My favorite TV series is the old Twilight Zone by Rod Serling. There is an episode in which a small-time crook named Rocky Valentine is shot and ends up in a beautiful place. Everything is at his fingertips: food, booze, money, women. He wins every time he gambles. He gets every beautiful woman he wants. He doesn’t understand how he deserved all this. But he becomes increasingly frustrated: it’s all too easy; he gets no kicks from it. I won’t spoil the ending – you might want to look for the episode the next time SyFy or another channel has a TZ marathon: “A Nice Place to Visit” from season 1, written by Charles Beaumont. Let’s just say he has a rude awakening about the reality of his situation. I think this raises a valid question: would a life of uninterrupted pleasure really be satisfying and enjoyable if it lasted for all eternity?
There is a psychological term called the “hedonic treadmill” (aka hedonic adaptation) which is tendency of humans to return to a steady level of happiness despite significant ups and downs and major life changes. On a treadmill when it speeds up you change your pace to stay in place, likewise when it slows down, but you always remain in the same place. An example of this in life would be getting a major job promotion with more money but over time seeing no increase in net happiness as your mind becomes accustomed to the new conditions. In the case of Rocky Valentine it is worse than that: his constant hedonism leads to outright boredom and frustration. If we have an eternal afterlife in a blissful place will we be any better off? Better off than Rocky? Better off than our current life?
To save time and space let me refer you to Dr. Bart Ehrman’s book Heaven and Hell (2020), in which he makes a good case that Jesus and His disciples did not teach that the saved would go to heaven, but rather they would live in a new, righteous kingdom here on earth. Christians often recite the Lord’s Prayer, but seem to miss this basic point: “Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). Jesus is looking forward to God’s kingdom on earth, like heaven, but not in heaven. Other writings in the New Testament like 1st Peter 3 and Revelation speak of a new earth, not the old heaven. And early theologians did not endorse the idea that when you die you go to heaven. Justin Martyr wrote in the mid-100s (2nd Century CE):
If you have ever encountered any so-called Christians who do not admit this doctrine, but dare to blaspheme…by asserting that there is no resurrection of the dead, but that their souls are taken up to heaven at the moment of their death, do not consider them to be real Christians. Dialogue with Trypho 80
He just slammed the majority of Christians today who believe exactly that: that when they die they go up to heaven. They’re blasphemers, not real Christians! Obviously over the centuries that assertion was supplanted by the idea that when you die you go to heaven. It has become a trope that when you die you will be floating around the clouds with wings, a halo and a harp or that you become an angel, but none of that is Biblical.
But what is the coming kingdom going to be like? What will we do there? Let’s digress from the Bible for a moment. In the Qur’an Muhammad repeats in chapter after chapter that the unbelievers can expect a fiery punishment but the believers will enjoy a garden with a running stream and abundant food, and nice garments, and like Rocky Valentine, the men are promised beautiful women. For someone living in an arid desert land that certainly would sound heavenly. It sounds similar to the Garden of Eden, which many Christians also see as a paradise. Eating without concern, enjoying a dip in the water and free love sounds very pleasant – but will it satisfy us for all eternity?
Pickles by Brain Crane
Consider the book of Revelation and its description of the New Jerusalem: streets of gold, a crystal-clear river running through it, perpetual light, and fantastic jewels: sapphire, emerald, amethyst, gates of pearl, etc. Like the beautiful garden of the Qur’an, surely we will be happy in such a place, no? Frankly, it sounds like a rather materialistic description of a supposedly spiritual place. Let me throw this out there: America is the most affluent nation in the history of the world, and yet if you go to the most affluent places in America you will still find many psychiatrists with full schedules. This was one of the basic messages of Jesus: material things are not the way to true happiness. So why is our eternal abode described in such a way? I think the author couldn’t come up with any other description that would better appeal to the impoverished Christians of his day.
If you read the details in Jesus’ teaching about the coming kingdom it will be a wonderful place: the hungry will be fed, the sick healed, justice will reign, and so forth. Neither he nor any of the other writers in the Bible ever suggest floating around heaven. Will life continue similar to now, except without the problems and suffering to which we are now prone? Or will there still be problems, but ones that we enjoy tackling and overcoming? When Jesus said the hungry will be fed and the sick healed is he suggesting that such problems will still exist in the new kingdom, but that such needs will be met, unlike current earth? Will we still work at jobs to keep busy? How do we avoid burnout in the case of eternal labor? Jesus said there will not be marriage in heaven, but rather we will be “like the angels” in that regard, whatever that means (Mark 12:25). Does that mean no romance, no sex? How does that sound to you? Or does that mean unrestricted romance and sex? Free love? Like Rocky Valentine, will we find even that loses its appeal after a time?
Perhaps we will spend eternity praising God?
Then I heard something like the voice of a great multitude and like the sound of many waters, and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, saying, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns.” Revelation 19:6
I have a hard time believing that a truly Supreme Being would be so egotistical that He would want continual praise from His minions for all eternity. If you had an entourage nipping at your heels constantly telling you how great you are wouldn’t that get old pretty fast? I mean, what is wrong with a god that needs constant eternal praise in order to feel good about Himself? Doesn’t He have anything better to do with his power and intellect? And I have a hard time believing that people who glance at their watches when the church service goes long will enjoy this non-stop forever.
Ah, but maybe we will change, so that praising God forever will be perpetually fulfilling to us! God will transform us into praisebots! Maybe God will repeatedly wipe our minds, so that it constantly seems new to us. Like the Drew Barrymore character in the movie 50 First Dates whose weird form of amnesia made her forget her past life each night when she went to sleep, so each day will be a brand new experience.
But would we really be the same person as now in such an afterlife? Revelation 21:4 tells us:
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.
How can people be happy and shed no tears in paradise knowing that many of their loved ones are either destroyed or suffering in Hell? Will God change us so that we don’t remember those lost loved ones, or make it so that we just don’t care? Neither is an appealing prospect. Either way, will I even be the same person as now, if I forget and/or ignore the fate of my loved ones? It suggests to me an interesting paradox: the people in Heaven should be unhappy knowing that their loved ones are in Hell, and the people in Hell should be happy knowing that their loved ones are in Heaven.
If we won’t cry about anything, won’t sin, won’t experience pain and so on – will we even be the same people in the afterlife? To use another media reference, in the 5th Star Trek movie, The Final Frontier, Captain Kirk is given the chance to have all the pain of his life history removed, and he refuses, because the pain helped make him the person he is. Isn’t that true for all of us? If all the past pain and suffering of my life is wiped clean, will I be the same person as I am now? If my foibles and faults and neuroses and painful memories are done away with so I can be eternally happy will I be the same person? Maybe not, and maybe some people think that’s a good thing! But if God is going to re-do all of us, He might as well just start fresh with new human beings; it won’t really be us joining Him in the afterlife. That reminds me of another Twilight Zone episode, “Number 12 Looks Just Like You”.[1] She has to decide between being herself with her changeable moods or just a copy of all the other beautiful artificially happy people. Her uniqueness would be lost, both to herself and to society. Will we all likewise be just another Number 12 in the new kingdom?
Maybe our perception of eternity will be different. Maybe eternity will seem like a moment, and vice versa. So, we won’t perceive the passing of time and therefore cannot get bored with it. But then, what is the point of living forever if it doesn’t feel like forever? If we don’t experience eternity in some way it seems wrong to refer to it as “eternal” life.
Going back to the concept of the hedonic treadmill: it suggests that after a certain amount of time in the afterlife your level of happiness will reset to accommodate the new conditions. Is it possible that in the long run we will not really be any happier than here on earth? Here on earth some people use drugs to maintain an ongoing high, and that usually doesn’t end well. People with bipolar disorder can go for extended periods of feeling emotionally high, and that doesn’t end well, either. Obviously feeling depressed for extended periods of time is not good for us: witness suicides approaching 50,000 a year in the U.S. We seem designed to experience both ups and downs at moderate levels for limited time, not extremes for long periods.
And if there is a Hell, will people on that treadmill adjust to and get used to the torment? On The Simpsons TV show in the episode “Treehouse of Horror IV” Homer is temporarily sent to Hell. In the Ironic Punishment Division they know that Homer loves donuts, so they continually stuff donuts into his mouth. Except that he keeps eagerly downing them with pleasure, frustrating the exasperated demons. I wonder what ironic punishment they will have set up for me, and will I handle it like Homer? Alas, neither the New Testament nor the Qur’an suggest any such ironic punishment: just fire. They lack the macabre imagination of the Apocalypse of Peter or Dante’s Inferno or even The Simpsons writers. (I know – you’re thinking I spend all my time watching movies and TV!)
What do you think heaven will be like? How will you spend eternity? Will you be the same person as you are now? Is that a good thing or bad? Will you, like Rocky Valentine, find perpetual bliss a bore? Or will God find new challenges to keep you occupied? Will time stop, so that eternity, and therefore eternal life, is really an illusion or a misnomer? If only we had a little more information and explanation. But why spoil the surprise?
Thinking Exercises:
1. Describe your idea of Heaven. Do you think you will find it satisfying for all eternity?
2. What is your explanation for how there will be no tears in Heaven even though many family and friends will not be there (according to Jesus, Matthew 7:13, 14)?
3. Would a truly supreme god really want the praise of inferior beings? For all eternity?
4. What would the Ironic Punishment Division of Hell have ready for you?
[1] “Number 12 Looks Just Like You” from season 5, written by John Tomerlin based on “The Beautiful People” by Charles Beaumont.