Anthony DeStefano - A Travel Guide to Heaven

Itinerary

This book is for
my mother and father

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D own through the centuries, there have been thousands of books written about the subject of heaven. Some have been great theological tomes, some brilliant essays, others beautiful poems. Religious and secular writers from all walks of life have attempted to describe and explain this most elusive of concepts. And yet, while all of these efforts have added to our understanding of heaven, most of them have been missing one key ingredient: fun.

You see, if heaven is anything at all, its fun. Its a place of unlimited pleasure, unlimited happiness, and unlimited joy. Think about that for a second and consider what an incredibly outrageous concept it is. Thats why its so surprising that while an overwhelming majority of the general public believes in heaven, not many people seem to be bubbling over with excitement about it. In fact, not many people seem to be thinking about it at all.

This is partly because heaven is so hard for us to understand. With all the problems and suffering that constantly envelop our lives, its difficult to grasp the reality of paradise, a place where there is no pain, no evil, no disappointment, no death.

Another reason is simply that weve heard so much about heaven since our childhoods that the whole idea has gotten a bit stale. Familiarity hasnt exactly bred contempt, but it has bred boredom.

Several years ago, I attended fifteen funerals in seven short months. It was just one of those terribly tragic years that sometimes occur in peoples lives. I remember the priests and preachers who presided at these sad affairs trying their best to console all the grieving families and friends. The words they spoke about the afterlife were indeed beautiful and hopeful, but Im not sure they resonated with all of the mourners who heard them.

This wasnt their fault. They were doing exactly what they were supposed to doproclaim the Gospel. But unfortunately, for many people the good news preached by Christ about the Kingdom of Heaven has become old news. Nowadays people seem much more willing to embrace street-corner palm readers and television psychics who conduct sances to summon back the dead! In our eagerness to believe that human relationships continue beyond the grave, many of us have forgotten a very simple truth: all the answers we could ever want about life after death are right under our noseand have been for two thousand years.

In the case of heaven, the old news of traditional Christianity is infinitely more exciting, interesting, uplifting, and fun than anything expounded by TV psychics or new age gurus.

Do you know where you can find the best, most accurate descriptions of heaven today? The childrens religion section of your local bookstore. Flip through any childrens book about heaven and youll see vibrantly colorful pages filled with rainbows, exotic animals, golden cities, and people playing and laughing. While these books may not explain the sublime and profound mystery of heaven, they are undoubtedly the truest books, because only they convey the unmitigated fun of the place.

C. S. Lewis said that the serious business of heaven is joy. Amid all the boring and esoteric theological discussions, and amid all the confusion of twenty-first-century pop spirituality, we sometimes forget this powerful idea. I think its time we reminded ourselves. And thats why I want to take a different approach in this book.

I love traveling. I love the research, the planning, and even the packing that go into taking a trip. Ever since I can remember, Ive been blessed with the spirit of wanderlust and the love of adventure. For close to two decades, Ive had the good fortune of traveling all over the world in my work. One of the things I like best is reading various guidebooks about the places Im going to visit. These books are not only entertaining, theyre also invaluable. After all, when you first go to a foreign country, you dont know exactly what to expect. Youve got to be ready to encounter strange customs, strange languages, and even strange people. Even if you dont adequately prepare you might still have a good time, but it certainly helps to have a layout of the terrain and a practical knowledge of the place youre traveling to.

Well, if heaven is anything, its a place. Yes, I know about all the speculation that heaven is really just a state of mind, and that we should concentrate on living heaven here and now. But thats not what the Bible teaches nor what Christian theologians have taught for two millennia. The one consistent and universal belief about heaven since the beginning of Christianity is that it is a place. A real, honest-to-goodness, physical place.

Thats why we dont need another philosophical or theological treatise about heaven. There are plenty of those already. What we need in order to gain an understanding of heaven is not book knowledge, or even deep spiritual insight. What we need is a flair for travel! Weve got to be able to take a brand-new look at this very old place. In other words, we need a travel guide. And thats the point of this book.

Some people might object to comparing heaven to a vacation spot, thinking that it trivializes a profoundly important subject. But Christ himself made ample use of travel imagery in the parables he toldindeed, the New Testament is full of people journeying through ancient Palestine, trudging from town to town with their walking sticks, searching for lost sheep, riding along dusty roads on donkeys, and sailing on the Sea of Galilee. All were doing here is replacing these old modes of travel with some new oneswere trading in the chariots for jet planes and the fishing boats for cruise ships!

One might expect a book on heaven to be written by a cleric or a professional theologian. I am neitherbut that might be just what is needed for our purposes. Sometimes the best way to get a fresh perspective on a subject is to take a few steps back and look at it from the outside. As a dedicated, believing layperson, I believe Im close enough to provide an accurate presentation of the Christian teaching on heaven, and yet far enough away to avoid bogging you down with too much formal theology.

Still, I want to assure you that nothing you are about to read is contrary to either the Bible or the Christian teaching tradition about heaven. While my background is Catholic, I have taken great pains to make this work communicate to all Christians. Of course theres no way to please everyone all the time, and theres bound to be a bit of speculation and imagination in any book about heaven. But thats unavoidable. After all, theres no one around today whos actually been to heaven and back. But you can be sure that nothing in the following pages concerning the basics of heaven is at odds with the major beliefs and teachings commonly accepted by