Heaven 14
Two more texts in John, both of which inform us of nearly the same thing: 12:27 “Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came...
View ArticleHeaven 15
My little computer program boots up about 19 separable instances of “heaven” in the Book of the Acts of the Apostles. And we begin with a text that is at the center of a few debates today, in...
View ArticleHeaven 16
Acts 2 has a number of interesting references and I will quote each one with a little context: 1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing...
View ArticleHeaven 17
We are in a series that seeks to examine what “heaven” refers to in the NT, and we are particularly searching to see if “heaven” is the eternal destiny. In other words, is heaven the intermediate state...
View ArticleHeaven 18
Acts 4 has two references to heaven, and neither opens up new vistas for us on the meaning of heaven. Acts 4:12: There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among...
View ArticleHeaven 19
Acts 7 also has a very interesting reference to “heaven.” Here are three texts in Acts 7: 42: But God turned away from them and handed them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the...
View ArticleHeaven 20
Paul can say he saw a light flash from “heaven” in Acts 9:3, and probably just mean “up” or “in the skies.” But, Peter’s observations about his vision open up the heavens for us: Acts 10:9 About noon...
View ArticleHeaven 21
The three remaining texts in Acts do not add to the picture but prop up what is already standing tall and clear: Acts 14:15 tells us that God made “heaven and earth and sea” and 17:24 that God is the...
View ArticleHeaven 22
Romans 10:6 is not an easy text to understand. Here it is in context: Rom. 10:1 Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. 2 I can testify that they...
View ArticleHeaven 23
Paul’s next reference to heaven is 1 Cor 8:5, and it speaks of false gods whether in heaven or on earth, and it doesn’t do much for this discussion. But 1 Cor 15:47 does: 42 So it is with the...
View ArticleHeaven 24
2 Corinthians 5 fits in many ways with the concerns of the re-made spiritual body of 1 Corinthains 15. So here is our text for today: 1 For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we...
View ArticleHeaven 25
“I know a man in Christ,” Paul says in 2 Cor 12:2, “who who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows. 3 And I know...
View ArticleHeaven 26
Many of Paul’s references to heaven repeat what we have seen elsehwere. Thus: Gal. 1:8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let that...
View ArticleHeaven 27
One of the most significant texts in this discussion of the “permanence” of heaven is Philippians 3:20. In context now: 17 Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you...
View ArticleFlying into our Future with the Wright Brothers
Recently I was asked where theology was headed. I assured my reader that I wasn’t “in the know” but that I would hazard a guess or two. First I thought we were likely to see a more robust Trinitarian...
View Article(Back to) Heaven 29
We had an interlude on a book and now we are back to finish up our series on heaven. Is “heaven” the permanent eternal place or, like some are arguing today, is it an alternative world, perhaps only...
View ArticleHeaven 30
The book of Hebrews has a strong dualism between the earth and the heavenly realm, so what it says about “heaven” is of concern to us. Notice these texts: Heb. 1:10 And, “In the beginning, Lord, you...
View ArticleHeaven 31
Three texts in 1 Peter are about heaven: 1Pet. 1:4 and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 1Pet. 1:12 It was revealed to them that they were...
View ArticleHeaven 32
2 Peter may finally clinch the matter for our question: 2Pet. 1:18 We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven, while we were with him on the holy mountain. 2Pet. 3:5 They deliberately ignore this...
View ArticleHeaven 33
The issue we have examined, assuming that explicit mentions of “heaven” can give us all we need for our decision, is what “heaven” refers to and whether or not “heaven” is the final “resting place.” We...
View ArticleHeaven 34
In Revelation, Heaven is the place or world that is acknowledged by the true people of God: Rev. 5:13 Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that...
View ArticleHeaven 35
In Revelation, Heaven is a place where the ultimate drama is staged, and one gets the sense that the drama on earth is staged in Heaven prior to its being staged on earth. While that is one sense, I...
View ArticleHeaven 36
We come full circle. In our sketch of the NT evidence, there is enough evidence to conclude that heaven — at least for Peter and for John — is not the final place. The final place is the new heavens...
View ArticleBeyond the Abyss 6
What does the image of God look like when we begin afresh from Jesus? In Sharon Baker, Razing Hell: Rethinking Everything You've Been Taught About God's Wrath and Judgment, that question is asked....
View ArticleThe Age to Come – New Creation After Darwin (RJS)
We’ve been looking at the essays in a book Theology After Darwin centered around a simple question: What are the implications for Christian theology if Darwin was right? The Christian story and...
View ArticleWaiting for Rob Bell 2
I stood in horror watching the blogosphere light up last week, but my horror was not simply over the accusations made against an author whose book was not even yet available nor just over those who...
View ArticleReview of Francis Chan, Erasing Hell, by Jeff Cook
Erasing Hell – A Response (Jeff Cook) I have deep respect for the work of both Francis Chan and Dr. Preston Sprinkle. In their recent book Erasing Hell: What God said about eternity, and the things we...
View ArticleFreewill Theism and Universalism
John Sanders is a well-known Christian theologian and philosopher at Hendrix College, and is perhaps known most for his advocacy of open theism. He is a freewill theist, and so his philosophical and...
View ArticleThe Book of Revelation as Symbolic
Everyone says it. Everyone says “Revelation is symbolic.” Then everyone proceeds to decode the symbols — and it is the decoding that gets tricky. Tom Wright has famously argued that the vision of the...
View ArticleQuestions about Hell
The claim is bold. The claim is this: those who are “in Christ” will spend eternity with God; those who are not “in Christ” will go to hell. The claim, then, not only claims that there is an afterlife,...
View ArticleSports in the Kingdom: Randy Alcorn
Randy Alcorn: Even in this fallen world, sports can bring out some very good things, including teamwork and the development of physical skills in our bodies that God has made. Can people abuse sports?...
View ArticleHeaven: Some Reflections
Heaven, what used to be the primary motivator for many to become a Christian or be faithful of a Christian, has fallen on hard times. I wonder what you think about heaven? But I’m not asking about just...
View ArticleHeart in Heaven, Hand in Harvest
Jesus told the man next to him on a cross that he would be with him in Paradise that day (Luke 23:43) and one of the more revealing statements from the apostle Paul is this one: “Therefore we are...
View Article“God is on a mission to get the hell out of earth”
I have been reading Joshua Ryan Butler’s The Skeletons in God’s Closet, the first major section in which is a study of hell – and how it fits into the Bible’s narrative. Hell without a story becomes a...
View ArticleJudgment Day: God’s Home Makeover
The very claim Christians have always made is that at some day God will judge us all. Every.last.one.of.us. The great, last judgment. The question many have against that claim is this: Is it all that...
View ArticleRevolution in Eschatology Today?
There is a widespread meme at work in how Christian theologians are now talking about the future — about heaven or the new heavens and the new earth or about the final state. It has three parts: Part...
View ArticleRethinking Heaven (NT Wright)
What ideas were presented to you about heaven when you grew up? [Please drop a comment because I'd like to know how many of us grew up with the notions of a new heaven and new earth -- let's call it a...
View ArticleThe Importance of Heaven and Hell
No one in the world has thought more about heaven, hell and purgatory than Jerry Walls. He has an academic, but accessible, book on each topic and now he has brought all his thinking together in one...
View ArticleA Dancing God?
That fussy but relentless atheist philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche, as he always does, lays it on the line when it comes to the Christian belief in an eternal heaven of goodness, saying, The “most...
View ArticleLet’s Just Say You Don’t Believe in Heaven: What’s it like?
The tendency today among Christians is not so much to deny heaven as a genuine hope and reality but to minimize it as a factor in the faith or, what is worse, to diminish it by saying we ought to focus...
View ArticleA Big One about the Afterlife
Any one who has counseled the grieving — as a parent, as a sibling, as a child, as a pastor, as a friend, as a neighbor — anyone, in other words, who has done so has been asked this question: Will I...
View ArticleIs “No Tears in Heaven” Desirable?
Here’s how he sums up the problem: Let’s face it, the Christian notion that heaven will wipe away all tears is a staggering thought. If heaven is real, no doubt there are many rapists, murderers, and...
View ArticleIs Heaven Vital for Morality or Not?
You may well recall the famous scene in Les Miserables in which Jean Valjean comes clean in public to take the place of another who was in fact on trial instead of himself (Valjean). The scene poses...
View ArticleDoes God’s Mercy Endure Forever, or Does it End?
Rob Bell asked the question if God’s mercy would endure forever so that people would have opportunities to turn to God in the afterlife (postmortem opportunity = PO) or if that mercy would end at...
View ArticleRepainting Hell: Jeff Cook’s Closure
Jeff Cook teaches philosophy at the University of Northern Colorado. He is the author of Everything New: Reimagining Heaven and Hell(Subversive 2012), and a pastor of Atlas Church in Greeley, Colorado....
View ArticleArrived!
Kris and I had a special day yesterday – The Heaven Promise author copies arrived at the door! I have been working on “heaven” for a number of years, and recorded thoughts from the days of Jesus Creed:...
View ArticleTop Ten Questions about Heaven
What are the most important questions about heaven you have faced? Here are the top ten questions about heaven that I discuss in my new book, The Heaven Promise. Ten Questions about Heaven 1...
View ArticleSome Questions about Heaven
Heaven, what used to be the primary motivator for many to become a Christian or be faithful of a Christian, has fallen on hard times. I discuss each of these questions (below) in my new book, The...
View ArticleSo Heavenly Minded, No Earthly Good
We perhaps all know the Type, the person who is so heavenly minded they are no earthly good. They don’t seem to care about injustice, they don’t seem to be bothered by tragedies, they are not moved by...
View ArticleToday is the Day
The Heaven Promise: Engaging the Bible’s Truth about Life to Come is now available for purchase and shipping at your local bookstore and on the internet’s bookstores, like Amazon and Barnes and Noble....
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