“It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”- C.S. Lewis
It’s funny how people will find ways to divide ourselves, no matter what else might bring us together. I’m in several afterlife groups both online and face-to-face meetings. While we all agree that we are spiritual beings having a human existence and that that existence doesn’t end with death, death is a door way into the next chapter of our book of life. However, we quibble about what that next chapter holds. “New Age” is the pejorative of choice in one of my groups. Any suggestion that we don’t continue on in the same or extremely similar physical existence that we have here is met with strong opposition by a few members of the group. People have blocked each other and even left the group over the suggestion that maybe, just maybe, we don’t have (physical) sex in the afterlife (or eat ice cream or drink whiskey or whatever). We’ve got people saying “If I can’t have sex, then I don’t want to go.” I’ve had to remind them that we need to save our energy for fighting the Materialists who say there is no afterlife, not bickering over what the afterlife holds.
The writers of the Bible tried to describe heaven as being paved with streets of gold and a land flowing with “milk & honey”. I know a woman who doesn’t want to go to heaven because she doesn’t like milk or honey. And streets of gold just sounds gaudy. The song “Amazing Grace” says after we’ve been singing God’s praises for 10,000 years, that’s just a warm up. Sounds more like hell than heaven to me. Heaven sounds like a downright bore the way most people describe it.
From what I have been able to ascertain, I believe there are physical realms very similar to Earth. These are often referred to as the astral planes where we have bodies very much like bodies and can satisfy them in the same way. I think many of us will stop there on our way out. That’s great. There are some very pleasurable things about being on Earth. Is that all there is though? Could anything possibly be better than chocolate? Better than sex? When we have these arguments, I always ask the question “Do you know what you like, or do you like what you know?” Sure, these physical sensations are great, but they are only approximations. Maybe there is something better, even if it’s beyond our ability to imagine it. What if we have eight senses once we go Home? I’m looking forward to trying the higher realms as well.
I don’t get caught up in worrying about whether I’ll be able to have sex in heaven or if I’ll be able to enjoy a chocolate bar. I am confident that whatever physical pleasures there are there they will be as good or better than what we have here. In fact, I believe they are beyond my ability to even imagine.
