What is "Home"?

In some ways, this is a follow-up post to yesterday's post. I just watched a powerful video containing a message to ISIS from Christians. While ISIS incites the world to violent conflict with its atrocities, and the world responds with a mission to "degrade and destroy" ISIS, this video speaks the Gospel-truth that not even ISIS warriors are beyond redemption if they will but heed the call of Jesus. Check out the video below:

Who Would Dare to Love ISIS? (A Letter from the People of the Cross)
Posted by International Christian Concern on Sunday, April 19, 2015

While there is certainly plenty to discuss with this video, I actually want to make a few brief observations about one of the comments on the video I saw. In the FB comments, one member posted about ISIS: "They don't realize when they kill a christian the are just sending them home."

Let's think about this statement for a second. Is this really what we mean to say? I think I know what the commenter is trying to get at, but the way the post is written is theologically problematic. What we should actually say here is that although those Christian martyrs were killed, they are now resting in the presence of God. My issue is with saying that killing those Christians has "sent them home."

So, what's wrong with calling heaven "home"? The problem is that such an idea buys into a gnostic/Platonic belief that physicality is evil or temporary and that our ultimate future is a disembodied state called "heaven." As I wrote about yesterday, the ultimate Christian hope is in the resurrection from the dead. Heaven is temporary. One day heaven and earth will be united as one (cf Rev. 21).

You see, if the above video comment is true and those martyrs are now "home," this has several problematic implications:

1. Death's evil is minimized
    If heaven is "home," then what does that make earth? If it's only a place I'm visiting, then shouldn't I try to get "home" as fast as possible. The answer to this is obviously "yes." In fact, the only reason I can see why we should linger longer and not commit suicide or seek to be murdered is we need to get other people to believe in Jesus so they can also live forever in heaven (oh wait, that seems to sum up the driving motivation of evangelicalism). We should also be careful whenever we celebrate the martyrdom of our Christian brothers and sisters. The Bible always maintains that death is an enemy. It is never to be viewed as a kind gateway to our true destiny. Rather, it is an evil obstacle God is working to overcome.

2. God made a mistake in creating the world
   If heaven is "home," then what kind of cruel God do we serve who banished us to an earthly existence? Why create matter at all? How can we call call heaven "home" when God Himself placed us on earth?

3. We dismiss the Bible
   Is there crying in heaven? Most people would say "no" because they have been tricked into believing that heaven is forever and that it is our "home." But I suppose those individuals have never seriously read passages like Rev. 6:9-11. This is a scene from heaven (slain martyrs), and yet it does not seem like a perfect paradise. Instead, the souls of these saints cry out and lament to God. They are waiting for something beyond heaven. They are waiting for judgment and resurrection. They are not truly home yet.

4. We dismiss any theology of judgment day.
    If judgment day is all about deciding who goes to heaven and who goes to hell, how does this square with the popular theology of people going directly to heaven or hell upon their death? If we arrive at "home" immediately upon death, then what does God's future judgment mean for us? Is God just going to say, "Ok, you get to be in heaven...oh, wait, you're already there"? No, Judgment Day is when God sets the world right. Everything the righteous lost through sin and death is restored and redeemed. The world experiences resurrection and recreation. Evil is finally put away for good. It is at this moment when heaven and earth are married that we can finally say we are "home."

Again, I appreciate the sentiments of the commenter, but they are theologically troublesome. If we really want to reach ISIS, we need to have a good grasp on the Gospel Jesus, Paul, and the early Christians preached, and it is a Gospel of resurrection. So to be clear, when ISIS martyrs our brothers and sisters, those fellow disciples of Jesus find peace in the arms of God. But they too, like us still on earth, are awaiting our true home--a resurrected reality where there is no more pain, murder, rape, sin, or death on earth. Maranatha.