Back to: Heaven: Alcorn
Why Study Heaven?
-Randy Alcorn, ‘Heaven (Preface)
We have failed to explore and explain the Bible’s magnificent teachings about Heaven. No wonder a flood of unbiblical thinking has rushed in to fill the vacuum. Because the human heart cries out for answers about the afterlife, our silence on Heaven is particularly striking. The truth is, in our seminaries, churches, and families, we have given amazingly little attention to the place where we will live forever with Christ and his people—the New Earth, in the new universe. This eternal Heaven is the central subject of this book. It’s a subject I’ve found to be fascinating, thrilling, and life-changing.
What Are We Looking For?
- Truth, Error, & Opinion
–Randy Alcorn, ‘Heaven (Preface)
Through biblical study and extensive reading, dialogue, and critique, I’ve tried to detect any conclusions that don’t pass Scripture’s test, to eliminate them before this book was published. But despite my best efforts, some errors undoubtedly have slipped through. I call on readers to be like the Bereans, who “examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true” (Acts 17:11). Don’t throw out the baby of truth with the bathwater of what you regard as my mistakes—but, by all means, do throw out the bathwater!
How Will We Go About This?
- Study Scripture
- Consult other sources & resources.
- Pray for wisdom & discernment.
If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. [6] But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. [7] That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. [8] Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do. James 1:5-8 NIV
–Randy Alcorn, ‘Heaven (Preface)
From the beginning, I want to make it clear that it’s vitally important that this book be true to Scripture. I believe that most of my conclusions, even those that significantly depart from current evangelical thinking, will stand up to biblical scrutiny. Inevitably, however, some may not… I will try to make the case carefully and biblically. There is plenty in this book for everyone to disagree with. But I hope you’ll find that most of it rings true to Scripture and opens up exciting doors to imagining and anticipating everything that awaits God’s children in the magnificent world to come.
On ‘Christoplatonism’
Alcorn claims that a lot of the traditional and erroneous views of Heaven and eternity come from what he calls the idea of ‘Christoplatonism’.
At its root was the Greek philosophical belief of ‘dualism’, that the spiritual was not compatible with the physical. Alcorn cites Plato as being
the first western philosopher to claim that reality is fundamentally something ideal or abstract.Furthermore, Plato saw the body as a liability, not an asset. It was a hindrance, as it opposes and even imprisons the soul (Phaedo 65-68, 91-94).
From this comes Plato’s statement ‘soma sema’ – “a body, a tomb
“, wherein he asserts that the spirit’s highest destiny is to be forever free from the body.
Randy goes on to say,
–Randy Alcorn, ‘Heaven (Appendix A: False Assumptions of Christoplatonism)
To distinguish the version of Platonism seen among Christians from secular forms of Platonism, I’ve coined the term Christoplatonism. This philosophy has blended elements of Platonism with Christianity, and in so doing has poisoned Christianity and blunted its distinct differences from Eastern religions. Because appeals to Christoplatonism appear to take the spiritual high ground, attempts to refute this false philosophy often appear to be materialistic, hedonistic, or worldly.
He posits that Paul’s defense of the physical resurrection to the Corinthians was motivated by the pervasive philosophy of dualism in that culture.
In like manner, Alcorn’s book on Heaven is motivated in part to counter against Christoplatonism. He says,
–Randy Alcorn, ‘Heaven (Appendix A: False Assumptions of Christoplatonism)
Because of Christoplatonism’s pervasive influence, we resist the biblical picture of bodily resurrection of the dead and life on the New Earth; of eating and drinking in Heaven; of walking and talking, living in dwelling places, traveling down streets, and going through gates from one place to another; and of ruling, working, playing, and engaging in earthly culture.