Heaven and Earth

My pastor teaches the occasional adult study following a plan that he calls, “I've read this book, so you don't have to.” I usually read them anyway, surprising no-one. His current book is “Simply Christian,” by N. T. Wright. “Simply Christian” is a modern apologetic—a book whose primary purpose to make the case for Christianity to a non-Christian audience, but it's also enjoyable for any Christians who care to read it.

Wright defines heaven as the place where God lives, and earth as the place where man lives. Within the book, he describes three distinct options for explaining the relationship between heaven and earth. Let me outline his options:

Option 1: Pantheism

Pantheism identifies heaven and earth. Everything that is, is of God. This was a common belief in the pagan societies which Judaism encountered, and in some ways is a more fundamental commitment than the polytheism which often flows from it. The problem with pantheism is that it leaves you with the proposition that evil is of God too.

Wright also identifies a slightly less extreme version of this, which he calls panentheism—which holds that that God is present in everything. This weakening does not solve the fundamental problem of the relationship between God and evil.

Option 2: Deism

In deism, heaven and earth are entirely separate. God lives in God's place, and does not encounter, or even think very much, about humans. And we're in our place. We live, we die. The divine lives, but our paths do not cross. Deism was a common response to the enlightenment amongst the educated, even pre-Darwin. Many of the American forefathers were deists.

Option 3: Intersecting Heaven and Earth

The third option, which Wright identifies as the Jewish (and Christian) alternative in which heaven and earth are distinct, but overlapping. He points to the ancient Jewish understanding of the temple as a place where God lived, a specific location where heaven and earth were in contact; and to the Christian belief that our very bodies are temples of God.

My Reactions

There are certainly bits of option 1 present in Christianity, too. When we speak of God as omnipresent, what do we mean, if not option 1? And when we are in an especially receptive spiritual state, we actively perceive God in everything, sharing the experience that inspired our pagan ancestors. So it seems to me that Wright goes a bit too far when he labels option 3 as characteristic of Christianity.

But a couple of nights ago, I saw something that helped me in visualizing option 3 in a different way. Our congregation had an outing to the ballgame—White Sox against the Royals, Buehrle pitching for the good guys. But there was rain predicted for much of the day of the game. It was clear when we got together, and for the drive up to Comiskey (a.k.a., “The Cell”). But the rain came, delaying the start. When we got into the stands, the tarp was covering the infield.

A few minutes before the game started, the ground crew came out (to great applause) and began to roll up the tarp. As they folded the tarp in half, water and air together separated the top and bottom halves. As the ground crew walked across the tarp, the bubbles of air and water were displaced, and points of contact between the upper and lower halves were created, broken, and moved.

It seems to me that heaven and earth are like this. In a state of repose, heaven and earth are in contact everywhere. But sin has roiled our world—metaphorically injecting air and water between the layers, and breaking most points of contact between heaven and earth. God can chose to be in any place, just as the ground-crew can step anywhere and drive the air and water to other places. But he can't be everywhere at once without eliminating sin and its consequences.

I'd also like to emphasize that there is much more to “Simply Christian” than this. If this summarized argument holds any attraction, the book will draw you in.

Peace