I got an email from my friend Doug Hodgkinson the other day. Which was odd. Because Doug died seven years ago.

            I wondered where he was writing from. And if they have wi-fi connections there, wherever “there” is. They don’t have gmail addresses, anyway. Doug had a gmail address before his death, but this message came from Hestbript@ibh1mnhk6k.rereprsente.us, which reads like the proverbial roomful of monkeys whacking typewriter keys at random.

            Just in case there’s any doubt, I don’t think the message came from either heaven or hell – unless it’s the kind of hell that exploiters of human weakness and gullibility create.  I gave up believing in hell long ago; I gave up on heaven a little later. 

            The two go together, because they both assume a God who hands out rewards and punishments. If you’re bad, you’ll go to hell; if you’re good, you’ll get taken up to heaven. 

A matched pair

            Geology told me that temperatures do indeed rise deep down in the earth. Hot enough to melt rock, which occasionally bubbles to the surface in volcanoes. But the possibility of human bodies staying alive in an environment of molten lava, so that they could suffer eternal torment, didn’t make sense. 

            And if there was no hell to which sinners could be dispatched, it was hard to keep believing in its opposite, a paradise to which good humans went after death. Heaven and hell belong together, like point and counterpoint, yin and yang. You can’t have yin without yang making the circle complete. Heaven without hell is like an unbalanced see-saw, like a rope that has an end but no beginning, like a tree that has a top but no trunk…

            In fact, I gave up on the idea of a divine judge dishing out rewards and punishments after my son’s death in 1983. It wasn’t his fault that he had cystic fibrosis – an inherited, incurable, and usually terminal disease. I could not accept his lifelong suffering as punishment for something he hadn’t done. 

            It wasn’t our fault either. At the time of our marriage, no one knew about the recessive gene that both of us carried – least of all us. 

            Besides, if he deserved divine punishment for some unknown sin, would that punishment be erased by his death so that he could safely go to heaven? Or would he have to go to hell anyway?

            No way! 

            I rebelled against the conventional myths. 

Last thoughts

            I don’t pretend to know what comes after death. Doug and I discussed this several times, especially after his wife Elizabeth developed terminal cancer. Doug was an Anglican priest, but he didn’t know either.

            Elizabeth died in February, 2011, nine months before Doug’s death in November. 

            Doug died of a massive heart attack while he was robing in the Kelowna cathedral, preparing to preside at a Eucharist worship service. 

            I’ve sometimes wished I knew what his last thoughts were. Or even if he had any last thoughts. Was he thinking, “Here I come, Elizabeth!” Or was he thinking, “Oh, hell!”

            I’ll never know. The only thing I’m absolutely sure of is that he wasn’t thinking, “Oh, good, someday I can send Jim Taylor an email from the other side!”

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Copyright © 2018 by Jim Taylor. Non-profit use in congregations and study groups, and links from other blogs, welcomed; all other rights reserved.

                  To comment on this column, write jimt@quixotic.ca

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YOUR TURN

Thank you all, those of you who wrote, for your suggestions of places that might welcome my father’s collection of around 3,500 slides of religious art from all over the world. I will follow up, as possible. But until then, the collection is still available.

John Shaffer has a similar dilemma: “I have thousands (why count?) of slides taken while living in Alaska or traveling to exotic places, like the Holy Land. Who would want them?  It is so hard to throw unwanted treasures away. But some day someone will do it.  I went through 500 of them recently and kept 3. Why keep 3?  I don't really know. 

            “Many parents tell me that their children have no interest in their treasures, as their children's home are already full of their own treasures.

            “I will share your offer with a couple of artistic friends.”

George Brigham wanted to respond to John McTavish’s letter last week. George wrote, “John is correct to remind us of the value of both old and new. But that does not mean that all old and all new is good. As a Methodist, I am encouraged to vaunt the value of Charles Wesley’s hymns. It is said he wrote one a day so I assume that most of them had little lasting value.

            “Similarly, though very many modern hymns and praise songs are for me a source of joy and inspiration, some are dreadful. Usually it is the ones that last that have value, However, one newish hymn that I fear will last is very popular on this side of the Atlantic, at least, is Keith Getty & Stuart Townend’s In Christ Alone. It has an excellent tune and some inspiring words but I refuse to sing verse 2 with its antiquated theology about God’s wrath being satisfied by Christ’s death.”

By the way, I posted a  new poem to my webpage,http://quixotic.ca/My-Poetry– and on the basis of initial feedback, I’ve already done some modifications! If you’d like to be on the mailing list to receive notifications when I post a  new poem to my webpage, write me at jimt@quixotic.ca, or subscribe yourself to the list by sending a blank email (no message) to poetry-subscribe@lists.quixotic.ca (If it doesn’t work, write me directly.)

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PSALM PARAPHRASES

When I was writing the column above, I recalled Yuri Gagarin and the NASA astronauts showed us that there is no physical heaven up there in the skies. But they showed us that there is something beautiful here on earth that could be paradise, if we let it be. This paraphrase of Psalm 24 seems appropriate. 

1          Turning and turning, our pale blue globe 

burns bright in the blackness of eternity.

The Earth is the Lord's, and all that is in it --

All life embodied in the only home we know.

2          God created life in the oceans,

and nourishes it with nutrients from the mountains.

3          Trace the course of a river to its source;

Stand among the mountains and marvel. 

Who would dare defile this paradise? 

4          God sees through our deceit and pretence;

We cannot claim innocence with dirty hands.

We can only approach God with clean hands and pure hearts;

5          Then we will see a smile on the face of God,

Then will God's wisdom be evident in the world.

6          So seek our God in high and holy places;

7          Let the vast valleys throw open their arms;

Let the summits stand tall in pride,

For this is the home of the Holy One!

8          With all the glory of the universe to choose from,

With all of creation quivering in expectation, 

The Lord of life picked this planet as home.

9          So throw open your valleys, O earth!

Spread wide your plains to welcome the Lord!

10        For the Lord of creation lives here.

For paraphrases of mostof the psalms used by the Revised Common Lectionary, you can order my book Everyday Psalmsfrom Wood Lake Publishing, info@woodlake.com.

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TECHNICAL STUFF

If you want to comment on something, send a message directly to me, jimt@quixotic.ca.

                  To subscribe or unsubscribe, send an e-mail message to jimt@quixotic.ca. Or you can subscribe electronically by sending a blank e-mail (no message or subject line) to softedges-subscribe@lists.quixotic.ca. Similarly, you can un-subscribe at softedges-unsubscribe@lists.quixotic.ca.

                  I write a second column each Sunday called Sharp Edges, which tends to be somewhat more cutting about social and justice issues. To sign up for Sharp Edges, write to me directly, jimt@quixotic.ca, or send a note to sharpedges-subscribe@lists.quixotic.ca

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PROMOTION STUFF

To use the links in this section, you’ll have to insert the necessary symbols.

                  Ralph Milton ’s latest project is called “Sing Hallelujah” -- the world’s first video hymnal. It consists of 100 popular hymns, both new and old, on five DVDs that can be played using a standard DVD player and TV screen, for use in congregations who lack skilled musicians to play piano or organ. More details at wwwDOTsinghallelujahDOTca

                  Ralph’s HymnSight webpage is still up, http://wwwDOThymnsightDOTca, with a vast gallery of photos you can use to enhance the appearance of the visual images you project for liturgical use (prayers, responses, hymn verses, etc.)

                  Wayne Irwin's “Churchweb Canada,”an inexpensive service for any congregation wanting to develop a web presence, with free consultation. <http://wwwDOTchurchwebcanadaDOTca>

                  I recommend Isabel Gibson’s thoughtful and well-written blog, wwwDOTtraditionaliconoclastDOTcom

                  Alva Wood’s satiric stories about incompetent bureaucrats and prejudiced attitudes in a small town -- not particularly religious, but fun; alvawoodATgmailDOTcom to get onto her mailing list.

                  Tom Watson writes a weekly blog called “The View from Grandpa Tom’s Balcony”-- ruminations on various subjects, and feedback from Tom’sreaders. Write him at tomwatsoATgmailDOTcom or twatsonATsentexDOTnet