Editor’s note: “Spiritual leaders answer” is a weekly column inviting Kaua‘i’s religious and spiritual leaders to share their doctrine’s perspective on a suggested subject. Every Friday a topic is printed inviting a response. Submissions are edited for content and length.
Editor’s note: “Spiritual leaders answer” is a weekly column inviting Kaua‘i’s religious and spiritual leaders to share their doctrine’s perspective on a suggested subject. Every Friday a topic is printed inviting a response. Submissions are edited for content and length. Thoughts or suggestions for future topics are always welcome. Next week’s topic is dealing with anger. The topic at the end of the column is for the following week.
Pastor Wayne Patton
Anahola Baptist Church
Far too often, our conceptions of the afterlife in heaven are inadequate. As a result, we almost dread the afterlife because we perceive it to be boring and strange. That is not how the apostle John describes it in Revelation 22. John astounds us with his description of what we will be doing forever in heaven.
Two great activities will occupy our time. We will serve God and we will reign with Him. If God has given our lives purpose and projects here and now, He will do so there and then. I believe we will be doing many of the things in the afterlife that we can do in this life, only without the curse. We will be learning, teaching, cooking, gardening, traveling, entertaining, worshipping, fellowshipping, inventing and overseeing all the operations necessary for caring for the New Earth.
We are not going to sit around forever rocking on the front porch or floating on a cloud twiddling our thumbs or plucking a harp. We will serve God and reign with Him in a literal, physical, bodily way in a literal, physical, three-dimensional world. The afterlife is not just some kind of vaporous, spiritual realm. It is a real, tangible, touchable place. And it is anything but boring.
Rev. Dr. James Fung
Lihu‘e Christian Church
I was remembering a favorite family restaurant in Connecticut. There were a number of selections on the menu that included dessert called “Happy Endings.” These were smallish sundaes — made with two scoops of your favorite ice cream and topping. I remember a particular waitress who used to say, “The best is yet to come. You get a happy ending.” The pistachio with marshmallow topping was heavenly.
Many Christians speak of the heavenly afterlife, a happy ending, as if it were a place. But of course, we know that the heaven with the beautiful golf course and the 24-hour buffet is just a metaphor for the spiritual mystery of peace and intimate connection with God that we anticipate at life’s end. It’s characteristic of people, not just artists, to try to imagine and depict the life of the spirit in what continues after our earthly pilgrimage is concluded.
In a very real way, however, the afterlife, or eternal life, doesn’t have to begin after we die. When our spiritual life reaches a point of maturity we realize that our brief physical life is merely a vehicle that carries us on one leg of the journey. Once we let our old self, our more primitive nature die and as we embrace the life of the spirit — we already embark on the life that goes on forever. This is what St. Paul meant when he said, “It is no longer I who live; but it is Christ who liveth and dwelleth within me (Gal. 2:20)”. To have such a relaxed, contented view of life and death is to be already set free from the struggle, fear and futile striving in the existence that precedes living in the fullness of the life that God gives us.
The Baha’is of Kaua‘i
At conception, our soul comes into existence and our physical body begins to develop. In preparation for life outside the womb limbs, physical senses and capabilities are acquired, even though there is no apparent need for them in the womb. However, if the physical body does not adequately develop prenatally, the child would be handicapped in this world.
Similarly, the purpose of life on this earthly plane is to develop virtues which are essential in the afterlife. A good character is rewarded after death by a closer relationship with God. This can be referred to as “heaven.” On the other hand, if we fail to grow spiritually, we will find ourselves distant from God and at a great disadvantage after death. That is a state that can be described as “hell” when we realize the consequence of wasted opportunities to grow spiritually.
Without free will in the afterlife, we are no longer in charge of our spiritual destiny. We can no longer make decisions that help us to grow spiritually. However, through God’s mercy, and supported by the prayers of our loved ones, we can continue, to some extent, the eternal journey towards our Creator through the many planes of existence.
The Baha’i writings provide the following enlightenment on the subject: “Blessed be God, the best of creators. The rewards of the other world are peace, the spiritual graces, the various spiritual gifts in the Kingdom of God, the gaining of the desires of the heart and the soul and the meeting of God in the world of eternity. In the same way the punishments of the other world, that is to say, the torments of the other world, consist in being deprived of the special divine blessings and the absolute bounties, and falling into the lowest degrees of existence. He who is deprived of these divine favors, although he continues after death, is considered as dead by the people of truth.”
Lami Tashi Dundrup
Kaua‘i Dharma Center
The next life starts at the moment the life force leaves the body. This begins a period called the “bardo” of becoming or karmic rebirth. For people who have not disciplined their minds, they immediately swoon or sleep for three days. On the fourth day, they wake with no body or reference point in space. Their emotional-mental body takes over and causes for them one of six types of karmic rebirth: Positive activity and pride causes rebirth as heavenly spirits, jealousy as demigods and goddesses, desire as human beings, stupidity as animals, greed as deprived spirits and anger as demonic spirits. These are not permanent states of existence; even heaven is temporary. For humans who have disciplined their minds, they relax through the dying and death process, accept light and space as their true nature and love and compassion for others in the six states of non-disciplined beings. They move through this intermediate state in a mind of bliss and take rebirth spontaneously back into the human condition as a bodhisattva, to benefit and help humans to discipline their minds and alleviate their suffering and pain. The best living example of this kind of activity is the Dalai Lama. The best symbol of this is the mother’s relationship with her only child.
Topic for two weeks from today
•Will you speak to us on spring?
•Spiritual leaders are invited to e-mail responses of three to five paragraphs to afrainier@thegardenisland.com.
•Deadline each week is 5 p.m. Tuesday.
