Is Heaven a One-Way Street?

If I listened long enough to you
I'd find a way to believe that it's all true
Knowing that you lied straight faced while I cried
Still I look to find a reason to believe
--A Reason to Believe,
Tim Harden

Human decency is not derived from religion,
It precedes it
--God is Not Great,
Christopher Hitchens

I've paid my dues
Time after time
I've done my sentence
But committed no crime
--We are the Champions,
Queen

Prepare yourself you know it's a must
Gotta have a friend in Jesus
So you know that when you die
He's gonna recommend you
To the spirit in the sky
--Spirit in the Sky,
Norman Greenbaum
_________________

Sunday Homily: What then?

There are things we believe to be true, even if facts get in the way.

The ancient Greeks believed that the universe had no beginning; it just always was. The Jewish God showed up and was revealed as the Unmoved Mover. This monolithic being created the whole shebang from his munificence and creativity (presumably without the need for hallucinogens).

Today, we are more like the ancient Greeks in that we believe the universe to be eternal, without end. We believe this based on our acceptance of biblical promises that we will be rewarded in an afterlife with eternal happiness, or at least, that we will live eternally.

But what if this presumption is as wrong as many of the other Greek beliefs? Physicists agree with the Bible when they hawk the Big Bang Theory -- some event created all that we know. However, predicating a beginning point does not demand a perpetual persistence; the universe is not a Wankel rotary engine, after all. In fact, a start date would seem to imply an end date.

Some of our presumptions about systems:

• A beginning implies and end

• A front implies a back

• Good implies bad

• An inverse implies an obverse

• Up implies down
  

These thoughts popped into Ranger's head as he traveled Highway 90, and he wondered what St. Paul or Constantine felt at his epiphanies. If the universe is not eternal, where will God stash the faithful? Is there an alternate universe of Ft. Knox Storage Centers which could serve as eternal crypts? Will He contract out to a group like the Chinese who could provided massive shipping containers to hold the cargo of humanity?

Or, is heaven not subject to the rules of the universe? Could infinity fit on the head of a pin? Is heaven in this solar system, or somewhere else?

Directionality is also a question. We now know that subatomic particles can change their spin ... kind of like tiny Glenn Becks or minute hermaphrodites. Therefore, if a person can ascend to heaven, does it not follow that they could also travel in the opposite direction?

This would be like the template that religion allows people here on earth ... one could get a little taste of the strange on the weekend, say, then pop back up for some hearty Confessional and a good bowl of soup to get back on the good foot (until the next descent into the fiery place.) Watch how many transits you take, though -- do it one too many times, and you may end up looking like Kieth Richards.

Or is heaven a one-way street? Can a person leave heaven, or is it a kind of benevolent prison, like being consigned to live in Rolla, Missouri for life? Is this the mandatory sentence for living a fairly good life -- a kind of eternal Groundhog Day, albeit without snow shoveling?

Do they speak English or Aramaic in heaven, or do you cleave off into enclaves of only your own native-speakers -- mini gated communities in the Giant Gated Community in the sky? Was Babel just ruse?

What is your vision of hell? We envisioned old people who finally got their perfect recreational vehicle -- and could actually afford the gas -- but then being consigned to travel back and forth across Iowa, never being able to breakout of the vast Midwest into, say, Idaho.

Can you branch transfer from Hell to Heaven, or vice versa? Can you time share? Earn parole?

--Jim & Lisa