Can a squirrel go to Heaven? And, if so, how long does it take to get there?
The traditional Christian concept of Heaven is very ‘people orientated’. Animals are not definitively mentioned by the Christian church as ticket holders to “God’s Kingdom”, however “good” they may have been on earth. In fact, the Bible is somewhat ambivalent on the issue.
Then there are the differing concepts of Heaven. Here, Christianity has its mind made up intractably. It’s definitely a place, not a condition. And it’s not just any place – it’s capital city is the “New Jerusalem”.
Sadly, Heaven will be rather barren for those of you who end up there. It will have no animals, or at least, no earthly animals.
If all this smacks of being a little far-fetched and reminiscent of the crap mother used to read to you in the cradle, then you may as well forget Heaven altogether, because there’s no way you’re ever going to get there. Personally, that fact brings enormous joy. If God wishes to fill His domain with all those who spout the sort of claptrap preached from most pulpits every Sunday, I’ll take my chances elsewhere.
Which brings us to the concept of Hell.
To many Americans, indoctrinated into the fundamentalist Christian church, Hell is everlasting damnation, cast out from God and spending eternity in a fiery pit, or lake, or whatever…… (depending on the pastor’s current taste in torments!).
Frankly, it all conjures the phrase ‘….between a rock and a hard place”. Heaven will be full of self-righteous Christians and George W Bush look-alikes; Hell is – well, you won’t need your snowshoes, that’s for sure.
Again, the apparent Christian concept of Hell rings immature – a childlike imagining; a pre-pubescent nightmare after spending too long on the Playstation.
Which brings us to evolution.
Leaving aside those whose bent is to believe everything spoon-fed to them by rich and paunchy pastors, evolution is fairly well accepted as the manner in which we arrived at our present, physical, state on earth. Whether its mechanisms have produced a pinnacle of life-form in Homo sapiens can be debated until the cows come home, but nevertheless it has likely brought us from pre-amoeba to our present situation.
If evolution is our physical motor, is it not possibly our spiritual motor also? Amazingly, evidence of this is seen within the Christian church, certain parts of which have now concluded that not only is Hell not a fiery pit, or lake, or whatever……but that it doesn’t actually exist at all.
The belief among many Christians in the world is that Jesus Christ came to save all men, and “Hell” (as in fiery pit, lake, or whatever…..) was never mentioned in the early writings that now make up the Bible.
Does this mean then that Heaven is going to be more overcrowded than Long Beach, California, when the surf’s up? Well, I’m rather afraid it does. And just imagine, all those George Bush lookalikes in swimming shorts!
Unless, of course, “Heaven” is not a place after all, but simply as similar a figment of someone’s imagination as “Hell” is turning out to be.
But, hang on – no Heaven or Hell? Then where do we all go when we die? And where does God live?
Is God just another made up human idea, like Heaven and Hell?
Hardly, we have proof “God” exists. It’s all around us; it is “us”. It’s everything. God is a power manifesting physical form through everything we know as “the Universe”, and probably lots else we don’t yet know. We, Homo sapiens, are a part of that manifestation.
An evolving part.
Just as physical evolution has turned us from amoebas to human beings, so spiritual evolution is turning us from tiny sparks of Divinity back towards the Whole. Evolution appears, to our limited senses, a slow process. I didn’t get from pre-amoeba to RJ Adams in one short lifetime. Neither is RJ Adams the pinnacle of that evolving. It’s one tiny step on the way to my Spirit returning “Home” to God. Not as a human form on a heavenly surfing beach somewhere outside New Jerusalem, but as an integral part of the God-power that my Spirit already is. Will I keep my RJ Adam’s identity? No. Does that bother me? No, it only bothers my ego, which becomes more accepting as it matures towards old age.
Can a squirrel go to Heaven, and if so how long does it take to get there?
First the squirrel Spirit has to evolve through various other physical forms, including the human, before moving on into the non-physical spheres we all pass through on our way Home. But it will get there. Time does not exist, it is simply a human invention, just like Heaven and Hell, so the question, “How long will it take?” is irrelevant. The squirrel’s path is no different from our own.
Our Spirit has been squirrel before.
Filed under: Alternatives to fairytales