Photo Credit: Eberhard Grossgasteiger
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Let’s talk about going to heaven.
Generally speaking, the prevailing belief in Christianity is that when a faithful Christian dies, their soul leaves their body and goes to be with God in heaven for the rest of eternity. Furthermore, the belief is that the faithful that are alive at Jesus’ second coming will have their souls taken from their bodies and will be whisked off to heaven to live with God forever while the Earth and the rest of creation is thoroughly destroyed — end of story.
But there’s a problem with this version of our story. And the problem is that that’s not the story that the Bible’s telling. The picture of souls living in heaven for eternity after creation is destroyed is an idea that was, over time, cobbled together with the help of a handful of disconnected, misinterpreted passages in scripture (in addition to a healthy dose of Greek philosophy and worldview).
But if we’ll take the…