To Heaven?
The other day at work I got into a conversation with a very religious minded colleague. The discussion veered to the idea of heaven and what lies in wait for the fortunate who make it there. But during the course of that discussion there were a few points brought up that got me thinking. Before I present those points I must mention that I am not by any means a very religious person, so anyone who believes deeply in these concepts should probably skip the rest of the post.
My colleagues concept of heaven was the traditional one. One with good people and angels and golden streets and sweet music. So then I wondered who all these good people might be. From what the scriptures say is required of a person to reach heaven, I dont know of one person who would meet that criteria. Which means that all the people I know would be missing. Then I thought about food. (I always think about food) Most foods one likes are supposedly sinful.(Chocolate anyone?) So I asked him if there were cars in heaven. And he said mostly not. Now if I were to go to heaven, I would surely hope it had things that made me happy. And one such thing would be some stonking supercars. A heaven where I had to walk around after a lifetime of driving just doesnt cut it. similarly there are a lot of things we enjoy on earth that are apparently frowned upon. So what exactly is in store at this supposed utopia?
A bit of thinking gave me just one answer. Terrorists! Loads of them. Ask any fundamentalist about to go on a suicide mission and he/she will tell you that they will go straight to heaven after the big bang. There will of course be 72 virgins waiting for them. Now since these are supposedly some of the most fanatically devout people, I assume they will get there. So there, heaven is full of terrorists. As it is I don't think I stood a chance of making it there. But now maybe this cloud has a silver lining too!
My colleagues concept of heaven was the traditional one. One with good people and angels and golden streets and sweet music. So then I wondered who all these good people might be. From what the scriptures say is required of a person to reach heaven, I dont know of one person who would meet that criteria. Which means that all the people I know would be missing. Then I thought about food. (I always think about food) Most foods one likes are supposedly sinful.(Chocolate anyone?) So I asked him if there were cars in heaven. And he said mostly not. Now if I were to go to heaven, I would surely hope it had things that made me happy. And one such thing would be some stonking supercars. A heaven where I had to walk around after a lifetime of driving just doesnt cut it. similarly there are a lot of things we enjoy on earth that are apparently frowned upon. So what exactly is in store at this supposed utopia?
A bit of thinking gave me just one answer. Terrorists! Loads of them. Ask any fundamentalist about to go on a suicide mission and he/she will tell you that they will go straight to heaven after the big bang. There will of course be 72 virgins waiting for them. Now since these are supposedly some of the most fanatically devout people, I assume they will get there. So there, heaven is full of terrorists. As it is I don't think I stood a chance of making it there. But now maybe this cloud has a silver lining too!
Labels: Abstract Thoughts