Will We Be Bored In Heaven?

Posted by michaelburke



by Michael Burke

from: lifedeathanddying.com

 

Most of us hope that after we die we go to some sort of after-life. It might be Heaven, or paradise or some spiritual realm where there is nothing but love and peace. Whatever it is we imagine it’s way better then life here on earth. We don’t have to go to work, pay bills, watch what we eat or worry about getting sick. Everything will be joy and happiness and everyone there will get along.

 

It sounds wonderful and we hope that it’s true. We even tell people when they are grieving that their loved one is in a “better place” now. None of us knows what that place is like but it sounds nice and it gives us a bit of comfort. Logically, if there is an afterlife it has to be better than life down here.

 

So if we end up somewhere that is better than life on earth what exactly will we be doing? If we don’t have to eat or work or stay in shape what will we do all day? Will we be bored in Heaven? How will we pass the time? I mean even if Heaven is nothing but waterslides and white beaches and free ice cream parlours how long can you live like you’re on an endless vacation? Eternity is a pretty long time!

 

Will we pass the time by watching people down on earth? Sure it might be fun for awhile to see what everyone is up to or how they are getting along with out you but do you really want to sit on a cloud and watch your spouse start dating again or your kid fail another math test. I can see myself yelling from my cloud, “the answer is nine! Didn’t you study at all?”. That doesn’t sound like paradise to me.

 

Will there be classes on how to improve yourself now that you’ve made it to the afterlife? That would imply that some who show up are more advanced than others. Will there be a pecking order in Heaven? Will we have different classes of members? Will those who lead very pious lives on earth have bigger halos or shinier harps? If we are all equal how fair is that? Why does the guy who never cut his lawn or turned without using his signal have as nice of a mansion as me? Why did I bother being that nice down on earth when we all end up the same in paradise? Just tell me the bare minimum to get in and I’ll just do that. I’ve never been accused of being an over-achiever.

 

Christian religions say that we will worship God and have fellowship with one another. I’m all for worshipping the God who made Heaven possible but is that all we do for eternity? I am happy to worship for two or three hundred years but after that my throat might be sore and my hands will be tired from clapping.

 

What about fellowship? As an introvert that sounds awful! An eternity of people showing up at your mansion unannounced. Constant chatter when you’re standing in line for the elevator to your cloud. If Heaven is one long party then I hope there is a corner where I can hide or a dog I can play with. I can only handle chit-chat for so long. Here on earth it’s about 23 minutes. Let’s say in Heaven I can stretch that out to 250 years. That’s just a drop in the bucket of forever!

 

One theory is that we each have our own version of paradise. For you it might be a big party with loud music and dancing. For someone else it might be solitude, nature and wildlife. That’s one way that we would all be happy but what if you discover after a couple thousand years that you’re tired of cleaning up tiger poop or raking leaves? Can you change Heaven’s? Can you pop over and visit someone else’s Heaven?

 

Obviously no one knows for sure what the afterlife will be like. Even those sincere people who claim to have died and gone to Heaven and then came back to describe it can’t be completely trusted. Perhaps it happened or perhaps it was just their brain playing tricks on them. As hard as you try to believe there is no way you can be 100% certain.

 

I think what we can all agree on is that the afterlife is something to look forward to. While we may not know what we’ll do when we get there it’s going to be a huge step up from life down here. I believe we will have meaningful work to do and it will be work that we love. We will enjoy the people around us and we’ll feel completely safe and secure and loved.

 

Let’s not worry about being bored in the afterlife or trying to figure out exactly what we’ll do when we get there. Instead, let’s spend however much time we have here on earth making life a little better for the people that surround us. There will be plenty of time for harp playing, feasting and flying lessons once we’re dead but we only have so many years down here to be a positive influence.