Heaven is a Place on Earth
Posted by tom | Apr 9, 2008Still meditating upon the below daily asterisk. I've passed over Heaven is a Place on Earth, but maybe it's time to pick-up a copy to read how Michael E. Wittmer fills out this vision a little bit more . . . and compare to N.T. Wright :-) I would comment that we are most at home with/in our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer who enables us to step into proper self-understanding, care for creation through vocation, and love of neighbor no matter the context.
Indeed, our purified earth will be so inviting that even God himself will choose to live here. Our God calls himself Emmanuel which means God with us. Unfortunately, many Christians read this name backwards, as if Emmanuel means us with God. If we think us with God, we tend to imagine that the goal of life is to leave this planet and live forever with him in heaven. That is a great thing, but it is just the beginning of what God has planned for us. God isn't content merely to take us to be with him; he wants to return with us to this planet, to live with us in the place where we are most at home. -- Michael E. Wittmer, Heaven is a Place on Earth
It also sounds similar to Heaven by Randy Alcorn, which I've dipped into recently. Alcorn emphasizes that Heaven, as typically conceived by most Christians, is a temporary stopping ground, while Scripture tells us that our final home will be the New Heaven and New Earth shown at the end of Revelation.
Posted by Mike, Apr 9 2008, 09:59