This post is part of our ongoing “Ask The Pastor” series, where you can write in to ask anything to our Lead Pastor, Rev. Jason Coker. To submit your own question, click here to go to our Ask Anything page.
What are you beliefs on the afterlife?
~ Lisa
Hi Lisa,
We don’t place much emphasis on what happens after death. We are much more concerned with how being Christians leads us to live good and ethical lives of impact here and now.
The possibility of an afterlife was a subject of much debate in the Judaism of Jesus’ time. In fact, Old Testament prophesies about the “new creation” don’t describe an eternal state of living forever, but rather an idyllic life lived on earth…one which eventually ends in death. Consider this passage from Isaiah:
“No more shall there be in it
an infant that lives but a few days,
or an old person who does not live out a lifetime;
for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth,
and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed.”
~ Isaiah 65:20 (read the whole chapter, it’s really good!)
This is how I understand Jesus’ teaching about the “Kingdom of God” (see Matt 4:23). When Christians read the phrase “Kingdom of God”, they often think of “heaven.” But Jesus was teaching that the Divine Presence is immediately available to us in this life, especially to those who were least expected to be “Godly” (“Blessed are the poor, the mourners, the meek…”). Jesus demonstrates that immanent Presence through his own words and deeds.
In other words, following Jesus isn’t about going to eternal life after you die; it’s about living an eternal quality of life before you die.
Reading Jesus this way makes much better sense of the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5-7). If you believe that salvation is all about getting into heaven, then the Sermon on the Mount becomes an enormous obstacle – since nobody can live up to those teachings! But if Jesus is actually teaching practical wisdom about how to build peaceful communities that flow from the Divine life of God, then those teachings are no longer unrealistic obstacles to heaven, they are a revolutionary call to overturn the powers of violence, corruption, and oppression.
Don’t get me wrong; I hope there is some kind of afterlife! (Actually, I tend to think there is). But the gospel seems to be more about living better, more just and peaceful lives now. To me, that’s truly good news.
Sincerely,
jason Coker