Friday, April 24, 2009

Just going to sneak into the lowest heaven?

In class today we were talking about how people sometimes joke that they're just going to sneak into the lowest corner of the lowest heaven. Theolog Pearse Frazier made the good point that thinking this way involves thinking of heaven as a destination rather than as a state. He said that what we should think instead is "how can I live in a heavenly way today?"

1 comment:

Derrick said...

Hi Malcolm and readers,

I think the joke (claim) that you will go the lowest level of heaven has part truth and part falsity. The truth that people recognize in this 'joke' is that they are undeserving of the rewards of heaven. The falsity is that they can still somehow be deserving of even the lowest part.

The solution is not that we can ever earn heaven in any way. The solution rests in acknowledging the goodness and mercy of the Lord.

(See AC 3994 as an example of needing both knowledge of falling short and acknowledging the Lord)