It seems to me a lot of Christians are so focused on the Christ of the second coming because they aren’t really that impressed with the Jesus of the first coming.
Would so many Christians appoint themselves as morality police if they really agreed with Jesus’ constant insistence on not judging? Would so many Christians defend “stand your ground” gun laws if they really agreed with Jesus’ teaching on turning the other cheek?
When my religious friends tell me only Christians can be saved, I ask them why on earth would anyone want to go to that heaven? If heaven does not have scientists, Buddhists and rock and roll, it would not be heaven to me any way.
I will not spend eternity in a gated community. I will not limit my singing to hymns, nor imprison my mind in a golden cage of dogma. As Ludwig Feuerbach said of religious dogma long ago, “I will not pluck out my eyes that I might believe better.”
Christianity has been my own personal life’s bridge into radical and universal love, but I know countless others have crossed over by other means. And, if heaven is an eternity spent with pious self-absorbed sectarians, book my reservation in hell. I will not adopt any aspect of any religion that does not make room for outsiders and unpleasant truths. I have no interest in any religion that does not blossom into a love of flowers, mathematics and people of every sort.
It seems to me religious symbols aren’t really about objective reality any way. It seems to me they are about our deepest intuitions. Some of the ties that bind us to each other are more in our sinews, than in our heads. I believe heaven is actually a symbol of what the world looks and feels like when we love radically and universally. I believe angels are symbols of all those real world messengers who sing a hymn to a love that knows no outcasts. Even if there are celestial beings, why would we need supernatural winged messengers when we already have frogs and cicadas serenading us with the Hymn of the Cosmos?
Real love would not seek a fire escape to heaven while the wretched of the earth live in hellish oppression. I believe the prayer of love is not that we should be rescued for heaven but that we can find the courage to descend into the hell of those convinced they are eternally damned, and sing of a love that knows no outcastes.