The Question: If There Was No Heaven or Hell, Would You Still Be a Christian?

A terminally ill man with a very honest and inquiring mind asked me that question. I took the question very seriously and requested that he give me some time for an answer much beyond a top-of-the-mind platitude.

The only way that question could be answered in an honest affirmative is if my Christian faith had made life here on Earth have meaning, purpose, and joy. That bumped me against the faith of my childhood that seemed to see the only purpose of life here is to get our tickets punched so we can go to heaven. There was very little notice or emphasis on even trying to make life on earth as it is in heaven as Jesus prayed for it to be. Life is just something we are to endure on our way to the only place that is good. All the good living and kindness showed was primarily to get stars in our heavenly crowns.

So, the question becomes “if this life is all there is and there is no life after death has my faith been worth the time and effort to have lived it?” May I quickly answer yes and share three things that have made it more than worthwhile.

PRESENCE

I reluctantly tell this story on very rare occasions for fear that it will look like I had some kind of special experience with God. I certainly do not think that. Matter of fact, I think the idea that some folks have a special calling or anointing from God has done horrible damage to the faith I love and follow. There are no “Super” Christians with God’s private phone number who receive direct words that no one else gets. To me whatever is available from God is available to everyone period, and that is certainly true in my case. God has never spoken to me and if He did it would scare me half to death.

I was walking home from school when I was six or seven years old thinking the things little boys my age thought when I suddenly had a strange feeling of being connected with God in some way I did not understand. It just felt like we joined up with one another. I never forgot that experience. I recently had my daughter take me to the very spot on the sidewalk where that happened. It is still very real to me.

From that moment until now there has always been a sense of God’s presence in my life; nothing dramatic nor miraculous, just a quiet presence. Even when I was at wrong places and with wrong people doing wrong things, the presence was there letting me know I was not being the real me.

In times of sadness and pain, in times of great worry and fear, when friends turned out to be enemies or when things were smooth and at peace, that presence was always there and I refuse to even speculate on what would have happened to me or what kind of person I might have been if that presence was not there.

So, if, at the end of my journey I find out that this presence was just a figment of my imagination I hope I am smart enough to say, “What a great figment.”

LOVE

Not to labor the point but I had a tough struggle with self-worth from childhood well into becoming an adult. There were reasons for those feelings, and they had a tremendous impact on my life. I fought and hid those feelings as I began to pastor churches and seemed to be a person of strong belief in himself and his faith. All of that came crashing down into doubt, fear and no faith in me or in the Christian life. It was then and there that I finally discovered that God loved me and even liked me, warts, weaknesses and all. That and finding the love of a wonderful woman changed and probably saved my life.

So, if the feelings of God loving me were just some psychological need that my mind made up to relieve the stress then I highly recommend that everyone get one of those

 LIFE

In Jesus I found the most rewarding, most peaceful, simplest and most relaxing way of life. To me the most practical and the most profound words ever spoken are, “If you want to save your life you must lose it.” He went about being interrupted, touching everyone He met. He loved the unlovable, the poor, the untouchable lepers, and spread kindness every step He took.

When I have tried it His way, stumbling through, I have found life and peace. It might be something as simple as being kind to every wait staff in every restaurant or just noticing something to complement someone about. Love has its own reward and joy comes from giving joy.

The other day a very attractive young woman was on the elevator at the same time as me. I smiled and said good morning and said, “I love how you are dressed, and that outfit ought to pay you to wear it.” Her smile seemed to say that I had made her day, she could not have enjoyed that as much as I did. Jesus taught me that.

So, if it all turns out to be a dream someone in history made up, and the life I found to be so abundant is all a farce and this life is all there is, then, in the words of Tiny Tim, may an equally potent, secular equivalent “bless us all.”

The question was, “If there were no heaven or hell and no life beyond death would you still be a Christian?” YES