Dear Roy,

This is a great and very understandable question. While it is true that Jesus believed in some version of an afterlife, what we do know is that whatever Jesus believed in, it was nothing like the heaven and hell of modern Christian theology, which didn’t exist in any form in the first-century Judaism of Jesus. In fact, it’s fairly common knowledge that if one reads the Gospel accounts, especially the synoptics, Jesus was far more focused on this life and this world than whatever happens after we die. This is precisely why he taught his disciples to pray, “May God’s Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.”

Jesus was more concerned with his disciples working to transform this world into the Kingdom of God, which is simply to say, the world set right. And Jesus' entire life demonstrated this- if Jesus was truly only concerned about the afterlife, you wouldn’t expect him to spend his time healing the sick, ministering to the poor, or raising the dead. Clearly, he cared more about creating a more just and equal world for all people here and now. So whenever you come across Christians whose faith is focused on the afterlife, I would simply redirect them to the actual life and teachings of Jesus. As Christians, I believe we should be focused on living meaningful and generous lives here and now and helping others to experience the abundant life God desires for each of us, and trust God to deal with the afterlife, because God is the only one who knows what will happen to us after this life. Rather than waxing philosophical about theories of life after death, true disciples of Christ should spend their time living a full and meaningful life on this side of death. That is true Christian faith.

~ Rev. Brandan Robertson