Essay On Futureville

This session with Dr. Kramer has really caused me to really think deeper about my beliefs about heaven, and what it looks like. I have been introduced to an idea that I have never thought of, nor heard of. I had always grown up with the idea that when Jesus returned, that we would leave theses bodies and our spirits would go to heaven, or “evacuation theory”. I feel that I am not alone, and that there is a large population of Christians that would identify with similar beliefs, really I was unaware that people thought differently than that. The idea that heaven will look much more like our current Earth, and we will have our bodies, but it will all be perfect and as God intended it, was very intriguing to me. The more we explored Futureville
and the scripture supporting this theory, the more I began to entertain the possibility that it might be more probable than I thought. This view of heaven really affects every Christian and how we view our lives and I have learned quite a bit from it. Jethani introduces the term of “evacuation theory” even though I knew what that was I didn’t know that was the name. In this theory this world and our bodies essentially don’t matter because we will just be leaving it all behind. We usually like that mindset because it frees us from a lot of responsibility. This would also mean that the only thing that matters is bringing people to Christ, and henceforth, direct missions being the only occupation Christians should have and, a lot of people are wasting their time doing jobs other than this. This does not make much sense when we hear people all the time say they are called to fields other than missions. Also, it does not quite line up with the nature of God to say that he is just going to remove us from this awful world, and destroy the Earth and everything in it, including these bodies of flesh. When we look through scripture we see a redemptive God, who repairs the broken rather than just replacing it. For example, when the whole world had turned away from God, he found the one man that hadn’t and used him to, in a way, restart mankind, and saved him from the flood. God could’ve just completely destroyed the Earth and made a new one, but we see in Genesis, that He made it and saw that it was good. God cares for this Earth and its people, and we are called to care for both of them. With the knowledge that this world does matter along with everything in it, it means that we should do our best to not only care for it, but make the most of it.
This gives meaning to any occupation, they all play a role, and we must all do our part to create things that are beautiful and that bring glory to God. In Futureville we learn that missionaries are not the only ones doing God’s will, and we all have a specific calling we are to follow. If we follow that calling, we are doing God’s will. When Jesus does return, we will all do everything perfectly and as God intended, something that is almost unfathomable. A world where everyone has the right intentions and does everything to the best of their ability working in complete harmony, the thought is quite amazing. So to say that, yes, we might be doing “work” in heaven is off-putting at first, but when you realize that it will be done perfectly and for God’s ultimate glory, it won’t seem like “work” as we know it. For our current situation, it means that we should attempt to achieve this harmony and this perfection until it occurs. We may never actually reach it, but it is our responsibility to, as Lewis Smedes says, “create some imperfect models of the good world to
come.” This is called Shalom and it is what we should seek every day through all of our work, interactions, and relationships. We are striving for right relationship with the Lord, all the people we come into contact with, and also our studies. Accomplishing this is a life-long goal, but it should be our constant motivation. To be in right relationship with the Lord, we need to spend time in his word and in prayer, so that we may know his will for our lives, and we must then follow it; it’s one thing to know our calling and a whole different thing entirely to follow it. Our relationship with the Lord really seeps into every other area of our lives, because we look to the Bible and Jesus’ example to understand how to live in right relationship with others and our studies. We must do our best to live peacefully with others, and while doing so, seek to help them in anyway we can, and learn whatever we can from others so that we may figure out how to live in perfect harmony with them and the world. The same goes for our studies/education, we should strive to use everything that we learn for the glory of God and the fulfillment of his kingdom on Earth. It has taken some time and a lot of thinking, but I am starting to really lean towards this idea of the complete unity of Heaven and Earth and the subsequent perfection. It gives a lot more meaning and purpose to what we do on Earth, and our use of it’s resources. Therefore, our responsibility is to be seeking Shalom in every area of our lives so that we may be the best representations of heaven possible. This looks different for every person, but that’s what makes the world beautiful, showing the masterful work of a perfect, loving Father.