Most people in the world claim they want to go to heaven. I think that most of these people are wrong- either because they don't understand heaven, or they don't understand themselves.
If there is an afterlife, it consists of Heaven and Hell. Out of the two, everyone says that they would prefer to go to Heaven, and most of the time they assume that they are heading in the right direction. But have you ever stopped to wonder what it is you are looking towards? If you haven't, why are you so sure you want to get there?
Golden gates and harps aren't an image to take seriously. But is much thought given to what image replaces this in our minds? It is probably just a vague place to spend eternity. Happily. Care free. The average adult mind probably holds no particular image because we know that physical images fall short. Maybe we plug the gap with the statement that our imaginations could never come close to the reality, so there would be no point trying to imagine it.
But as a Christian, I wonder if many of the people I know would really want to go to heaven if they expected it to be what I understand from the Bible.
Heaven does not just happen to exist so that we can lounge around for eternity. The Bible tells us that it is where we can experience relationship with God in his fullness, with nothing hidden by physical or emotional distractions. For some people, this would be bliss! But for others, it wouldn't be at all.
God is a greater being than us, and we make an internal choice to aceept Him as our God, or reject him and cling onto our pride and distorted perceptions of our own personal greatness. Imagine that this divides humanity, and that after death, all humanity will be placed before God, unable to deny His presence. For those that have already accepted Him, this will be the best thing that has ever happened to them! But for those that have denied Him, this meeting will be a nightmare.
This is why I would seriously question a persons desire to go to Heaven. "Are you sure? It doesn't look like you have accepted God as the centre of your life, so are you certain you would like to live with Him forever?"
Meeting the God who created the universe will not be a casual event.
See another post about Death...
Image source: http://www.clipartheaven.com/show/clipart/religion/angel_cartoons/angel_&_harp-gif.html
