Heaven is not a place but a state of mind. Discuss (40 marks)

"Heaven is not a place but a state of mind". Discuss (40 marks)

Most Christians believe that after death the faithful and obedient will go to heaven whereas the evil and the rebellious will go to hell. The idea of heaven was guaranteed by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. His resurrection not only showed that heaven is real, but, it also showed that it was a physical place. This idea was further shown when the criminal crucified next to him said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus responded with, “truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise”. This shows that heaven is not a state of mind but a place. It also shows that God forgives all his children meaning that in the end there will be universal salvation. The problem with the phrasing of this question is that it does not consider the fact that there is no proof of heaven, and that if it does exist no one has gone and come back, meaning that we do not know what heaven is like. Therefore, we cannot make any conclusions about its characteristics. Besides, if heaven is beyond our imagination, like we are told in the Bible, then surely it is impossible for us to know about its characteristics. In this essay, I will endeavour to show that heaven is a real place and not a state of mind. I will use scholars such as Luke, Matthew, Calvin and parables such as the parable of the “sheep and the goats” and the “rich man and Lazarus” to support and contradict the question. I will also question the extent to which heaven is seen as a state of mind and as a real place.

Heaven is described as the ultimate state in which humans come to see God “face to face”, live in purity and experience joy to the fullest.  Throughout the Bible, heaven is described figuratively and using metaphors. God is presented as the father in the context of heaven, which is presented as a family home.  This metaphor is shown in the Lord’s Prayer. In the beginning we proclaim, “Our Father, who art in heaven”. This shows that God lives in heaven a place we aim to reach. This metaphor is further shown in John’s gospel, when Jesus tells his disciples: “My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?”.  This metaphor conveys the idea that heaven is a real place full of comfort, within which we will receive God’s unconditional love. However, if heaven is a physical place, how can we expect to experience it in time? If it is eternal, will we not be bored? Bernard Williams argues that, “EM was 342; because for 300 years had been 42. … Her problem lay in having been at it for too long. Her trouble was, as it seems, boredom: a boredom connected with the fact that everything that could have happened and make sense to one particular human being of 42 had already happened to her.” Other philosophers argue that we could never be bored because the concept of time does not exist in heaven. 

Alternatively, perhaps it is not a place but a spiritual state. Others prefer to understand teachings about heaven as a spiritual state rather than a physical place. We might go to heaven in the sense of becoming spiritually aware of leaving the physical body and being in the presence of God. This depends on a view of the mind and the body and the idea that the mind and soul is capable of surviving the death of the body. This idea is in concordance with Descartes idea of the illusion of the body. His famous quote, “I think therefore I am” sums up the idea that we exist because we are capable of thinking. At the same time, we can never be sure If our body is real or a temporary vessel like Plato suggests. It could also be argued that heaven, and similarly purgatory and hell, are all symbols of a person’s moral and spiritual life as experienced on this earth, rather than after death. People sometimes talk in terms of heaven when they are blissfully happy.  It could be that these experiences in our earthly moral and spiritual lives are glimpses of states which will be more fully understood after death.

Further evidence of Heaven as a physical place can be found in Hebrews and Revelation when it is described as a city. We are told “For Abraham was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. … For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.” We are also told “I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.”  This infers that heaven is a city where all is good, where happiness and joy await. In this new city all that is bad is removed by God and all the people that we parted with, we shall join again. Heaven is also described as a country. In Hebrews we are told, “Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.” This shows the omnipotence and omnibenevolence of God. The use of physical places such as countries and cities show that heaven is a physical place as well. This is further shown in revelation when heaven is called the new Earth. In Revelation we are told, “Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth, “for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.” This makes us see heaven as a wonderful and blissful place, created by God, a place with no mistake or sin.

In the gospel accounts, Jesus was resurrected as his physical self; the accounts make it clear that Jesus was physically present, after his death, in a way that could be experienced by the senses of those who were there. Jesus could be heard and touched, although even those who had been closest to him did not recognise him immediately, which could suggest that his appearance had changed in some way. It also suggests that we live in the physical form after death, this suggests that heaven is a physical place. Nonetheless, Jesus spent time on earth in a physical form before he “ascended into heaven”. This makes us question, if we have physical resurrections, as Jesus did, then surely the afterlife must be a physical place for us to experience empirically. 

In conclusion, there is a lot of evidence to suggest that Heaven is a physical place especially within revealed theology. These is proven by many of the descriptions of the greatness and beauty of heaven. In revelation we are told, “…its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal”. This shows that heaven is beyond our imagination and rationality. The parable of the “sheep and the goats” demonstrated the idea that heaven is a real place and that we ascend in our physical bodies. It also shows that heaven is a place which will develop from our current world. the parable of “the rich man and Lazarus” also demonstrates the idea that heaven and hell are physical places which can never physically come together. This disproves universal salvation but supports heaven as a real place and not as a state of mind, which seems unrealistic.