When it comes to the discussion of the subject about Heaven, the boundaries of faith and reason collide. The voice of the poet speaks:

There is a land that is fairer than day,

And by faith we see it afar.

The voice of reason speaks:

"I want to go to Heaven, but I don’t want to go now!"

Thinking about Heaven is a nice thing to consider when your relatives or friends are at death’s door. They are about "to pass away" as is said - that phrase does sound like they are about to take a trip - but where? It is also comforting to think about Heaven when we reminisce upon the experience of what we call "the loss of our loved one." How can it be? That the dying of our loved one is a "loss" if he passed away to a place called Heaven. Is Heaven that bad of a place that we would consider it to be a loss for someone to "pass away" and go there?

"Passing away" sounds like going through some kind of portal - a door maybe. Is this what death is "a door?" Just how are they doing over "there"? And what are they doing? Is it a fun time in comparison to what we have here? I remember when I was a child, my mother would go around cleaning the house, singing:

When I take my vacation in Heaven,

What a wonderful time it will be,

Sitting down on the banks,

Of the evergreen trees.

The thought was surely better than the hard work of cleaning the house. And too, she did not have many, if any, vacations here on earth. Have you ever thought of going to heaven to be a vacation?

Most people are taught about Heaven as being "up." And you know what is "down?" The main purpose of going up is to avoid going down. In the obituary column, most of those listed are declared to be going up, even if we are not quite sure where up is. People have a lot of questions about Heaven even though they might not have a great interest to go there now. They have questions like: "Can the people up there see us down here?" Wow! If they can, we better straighten our act up. "Will we recognize each other in Heaven?" Not if we get too many face lifts. "What will we be doing up there?" Some people tell us that we will be playing harps. We will be singing all the time in choirs. What if you can’t sing or play a harp? The answer to that is simple - we will all be perfect. We’ll know how to do everything. This may be disappointing to some people. In Heaven there will be no sex or gender identity. That war will be over. In addition to this, there will no marriage or giving in marriage. That will solve the divorce problem.

Then in addition to the above - "What will we be doing?" We will be participating in one great big Pentecostal meeting of shouting, hollering, dancing and clapping of hands forever. There will be no sickness, war, death, night or disease. Only angels will have the wings because they are a higher order of God’s creation.

But, it is said that Heaven will eventually come down to earth. It will be Heaven on Earth. You don’t like the way things are here on earth. Just you wait. A new show is coming.

Take notice, a new bus load is leaving everyday for Heaven. Look closely, you can see who the driver is - Jesus. He knows the way! So it is said. A bus is loading now. Do you have your ticket? Or would you rather stay here on earth a while and sit around and talk about what it is like in Heaven and what they are doing up there? Are they who are in Heaven (Our parents, relatives and friends) not far better off than we are? Is it not interesting these days, one sees quite often in the obituary, that the deceased passed away - "to be with the Lord." No other alternative is ever mentioned.

(C)2005 Fred M. Fariss All Rights Reserved