Deep theological questions
Last night our youngest (by one minute) soon-to-be-ten-year-old was emptying the dishwasher and putting away dishes while I was cooking when in her usual quiet voice she started asking me questions about heaven out of the blue. Gloria is our child where still waters run deep and she thinks a long time before asking something and her questions are usually not to be taken at face value because they will all be connected some how to a deeper issue she's wrestling with.
First she asked whether we lie in our graves waiting for Judgment Day (my answer, "Yes, but I don't think we're aware of the passage of time"). Then it was why God let's our bodies rot if He's just going to restore them anyway (Jim's flailing attempt - "Because He wants us to learn some lessons about existing in this physical world, including birth and life and death and corruption" - no, I wasn't happy with that one either). Finally, she unveiled the deepest question of all, which isn't necessarily as easy as it first appears:
"Will there be bathrooms in heaven?"
Anyone care to take a stab at that before I reveal what I said? How 'bout you professional clergy who are reading this? :-)
5 comments:
I'm quite sure I'm no deep theologian in any way and sure am thankful my *oldest* is 6 :)
Only thing that comes to mind is I thought something Jesus said when Pharisees asked him about who would a woman be married to in heaven if she married a man who died so she married her brother who also died (c'mon you know the story). His response - your thinking is all wrong - you won't be married in heaven (or at least, that's what I thought he said).
There's no need for bathrooms in heaven...
Of course I don't see how it gets complex at this time, so maybe you'll have to explain that one.
I don't have an answer as to where the bathrooms are, I still have to find the answer to where Heaven is exactly.
My youngest (by 2 years) thought on this when our dog died. We told her that daddy had burried him in the woods but that he was in Heaven with God.
She thought on this for a bit and then asked... So, Heaven is underground?
she has a darned good question. after Jesus rose, he ate. his body had been made perfect. and he ate... the question begs to be answered. I hope she's a patient deep thinker!
Cindy,
Precisely. Or check out Matthew 8:11 and other verses that mention feasts in heaven. If feasting means eating, then where does the food go? My response to Gloria was that the food in heaven will be perfect and there will be no waste products from it. I am sure I just committed some well-known historical heresy by saying that. :-)
Chris,
We will get new bodies and the Bible does talk about feasts in heaven, so her question has some basis.Part of my answer to Gloria was also about how we may all be talking about heaven in metaphors because we just don't have the brains to understand what it will really be like, and that's why Jesus talked in parables about it, too.
msbatman,
Kids are trying to figure out EVERYTHING, all the time. Their insights and jumps of logic no longer amaze me. That's their job, to learn and get smart.
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