"My Heavenly Home": An Ex-Preachers Reflection

The concept of the afterlife/heaven was one of my frequent sermon topics when I was still a Fundamentalist preacher. Over a decade ago, as I was leafing through our hymnal, Songs of the Church, I thought of stringing hymn titles together for the conclusion of one of my evening sermons. This was the result (added words are in italics):

My Heav’nly Home

(40 hymn titles)

O they tell me of a home

beyond this land of parting

for the soul that’s redeemed.

It is the beautiful isle of somewhere

beyond the bright blue called heaven.

It is the pearly white city not made with hands,

the wonderful city of God:

where we’ll never grow old,

where the soul never dies,

where God shall wipe away all tears.

It is the paradise valley

where the lily of the valley stands,

the land of perfect peace

where the prince of peace lives,

the sinless summerland

where the Holy, Holy, Holy One dwells.

Here, I am a wayfaring stranger

for this world is not my home.

Earth holds no treasures;

Heaven holds all to me.

An empty mansion awaits me,

and I’ll make it my home.

In the morning of joy

when the days of toil have all gone,

I’ll be walking the King’s highway

leaning on the everlasting arms.

Oh, won’t it be wonderful there?

If we never meet again

before I’ll walk the last mile of the way,

we’ll meet at heaven’s jubilee

when all of God’s singers get home.

When we all get to heaven,

I’ll be satisfied then.

So then sing to me of heaven!

Sing on ye joyful pilgrims

as the day is dying in the west.

Lord, I’m coming home…

Lead me gently home.

– smsaboy, 04-03-1999

Looking back, I remember how sermons on the afterlife consoled the grieving, encouraged the downhearted, or convicted the backslidden. Now, in the time of a global pandemic, many believers turn to messages about heaven for strength and assurance. Countless people have pinned on this belief their hopes of seeing the departed once more. Some of them also imagine the souls of their loved ones watching over them from on high. What a comforting thought. If only it were true.

Meanwhile, those of us who have outgrown this belief often note that believers can get so focused on the afterlife that they forget to live in the here and now. Conversely, it also ironic that many of those who say we should “set our minds on things above” are actually hooked on things below even if they “see the Day approaching.” One only has to cursorily view professed Christians’ humble brags or “flexes” on social media to prove this.

If only people ceased pining and spending for a heavenly home and start devoting their lives to creating a sort of heaven for those who don’t have earthly homes or by funding scientific researches that could provide practical solutions to our gazillions of problems many of which were caused by people of faith. If only people stopped buying and burning candles for the dead, and start helping to give more light to Science, that great “candle in the dark,” as Carl Sagan had phrased it.

The doctrine of heaven was invented to deal with the unknown beyond this plane of existence,  the pain of physical separation, our desire  to reunite with our long gone, our fear of death, and our desire to receive a reward for whatever salvific act we did.

Sadly, this doctrine that uplifts some spirits has also been a cause of unnecessary guilt, hatred, condemnation, and conflict  especially among communities that subscribe to various faiths and have differing views of the afterlife.   

It is also amusing how confident believers debate about an idea which they actually know nothing about or did not experience -- notwithstanding the claim of certain quacks about dying and "going to heaven", whose stories simply embellish descriptions we already know from some sacred texts or folkloric materials.

Conversely, the doctrine of hell was invented to exploit our fears and to sublimate our desire for revenge.  

Both these doctrines capitalize on our ignorance, emotions and aspirations, and are thus powerful tools strategically set to effect psychological control and churn out monetary profit .