Heaven and the Banquet

I knew a guy who once told me that if he could ask someone one question, he could get a handle on their religion. That one question was, what do you think happens after you die?

It is a pretty good question to be sure; sort of like an ultimate what do you think religion is about question. There are those who think that we get some sort of ultimate reward in the afterlife for our good deeds in this life. There are those that think we just get another different type of life, hopefully reunited with family and friends. There are those that think we are reincarnated and come back to try to get it right in this life. There are those who think nothing happens, we go into the ground and rot. And there is everything in between.

You see, it is a good question because it affects everything about how we live. Why are we doing things in this life? Is it so as to earn a reward? Is it because we realize life is short and we want to make it the best we can? Is it so that we do not come back as a slug?

You get the idea. It is a simple question in a sense and it affects our entire belief structure. Now, before we go further you should know that whether you are United, Catholic, Baptist, Muslim or a Secular Humanist the person who you find sitting next to you does not believe the same thing as you.

We are all different when it comes to life after death and that is because there is absolutely nothing that can be known 100 percent about what happens. Each generation has come up with ideas that reflect what they think perfection looks like… so the Vikings thought heaven would be endless glorious battle in which no one dies and everyone parties during the night. Poor peasants who had nothing imagined a world with streets paved with gold. Lonely people want to be reunited with all their loved ones…

But all of these ideas are simply that, ideas we have about what perfection would be like

I just got back from a monumental road trip with three young children to Walt Disney World. I have been to Disney more times than a lot of people, it was a family favourite and my father owns a house in Florida. For me, Disney World is the ultimate vacation. I love the fantasy of it all, I love the architecture and the way it is laid out… I go there again and again. But I know lots of people who do not like it at all, they think it is crowded and fake seeming, overwhelming and childish.

The exact same place could be described a thousand ways by a thousand guests. And the description, as well as our relation to it, changes depending on whether or not we like it. So too our conception of the afterlife is just that, our conception, what brings us joy, what we aim at.

Jesus once told a parable about banquets, and about how we should be humble and think very hard about who we invite and why. I think that he was making exactly this point about how different people have different things going on their lives, different beliefs and different needs… but we cannot think that we are better than them, and we cannot think that we are right.

As I get older and wiser I have come to realize that at one time or another I have been wrong about just about everything. Luckily I have been right a bit too… but mostly wrong. We need to be open to that, we need to realize that we cannot judge people on their beliefs, and we need to start accepting that the reasons behind what we do and think are important. But more importantly, they tell us more about who we are than about God or faith.