Pie in the Sky.

by Blueblades 3 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Blueblades

  Scripture and tradition habitually put the "Joys of Heaven"
  into the scale against the sufferings of earth,and no solution of the problem of pain which does not do so can be called Christian.

  Is this a "Pie in the Sky".Either there is pie in the sky or there is not.If not ,then Christianity is false,because the doctrine of Heaven is woven into its whole fabric.

  Are we afraid that heaven is a bribe,do we really desire it or is it an illusion.Some of C.S.Lewis's thoughts in the problem of pain,a knotty subject indeed.

  Blueblades
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  Phantom Stranger

  The Preacher and the Slave

  by JOE HILL

  Long-haired preachers come out every night,
  Try to tell you what's wrong and what's right,
  But when asked about something to eat,
  They will answer in voices so sweet:

  Chorus:

  You will eat bye and bye,
  In that glorious land above the sky.
  Work and pray, (work and pray),
  Live on hay, (live on hay),
  You'll get Pie in the Sky,
  When you die, (that's a lie!)

  And the starvation army they play,
  They sing and they dance and they pray,
  Till they get all your coin on the drum,
  Then they tell you when you're on the bum:

  CHORUS

  If you fight hard for the good things in life,
  They will tell you to stop all the strife,
  Be a sheep for the bosses they say
  Or to hell you are surely on the way!

  CHORUS

  Workingfolk of all countries unite;
  Side by side we for freedom will fight
  When the world and its wealth we have gained,
  To the grafters we will sing this refrain:

  Last Chorus:

  You will eat, bye and bye,
  When you've learned how to cook and to fry;
  Chop some wood, 'twill do you good
  And you'll eat in the sweet bye and bye.
  (That's no lie!)
• 

  SanFranciscoJim

  Are we afraid that heaven is a bribe....

  Any promise based on conditional love and obedience is a bribe.
• 

  bebu

  Any promise based on conditional love and obedience is a bribe.

  True... but the promise of heaven isn't based on conditional love/obedience as I see it.

  Heaven may be a simple truth of the correlation of realities.

  Psalm 16:2 says, You are my God, apart from you I have nothing good.

  Goodness is not available from a source outside of God. "Pie in the sky", is surely an expression of the yearning of our hearts for the consummation of goodness; our desire to see perfection where now we only see its absence. Perfect goodness and God line up in heaven. If our hearts yearn for goodness, we find God, and vice-versa. Heaven (consummate goodness) is naturally given ('rewarded" if you will) to whoever loves goodness/God. Those who will not seek God/goodness, simply can't find. It isn't mere bribery. We simply get what we asked for.

  ((((Blueblades))))

  The Problem of Pain is a wonderful book that deeply touched my heart. I think you would want to also read, "A Grief Observed", a diary Lewis wrote during the time he struggled after his very dear wife's death. It is not a theological read but his personal trial. His aching soul is bared to pain beyond what he had ever imagined while writing The Problem of Pain. Something you will surely appreciate reading now...

  bebu