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David Green
Christian Apologetics
Dr. Shelton
March 30, 2012
Heaven
The Dead Man‟s Utopia
The very concept and idea of heaven is something that our finite minds find hard to grasp
and in some cases reject the very notion. The origin of heaven has always been a part of our
existence we long for something superior and better than earth after this life (Long, T. G. 2011).
We also have accounts of people speaking of a place with extreme happiness or joy when they
come close to death. There is no real origin of heaven in the sense that you cannot name the time
and date of when the concept and idea became realized into the thoughts and minds of mankind.
The use of the word heaven wasn‟t until the 12th century but, cultures and religions have had a
belief in an afterlife where there is happiness and pleasure for centuries (Juola Exline, Julie
2003). The dictionary describes the word heaven as being “the abode or home of God, angels,
and spirits of the righteous after death” but, that definition is too limited in scope to describe
such an infinite place. The only way we can truly define heaven is by saying what it is not, faith
and experience. We recall and use the accounts of people who have had near death experiences
or close calls. We also use the Bible to describe heaven and have a feeling about how we would
want it to be through divine revelation.
The concept and idea of heaven isn‟t something uniquely or solely in the possession of
Christians. There are a myriad of religions, cults and even atheists who discuss or believe in the
concept of heaven. The problem with defining heaven is that we use earthly terms that will never

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truly encompass its glory. it will always fall short of how truly remarkable it will be in the end
(Kreeft, Tacelli 259). The cultural and religious interpretations of heaven are quite vast and
unique (Juola Exline, Julie 2003). The Buddhist interpretation of heaven is a temporary place for
people who have done good deeds. Each and every person experiences heaven differently
depending on the degree of their karma. Heaven is a place for people to experience a variety of
sensual pleasures. The Islam concept of heaven is a very physical place where every dream and
aspiration is fulfilled upon your request. Heaven is a place of eternal happiness and immortality.
The Islamic concept of heaven also splits heaven into several levels where the more good deeds
you perform the higher you move up in heaven. In the Islamic belief again one‟s entry into
heaven is solely dependent on their deeds and actions. The pantheistic approach to heaven is
quite unique it says that we all return to the ultimate source of life or become one with God. The
pantheistic belief says that God is everywhere and that everything is God so we simply become
one with everything. There isn‟t necessarily any specific means to get to heaven other than to
die. It doesn‟t seem to be dependant or tied to any one‟s deeds or actions. Atheists believe that
there is no heaven and that the very idea is dense or unimportant for us. They say it distracts or
takes away from what we can do on earth because our priorities will be misplaced. The final
religious belief I will mention is Christianity which holds that heaven is a gift and is not
dependent on anyone‟s deeds but on the action of Jesus. Jesus became sin and died for us so we
could receive the gift of eternal life. Heaven will be a place of eternal intimate relationship with
God where death and pain are a thing of the past. We will have resurrected bodies and separation
between God and man will no longer exist (Juola Exline, Julie 2003).
The most obvious dilemma that we are presented with is acquiring factual evidence about
heaven if it‟s not until death that we glimpse the afterlife. The best way we can describe and

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wrap our heads around heaven is looking at all the evidence and information. The most
intriguing argument that is continually brought up to defend the idea of heaven is near death
experiences. The underlying and ultimate theme is that it‟s a place of contentment, pleasure and
we will get to meet family members and friends that died and overall have a great time. No one
seems to object or detest the idea of heaven being a blissful place. There are a few objections to
heaven being a blissful place (Ribeiro, B. 2011) but, more often than not people agree that
heaven is a desirable paradise. There is also a consensus among some of the greatest teachers and
prophets that there is an idea of a paradise or utopia after death. They all seem to agree on the
idea of heaven being a desirable place with no sadness the specific details vary from each major
teacher or prophet. The major problem with attaining this image or reality of heaven is that we
apply earthly or secular finite concepts to a place that embodies eternity and infinity. We have
such a weak and feeble vocabulary that heaven can never truly be described with our words
(Kreeft, Tacelli 263). This doesn‟t necessarily mean we shouldn‟t strive to understand and grasp
the idea of heaven. We can understand the concept of heaven by saying what it is not and
through faith.
We relish in the idea of a paradise after death where all of our sorrows will be forgotten.
The lost friends and family of times past will be once again be reunited with us. The biggest
objection to this idea is that we are simply living for the afterlife and focus solely on that ideal
paradise (Kreeft, Tacelli 266). We simply disregard the work and goals of this life and as a result
don‟t achieve the potential inside us. The idea that we will forsake and disregard this life is kind
of absurd if anything it is a motivator and driver (Brock, R., & Parker, R. 2009). The vast
majority of religions are heavily dependent on actions and deeds so they must consider this life
to be of some importance. If there is no belief in heaven then it most certainly takes away from

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this life. That would mean our mere existence is limited and finite and there is truly nothing to
live for or any standard or morals to live by in this life. We have no obligation to live a good life
and do good things because after all there is nothing. We should in turn be cut throat, ruthless
and step on all the little people we can so we can get to the top and live blissfully on this earth.
People often live contrary to this atheistic belief because we have some intrinsic moral code or
obligation because we believe there is life after death. Society believes that good deeds unlock
the door to the blissful afterlife. The idea of heaven also fulfills the internal obligation of justice
from this life. It satisfies us to know that the deeds and actions of this life will be rewarded
and/or punished. It comforts us to know that in some way that adolf hitler was punished for
decimating a race of people and other horrible crimes against humanity. There must be
something after death to ensure that his time on earth did not go unpunished death certainly
cannot be the end all be all and ultimate form of justice. This isn‟t necessarily directly related to
heaven but, it does lend itself to the idea of life after death and heaven is a part of that concept.
Heaven cannot be a place for such a person. The necessity of heaven fulfills a need every human
internally has for something more beyond our finite world and existence. We all have a longing
and desire for heaven because earth is not our home. Earth cannot and does not satisfy all of our
desires if it did we wouldn‟t have the problems we do in this life. The things of this world do not
satisfy our most intimate desires we need to realize that heaven is our true home.
The necessity of heaven cannot be talked about without first addressing the common and
strongest objections to the very concept and idea of heaven. One of the primary objections to the
idea of heaven is that it was simply a form of escapist. They tend to tie the idea of God and
heaven together and simply say that it‟s a way for people to cope with a miserable and less than
perfect life. The idea that believing in heaven is escapist is silly an idea or concept is only

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escapist if the idea is a lie (Kreeft, Tacelli 265). Heaven is quite real and it isn‟t escapist for us to
think about the future or possibility of something greater or achieving the ultimate goal. It is not
escapist for a traveler to revel at the idea of reaching his/her destination or expecting parents to
be anxious about their baby. Both examples are people who have an expectation to fulfill a goal
or to achieve fulfillment. They do not disregard the task at hand but, simply look forward to the
fulfillment of some desire or goal. The other objection that ties along with the idea that heaven is
escapist is that heaven is wishful thinking and a dream (Kreeft, 2011). Heaven cannot in itself be
wishful thinking or a necessary dream we came up with because how can finite and limited
minds create such an infinitely perfect place. The effect of something cannot not be greater than
the cause. The greatest and most obvious objection to heaven is that there is no scientific
evidence to support the existence of such a place. Such a notion is rash we all believe in the
concepts of love and hate yet there is no solid scientific evidence to prove the existence of such
things (Kreeft, Tacelli 264). We believe in justice and other actions but, there is no formula to
prove that justice exist other than the fact that we believe it does. We should not be so rash as to
simplify our universe to science. That would be illogical and irrational to think that our universe
is simply bound by our equations and formula‟s. Jesus may not have been respected as Christ or
as a savior but he was revered as a great moral teacher and prophet. Jesus talked about the
kingdom of God and about their being life after death. If we assume that Jesus was a great
teacher and prophet then we can also assume he was telling the truth in which case we assume
that heaven is real. Jesus can‟t be a great moral teacher and be a liar at the same time so we can
trust him enough to believe in the concept and idea of heaven.
How can we comprehend heaven as Christians with so many denominations and
variations? We have often taken on a very literal approach as we interpret the scripture. When

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we imagine or picture heaven it is the ideal paradise from an earthly stand point. We might
picture mansions, beaches, families, friends, grassy meadows and the perfect sun sets (Brock, R.,
& Parker, R. 2009). Heaven may very well be that ideal place I can neither confirm nor with
absolute resolve say with 100% certainty that a person that believes that is false. On the other
hand we must be cautious with how we describe heaven and not limit the grand scope that it may
be when we see it. The greatest tragedy I believe we have done is to limit heaven into earthly,
secular moral terms and reality. Heaven is a place outside of the bounds of our own reality and
laws it‟s a place literally defined by eternity and infinity. Let us not bring it down to our level of
the finite. This does not mean Christians should not continue to define heaven and understand
this concept and idea. Heaven is described as analogies in the Bible instead of the being very
literal. The best example I believe we can get a basis for heaven can be found through the
readings of C.S Lewis „The Problem of Pain”. He talks about heaven being a place where we
finally and truly have the opportunity to become fully who God intended us to be without limits.
There is also another way to phrase an answer the questions about heaven and what to expect
other by referring to Kreeft and Tacelli. “Thus the meaning of life, on earth and heaven is: to
understand God, to love god, to understand others, to love others, to understand yourself and to
love yourself” (Kreeft, Tacelli 263). What more could we desire to do as children of God other
than those 6 activities. It encapsulates the vision and idea of heaven so profoundly despite how
basic it may appear to the eye. I believe that when we expand upon Lewis‟ definition as well as
Kreeft and Tacelli we can begin to springboard and work our way outwards to understand
heaven more concretely. The hardest thing for us is to believe that heaven will be something else
other than what we imagined it to be (Brock, R., & Parker, R. 2009). When we hear the word
heaven we think paradise or utopia and we each have picture to fit the mold of heaven. What if

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our mold is wrong? This can get a lot of people off track because the focus has been shifted on
the wrong things heaven isn‟t the ultimate goal. The most important thing regarding heaven is
it‟s where God is and that‟s where you want to be nothing should take priority over that fact.
Heaven isn‟t some place where you go to get everything you didn‟t get here on earth. It‟s not the
ultimate retirement from life where we get to relax forever regardless of the truth in that
statement. The focus should be on finally having an intimate relationship with God no more
separation because of sin. A freely accessible bridge to truly experience God in all is great love
in newly resurrected bodies and unlike other religions our deeds and actions don‟t earn us into
heaven. It took Jesus dying on the cross to pay our admission to heaven and the greatest thing
about it all is through his actions heaven became a gift not a grade.

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References
Brock, R., & Parker, R. (2009). Saving Paradise. Tikkun, 24(4), 21-25.
Esolen, A. (2009). The Freedom of Heaven & the Freedom of Hell. First Things: A
Monthly Journal Of Religion & Public Life, (191), 37-41.
Juola Exline, J. (2003). BELIEF IN HEAVEN AND HELL AMONG CHRISTIANS IN
THE UNITED STATES: DENOMINATIONAL DIFFERENCES AND CLINICAL
IMPLICATIONS. Omega: Journal Of Death & Dying, 47(2), 155-168.
Kreeft, P., & Tacelli, R. K. (1994). Handbook of Christian apologetics: hundreds of
answers to crucial questions. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press.
Kvanvig, Jonathan, "Heaven and Hell", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall
2009 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL =
<http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2009/entries/heaven-hell/>.
Lewis, C. S. (2001). The problem of pain. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco.
Long, T. G. (2011). Heaven comes to us. Christian Century, 128(9), 55.
Ribeiro, B. (2011). THE PROBLEM OF HEAVEN. Ratio, 24(1), 46-64.
doi:10.1111/j.1467-9329.2010.00482.x