Good Questions: On Heaven, Love, Evil, and Sin

Teachings on the Afterlife

Dear Dr. Tom: Are there other religions that claim the duality of an afterlife—heaven or hell—as described in Christianity?
—N.G., online submission

Dear N.G.: Islam teaches a strongly dualistic worldview, to include a literal heaven or hell. However, Allah (God) alone is the ultimate judge. Old Testament Hebrew thought had no place for heaven or hell because God alone was immortal. Humans simply ceased to exist after death. Modern Judaism is centered on life in the here and now.

Some Hindus believe in planes of existence. Due to the law of karma, this includes places of suffering like hell, but they are not permanent. Hindus can be reborn to higher levels in subsequent incarnations. Other faiths offer variations on the dualistic theme that include eternal consequences.

Gautama Buddha refused to comment.

Since the first century C.E., traditional Christian theology has focused on heaven vs. hell. Progressive Christian thinkers today are mostly universalists, believing all will be “saved” somehow in God’s eternity. Unity is also universalist but sees eternity as an educational process. All of us will eventually overcome the error-beliefs that motivated “evil” choices during our sojourn on earth.

God’s Love

Dear Dr. Tom: How does it feel to know God loves me?
—J.G., London, U.K.

Dear J.G.: Let’s find out. Close your eyes. Imagine all the love of the Universe wrapping its arms around you in a great, cosmic hug. Now think about every person who ever loved you, then all the people you have ever loved. Repeat for-ev-er, or until you stop doubting how love-worthy you are. Take breaks, and find others who need your loving comfort.

Love is a verb. The Dalai Lama is famously credited with saying, “Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon.” Surely this applies to God’s love for you.

The Image and Likeness of God

Dear Dr. Tom: If we are made in the image and likeness of God, does the image include all the negatives within us and, for lack of a better word, all the evil characteristics of humankind?
—A.R., online submission

Dear A.R.: Oh, that’s a tough question, but it’s a question that frequently appears in my mailbag. You’ve identified the problem of theodicy. If God is All-Good, why is there evil (suffering, disease, war, cruelty, and so on) anywhere? This has kept some of the greatest minds in human history up at night.

My solution, which other thinkers have proposed in several versions, is that free will requires a cosmos where bad stuff can happen, or everything is a mere charade. The choices we make matter precisely because we could be wrong and bring about disastrous results.

In a perfect cosmos where no “evil” may befall us, we would be puppets, or if you prefer a modern analogy, computer-generated characters in God’s video game. I must take life seriously, precisely because it can be beautiful or horrific at any given moment. My choices matter, especially my decisions about how to respond to a cosmos I cannot control. Now, if you ask me how that applies to eternal life, I’ll smile and say, “Let’s wait and see.”

Views on Sin

Dear Dr. Tom: I am told Jesus died for my sins. If so, why do some Christians still say I am a sinner? What does Unity say?
—J.G., online submission

Dear J.G.: The traditional Christian reply would be that sin is washed away by accepting the risen Jesus as Lord and Savior, transforming the believer into a forgiven sinner. Humanity retains its sinful inclinations, but the Christian becomes more Christlike during the process of growth, which follows conversion.

The Unity perspective is called practical Christianity, partially because most of us believe the opposite of the traditional Christian teaching. We are not inherently sinful—we are incarnations of divine mind with the same potential as Jesus of Nazareth. There may or may not be a date or time of conversion because growth in Christ consciousness—spiritual awareness, Buddha consciousness, whatever we call it—happens throughout eternity. So relax. Your sinful nature is gone because it was an error-belief in the first place.

This article appeared in Unity Magazine®.