writer, I’d like to think I do more than put words into a bowl and shake. You may not agree with the points, but that’s different than criticizing someone’s writing ability as… Read more »
Matthew,
My apologies, you’re absolutely right “word salad” was too harsh.
You wrote “But what I know of science tells me exactly where we can’t find the answers, and that helps my faith.” .
I believe the opposite, what I know of science tells me we should never stop looking for the answers.
I need a more compelling reason to believe, you’ve already mentioned plenty of reasons why not to believe.
No worries!
Love your bio!
The goal is not “heaven” …. the goal is spending eternity with HIM and he pretty much gives us a playbook as to what we need to do to get there. Corporal Acts of Mercy To feed the hungry; To give drink to the thirsty; To clothe the naked; To harbour the harbourless; To visit the sick; To ransom the captive; To bury the dead. I do what I do, not just because I want eternal life with Him, I do what I do so as to please Him in that I am doing what He’s asked me to do.… Read more »
Thanks, Tom. What you say is exactly what I’ve come to believe. However Heaven might be experienced – or even if it doesn’t exist – doesn’t change the fact that we NEED to do good for all of humanity. It’s our God-given obligation. With all He’s given us, we need to give to each other.
How you do that, well that’s dependent on your own gifts, right?
Cheers!
or should I say “click” it
You may want to check your link to Tecnospiritualist. I’m getting an error I clikc it.
I appreciate you bringing this up. It sure seems to be my website when I click all the way through the warnings, but I’m not sure why the warnings are coming up. I’ll see if I can check with the admins to clear that up. You can go directly there by going to Technospiritualist.com.
Thanks!
Thanks for letting us know about this. It sure seems to be my website if you click through the warnings, but I’m not sure why they ‘re there. I’ll try to contact the administrators to see if this can be corrected.
In the meantime, you can visit my website directly at Technospiritualist.com.
Thanks!
I just fixed it for you. 🙂