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My friend, Fr. Joe, has an interesting perspective on heaven. On his post, “When it Comes to Heaven, it’s Good to have an Insurance Policy,” he writes:
I get the weirdest remarks from people sometimes.
A man said to me the other day, “You Catholics are morbid with your idea of death, and life after death.”
I asked him, “What’s morbid about it?”
He said, “Because you make it a fixed part of your life and your philosophy.”
“That’s not morbid, it’s a reality,” I told him. “It’s like a life insurance policy, which pays dividends when you’re alive and pays in full when you die.”
“How do you figure that?”
“It’s simple. The thought of meeting God helps to keep us honest and caring and living an honorable life. When we die, we cash in on the insurance policy that’s all paid up. So, when we meet God, we get a warm welcome home, with all our family and love ones. For people who choose not to believe that, what do they have? Nothing. If there’s no God, then you’re just an animal, maybe a classier species, but still nothing more, and when you die there’s just an empty hole. To me that’s morbid.”
Read Fr. Joe’s other posts by clicking here.
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Therese J. Borchard writes the daily blog, Beyond Blue, on Beliefnet and is a regular contributor to the award-winning blog, World of Psychology, on Psych Central. Therese is the author of Beyond Blue: Surviving Depression & Anxiety and Making the Most of Bad Genes and The Pocket Therapist: An Emotional Survival Kit. Subscribe to Beyond Blue, visit her website, or follow her on Twitter @thereseborchard.
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Therese J. Borchard writes the daily blog, Beyond Blue, on Beliefnet and is a regular contributor to the award-winning blog, World of Psychology, on Psych Central. Therese is the author of Beyond Blue: Surviving Depression & Anxiety and Making the Most of Bad Genes and The Pocket Therapist: An Emotional Survival Kit. Subscribe to Beyond Blue, visit her website, or follow her on Twitter @thereseborchard.
posted August 31, 2009 at 11:56 pm
See, I never understood comments like “Nothing. If there’s no God, then you’re just an animal, maybe a classier species, but still nothing more, and when you die there’s just an empty hole.”
From my perspective, most animals have more “soul” than most of humanity. They live more to their capabilities than we ever do, and if you observe them carefully, not as food, but as living things, they have as much “god” in them as we have, if not more.
I have no issue in trying to live a better life, and if more humans showed as much as selflessness as dogs, for example, we would leave a better world.
posted September 1, 2009 at 10:42 am
What we see in animals is an “obedience” to natural instinct..What we
see in the believer is choice, a freely willed choice that frees us from our animalistic behavior. We either choose to believe that which
has been revealed by God or not. Those who make that choice believe
in faith that God has prepared us for a destiny greater than the common animal for he has given us an “insurance policy”, par excellence, guaranteed by the Son of God, Jesus Christ. It is not weird, it is Truth!
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posted September 1, 2009 at 7:30 pm
read and enjoy..
posted September 8, 2009 at 4:52 pm
Love your thoughts and writing, Therese, but this one seems off to me. “Heaven belief” too frequently initiates some really horrible behaviors (think of airplane going down on 9/11 with the expectation of a reward, for example) and Catholics have a particularly horrible history if you go back and do some checking–all done with the righteous belief in a “coming reward” (insurance, I guess).
The best actions I see initiated on this earth are done by those who are free to do good things WITHOUT the expectation of payment other than a simple smile of thanks. These behaviors are the ones that exhibit the clearest thinking, the best understanding of the future, and the kindest hearts, in my opinion.
Needing reinforcement of good behavior with promises of “cake” is not representative of the most maturity or having achieved the highest level of self-understanding. Doing “good” truly for the sake of “good” is a higher level of self realization. It is the behavior that brings out the best in those around you, too, increasing exponentially the rewards of a simple act right now, today, in this world.
If there is a heaven, then let it be what it is when you arrive there. It is safer, wiser, and more rewarding each day right here and now to exercise a separate reason for good behavior. When you are trying hard to make a better life and live to your natural end as you expressed in another posting, overthinking heaven may encourage you the wrong direction.
posted October 24, 2009 at 9:07 am
I have read the full description regarding Heavens and its joy.I totally agree with the policy of heaven.If there is a heaven, then let it be what it is when you arrive there.