The "Afterlife": An Exercise in Self-Interest

I've been inspired lately by an article in Christianity Today by Russell Moore, entitled A Purpose-Driven Cosmos: Why Jesus Doesn't Promise Us an 'Afterlife'. To my mind, this gets to the heart of the Christian faith in a way that most Christian theologians, for whatever reason, seem incapable of doing. We get so caught up in minutiae that we forget how to sum it all up. If I asked many pastors or other educated Christian believers what the summation of the Gospel is I suspect I would get a lot of answers ranging from "God loves you" to "Jesus Christ died for you" to "Jesus defeated sin" ad infinitum. All of these are true, but is that really the simplest form of the Gospel?

Moore suggest 'no' and I'm finding I agree.

Is it really for you?
 
In the Lutheran tradition, we get caught up in the proclamation of the "for you," which is often couched in phrases like "Jesus Christ died for you" and The body of Christ given for you." In fact, many of us were taught that these are the most important words to get across in proclaiming the Gospel. It was drilled into us that the reason we need to emphasize the individual is to avoid generalities. We were supposed to make the message memorable and above all specific. However, in making the Gospel promise particular we have channeled our inner Nietzsche and conceived it in terms of self-interest.

I can see the point; in fact, until I read Moore's article I was right in that camp. I never stopped to think that in our rush to make the message specific to the individual who hears it we might in fact be distorting the subject of the message itself. Most Christians of any persuasion would probably agree that the Gospel centers on Jesus and is not primarily about us, and yet most Christians would also then go about proclaiming Christ in terms that steer us toward an individual concept of salvation.

Heaven is... not for real?

This is lived out in the way that we talk about death and the "afterlife." If you polled people in the church about what they believe is awaiting them personally after death I believe you would get a pretty universal result across denominations and traditions. Some far-left groups might not believe in any afterlife, while some far-right groups might believe that they will be the only ones in an afterlife; but most everybody else will probably fall into the camp of those who believe that they are heading directly to heaven, do not pass "Go," do not collect $200. End of story.

Now, I'm not dumb enough to ever suggest to a family in the midst of grief over loss that their family member isn't in heaven straight away, but in the relative safety of this blog--and with readers who are hopefully at least a degree removed from that kind of grief--let me be frank: the Christian tradition does not proclaim that death is followed by heaven. The "afterlife" is not a second life at all. Here, Moore says it so much better than I could, so I leave it to him:

Perhaps we dread death less from fear than from boredom, thinking the life to come will be an endless postlude to where the action really happens. This is betrayed in how we speak about the "afterlife": it happens after we've lived our lives. The kingdom, then, is like a high-school reunion in which middle-aged people stand around and remember the "good old days." But Jesus doesn't promise an "afterlife." He promises us life—and that everlasting. Your eternity is no more about looking back to this span of time than your life now is about reflecting on kindergarten. 

So what is life everlasting? It's all about resurrection in Christ, death and new life; not death and heaven. Finally, this takes us back to what should have been our primary proclamation all along, and that is Jesus Christ as the entirety of God's purpose for the universe. Jesus Christ did not come to bring us into some divine postlude. He came to give substance to the shadow that is creation without him. Everything, therefore, is Christ-drenched and therefore on the path to being redeemed and re-made in the end as a creation that is only the logical conclusion to our earlier life. So, it's OK to realize that Jesus Christ died for you, as long as you also realize that this does not make you uniquely special.

True second-article Christianity
 
I know some of my Lutheran friends to whom I recommended Moore's article have found some joy in the line: "For too long, we've called unbelievers to "invite Jesus into your life." Jesus doesn't want to be in your life. Your life's a wreck. Jesus calls you into his life." And for good reason, this is simply a great way to say what should be obvious enough. But I fear that in finding the brilliance in this statement we've excluded ourselves from its implications. This is a direct assault on the for you. Jesus isn't entering your life when you commune; he isn't coming to you in the proclamation of the Gospel. He's calling you into himself; he's calling you into the grand purpose for all of creation. Lutherans are so scared of this kind of language that I'm certain I am raising their blood to a boil. I can hear you thinking, perhaps screaming aloud: Works righteousness! Works righteousness!

Shh... sit down. Be quiet. And listen.

The call language has nothing to do with our ability or capability of actively accepting Christ. Nothing. Faith remains not ours to earn. It is in some sense a gift, though I find the language of gift somewhat unsatisfactory because it suggests again, however implicitly, that is about us. If only we had a metaphor for grace that centers not on our reward but on the one through whom it comes (Ten points to whoever comes up with that one!). Until then, our challenge is a simple one: Stop thinking that the Gospel message is purposed for your benefit. Get over the "afterlife." You won't be able to stop making it about you. Instead, see Jesus again as the "firstborn from the dead" (Colossians 1:18); the new creation manifest; the purpose for the cosmos. That is the promise. The rest is fluff.