Better Than the Alternative
One of my job responsibilities is to meet, once a month, with some community members who are interested in the work my company does; they serve in an advisory capacity and also provide links between my company and community organizations. Last week, I witnessed a conversation between two church-going ladies who profess to be Christians. Denise was telling Lisa about some health problems she’d endured recently: exams, surgical procedures, medications – it was quite a sordid tale. After Denise finished her account, Lisa said, “Well, all that was better than the alternative.” Denise nodded her head and agreed, “Yes, it was certainly better than the alternative.”
I smiled, shook my head and finished eating my trifle.
The reason I smiled and shook my head is that this conversation doesn’t square up with what most Christians say they believe. Many Christians spend an inordinate amount of time trying to convince the rest of us that
Heaven is a wonderful place,
Filled with Glory and Grace;
I want to see my Savior’s face,
Heaven is a wonderful place
(I wanna go there…)
Others say,
When we all get to Heaven,
What a day of rejoicing that will be;
When we all see Jesus,
We’ll sing and shout the jubilee.
Do Christians honestly believe what they sing about, write about, preach about, and testify about? If so, why would Denise and Lisa assert that the medical procedures that prolonged Denise’s life were better than the alternative – death, heaven and Jesus? Perhaps it’s because – deep in their hearts – some (if not most) of them hope that what they believe is real, but their doubts are strong enough that they’re not ready to discover the truth, whatever it may be.
– the chaplain
Whoa, I’m first!
I think the logic is the same as the reason you won’t find atheists in “literal” foxholes. It’s because they were knocked out of the way in the stampede by christians, to secure their arses safely away in the dugout. Is faith not enough to alter the bullets course or more importantly, would’nt it be a gift anyway, to be transported to gods side earlier than you could’ve have possibly hoped? It is paradise after all.
As for the trifle, not since I was 4 years old and never ever since!
One of the constant themes of my constant whinging about Christians is their hypocrisy. Just chalk up one more example.
I used to love all the heaven hymns , particularly that one.
As for the holy ones appetite for heaven, I agree with you. They tearfully pray for 80+ year old people to survive cancer, as if the other side “weren’t” better.
Orion asked, would’nt it be a gift anyway, to be transported to gods side earlier than you could’ve have possibly hoped?
That’s what one would think, but many believers I’ve known haven’t behaved as if that’s the case.
SI:
If it’s not outright hypocrisy, it seems to be, at the very least, a glaring inconsistency.
Lorena:
I never really got into the heaven stuff. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I always had the idea that, when people talked about heaven, no one really knew what they were talking about; they were guessing or making it up. I haven’t changed my thinking much in that regard; at this point, I don’t believe that anyone knows what happens after death. My current thinking is that it’s probably pretty mundane – annihilation of the conscious self and decay of physical matter.
Orion77,
What do you mean, “[W]on’t find atheists in ‘literal’ foxholes,”? http://www.atheistnexus.org/group/foxholeatheists
Chappie,
I have often wondered why Xians aren’t lining up on bridges and rooftops all over the world. Hell, if I knew, like they’re constantly telling me they know, that a land of Ben & Jerrys’, a leading role in “Slings & Arrows” and all the sex I can manage was just a bottle of pills away… well, I wouldn’t be hanging around this place for long.
Suicide is verboten. They had to include that one early or else everyone would have offed themselves. However, I think reckless endangerment might be a loophole.
This is always a funny Christian contradiction. There was a study last year that showed the critically ill religious hang on with machines and risk experimental treatments more than non-religious patients. Curious, no?
Anyway, I think you have some extravagant lunches if they include a trifle. Is that common, or do you sometimes have to slum it with a tiramisu or a creme brule´? Tough job.
Let us be grateful that most of the faithful are mealy-mouthed hypocrites, even as I was. Belief may not move mountains, but believers bring down skyscrapers.
Poignant observation and confirmation of scripture. After all, Jesus did tell us that many who are quick to say, “Lord, Lord” aren’t believers. I have no idea whether Denise and Lisa are in that subset, but I think your suspicion is justified.
There’s an interesting sci/fi-fantasy trilogy by Brian Stableford, Werewolves of London, which posits the existence of sorta kinda trans-dimensional beings (kinda like spiders made out of the fabric of reality). Anyway…in their efforts to interact with human reality, the one spider-god basically offers its slaves the whole range of heavens…none of which turned out to be very appealing and all of which were rejected.
I guess the transcendent merging with a godhood of your now nonexistent self would be heavenly, but would it be “you”-or human in any way?
Postie:
I was taught that there wouldn’t be any sex in heaven. Maybe that’s why Denise and Lisa aren’t ready to check out yet.
Philly:
We usually have breakfast meetings. The lunch was a special treat.
Nightcap:
Were you really a mealy-mouthed hypocrite, or just a believer with doubts? I don’t think doubting is hypocritical, just human.
cl:
Thanks for the “poignant observation” remark.
bk:
I used to wonder which body I would get in heaven – the trim 20-year-old one or the less-than-trim middle-aged one or an even less-trim elderly one (assuming my death is still some time in the future). I hoped that I’d have a choice, seeing as I’d have been stuck with it forever.
I’ve often wondered about that when watching Christian funerals. Regardless of how someone died, funerals should be an almost joyous occasion, given that the dead person is now in the best place possible. Yes, the grievers would mourn, given that they’re missing the dead person (that’s not meant to sound as insensitive as it looks when in written format). But they’ll see the person when they, too, end up in heaven.
Or when watching people praise God for sparing their lives … but isn’t death the better alternative, given the ultimate location?
OneSmallStep:
The more I think about it, and the more I observe of believers, the more convinced I am that many religious believers don’t believe there’s a heavenly afterlife, they simply hope there is.
I never really got into the heaven stuff. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I always had the idea that, when people talked about heaven, no one really knew what they were talking about;
I was just so sure that the Bible was perfect that it didn’t even cross my mind that heaven may not exist. At some point, I decided that traveling was foolish. Why bother? In heaven I would see better things, for free.
**the more convinced I am that many religious believers don’t believe there’s a heavenly afterlife, they simply hope there is.**
Or perhaps they’re simply more convinced about the existence of a nasty afterlife, and more convinced that such a location is their true destination.
I was raised in a Pentecostal environment and I can honestly tell you that they believe these songs……and that they are nutty as a fruitcake also. They are mentally deficient.