After we talked about Ghana and his patients, my school and the new baseball season, we turned to my investigation of the God and the world’s religions. I knew the most about Christianity because we belonged to a Christian church and I often went with my mom and sister to church.
Here are the basics of the Christian religion:
If religions had popularity contests, Christianity won big time. Over two billion people belonged to the Christian religion. There were many different kinds of Christians. The three biggest groups were Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestants. Christians believe in the teachings of Jesus Christ and the Bible.
Jesus lived at the beginning of the first century. He was Jewish. Christians believe that Jesus was the son of God. They believe that God sent Jesus to save people from their sins.
Jesus taught to forgive your enemies, by turning the other cheek. This means when someone hurts you or does you wrong, to not react with anger or vengeance. This is similar to the Hindus’ sacred rule of ahisma or non-violence and the rules of the Buddhists’ Eightfold path. Jesus also emphasized the commandment that said to love your neighbors.
Jesus wanted everyone to feed the hungry and help the poor. Jesus always urged rich people to give their money to poor people. All religions emphasize helping those who are less fortunate. The teachings of Jesus changed the world, making the people who practice his teachings better people.
The Romans ruled Palestine at the time of Jesus. They did not like Jesus’ preaching. They hung Jesus on a cross until he died and the cross became the symbol of Christianity. After Jesus died on the cross, the Romans buried him. Christians believe God then resurrected Jesus, meaning that they believe Jesus came back to life. Christians believe if you believe in Jesus, you will go to heaven. This is a story in the Bible.
“Why do Christians believe the Bible was written by God?” I asked my dad.
“Most Christians, like your mom, believe God inspired the words, but men wrote the Bible. It is a very old book, but there is still great beauty and wisdom in the Bible. However, a lot has happened since the Bible was written.”
“A lot of history and science,” I agreed.
“Science and religion can work together. Religion tries to answer questions that science cannot. Like, why we are here? What is the meaning of life, what is our purpose?”
This is what his grandma said, too and I nodded.
There were many good points about religion.
There were many parts of the bible that are supernatural miracles. These are things that science says could not happen, but that Christianity believes are true: The bible says Jesus walked on water. It says Jesus cured people of disease. One story says he fed hundreds of hungry people with a single fish.
The main story says he died and God brought him back to life.
Do miracles really happen?
My dad pointed out that the stories stand for something more. Stories of Jesus curing people’s disease really mean Jesus helps people overcome bad things, even disease. When Jesus fed hundreds of people with a single fish, it means Jesus’ love feeds people’s spirits, making them happier.
“Sometimes stories have a meaning that is deeper than its words,” he explained. “Jesus’ death and resurrection showed Christians that if they believe in Jesus and his teachings, life continues even after you die.”
Still, some Christian ideas of God seemed impossible. “Do Christians believe God sees and hears everything, that he is … is—”
“Omnipotent?” my dad smiled, filling in the big word.
“Christians and Jews believe God knows everything in the universe, even what you think.”
“Muslims, too,” my dad added.
“I find it hard to believe that if God is real, God knows everything I think! Like if my mind wanders to soccer during math, if I forgot to give Oso his vitamin, or if I was mean to Harriet. How can that be true?” I wondered. “There would have to be billions of cameras and wifi in everybody’s head. God would need billions of helpers to keep track of everyone.”
My dad laughed. “It does seem impossible. That’s why people say God is mysterious.”
“What do you believe?” I asked.
“I do not believe God exercises power over people and events on earth. I don’t believe God makes one person healthy and another person sick. I don’t believe God makes bad weather here and good weather there. I don’t believe God has power over our lives in that way.”
I found myself agreeing with my dad.
There was at least one Christian belief that I know is pretend. “Christians and Muslims believe in a devil. The devil is supposed to be an invisible man with horns and a tail who flies through space doing bad things to people?” I shook my head, “I know that is pretend!”
“Most Christians believe the devil stands for evil. Just like a story has a bigger meaning. They use the devil as a way of explaining bad things.”
Evil is supposed to be the opposite of God, the opposite of good, but why do you need a pretend monster god to explain bad things? That doesn’t make sense! “Christians say they believe in only one God, but if they believe in the devil, then they really believe in two Gods.”
“What do you mean?”
“The devil is just like a God. He is invisible. He flies through the air. He has magic powers. The difference is the devil is bad and God is good.”
“I don’t think many people actually believe in a devil anymore, Franklin.”
We continued talking until my dad’s electricity ran out. I went downstairs to talk to my mom and grandmother. Oso, as always, followed me. My morn and Harriet were sitting on the couch, reading. My grandma worked in the kitchen, fixing dinner.
Oso went to visit the food in the kitchen.
Harriet read a Harry Potter book for the third time. She twirled a strand of her red hair; she looked like Hermione. His dad always teased that they were a family of ice cream flavors: He was chocolate, his mother was vanilla, and Harriet and his dad were strawberry.
I plopped down on the other side of my mom. “Is heaven real or pretend?”
“That’s easy,” Harriet said. “It’s real.”
My mom asked, “What do you think, Franklin?”
“If heaven is real, where is it? People think it is in the sky, right?”
“Of course it is in the sky. It’s heaven,” Harriet said.
“If it is in the sky, why can’t you see heaven through a telescope?”
Harriet looked confused. “Good question. You can see all of space with a telescope, right?”
“I bet there are over a million telescopes in the world,” I said. “They have been looking into space for—”
“Since Galileo in the early 1600’s,” my mom said. “Galileo was one of the first scientists to study our solar system.”
I seized my mom’s point. “That means people have been looking into space for hundreds of years! Astronomers have seen billions of stars and galaxies, but has anyone actually seen heaven?”
“Never,” my mom smiled. “But most religious people believe heaven is in the spiritual realm, that it exists outside of the physical universe, or that it exists in a different way than the physical world.”
My grandma came through the doors holding a steaming bowl of spaghetti. Oso followed, his long tail high and waving. “This makes no sense to a scientist,” she said as she set the bowl down on the table. “The universe includes everything. Nothing exists outside of it.”
“Maybe we do see heaven, but just don’t recognize it,” my mom said. “There is so much to the universe that we do not yet know, or understand, right?”
“Oh, yes,” my grandma said. “There is dark matter and energy, which account for 95% of the universe and we don’t even know what it is. Some times it seems like we have more questions than answers or that for every answer we get, we find many more questions.”
I thought about this as I helped bring the dishes out to the dining room table and Harriet helped set the table. I told them about the Hindu belief that God was everywhere. God existed in every person, animal, plant, and thing; God existed in everything.
Once the food was out, we all sat down. My mom began serving the delicious spaghetti dinner. Oso waited for spaghetti leftovers.
“Christians do not believe that,” my mom continued the discussion as we dug in. Christians believe God created the earth and the universe. We believe God exists outside of nature.”
That presented a problem. If the universe included everything, nothing can exist outside of it, not even God. Rabbi Daniel had said that God created many mysteries.
This seemed true; God was very mysterious indeed.
Still thinking of heaven, Harriet looked confused. “I thought when you die your soul goes up to heaven?”
“The Hindus and the Buddhists believe in a soul, too, but what is it?” I asked, reasonably.
“A soul is what makes you, you,” my mom said. “It is what exists of you without a physical body.”
“How do you know that?” I wondered. “What is the evidence for the soul? You cannot see, touch, or measure a soul. No one has ever seen a person rise up and travel through space to heaven.”
My mom smiled at me. “I understand your point of view, but I just feel there is something more than the physical world, that there is a spiritual realm along with the physical world. Most people believe in life after death. But even if there isn’t, Jesus and his teachings connect me to something bigger and more important than myself. Something meaningful in my life.”
My grandma patted my mom’s hand with affection and smiled.
My mom smiled back. “Now, is there a heaven? All I can say is I hope so!”
For the remainder of dinner, we discussed the reasons people believed in heaven. My grandma believed most people could not bear the thought that their lives or the lives of the people they love just end: kaput! You no longer exist. Your loved ones no longer exist. Many people found this impossible to believe. Most people think there has to be something more.
“The idea of life continuing after death is a great comfort to people,” my mom agreed. “I sometimes experience my grandma’s presence; I feel her love surrounding me and it is such a comfort to me!”
My grandma bent over and hugged my mom and Harriet and I smiled at each other. This was the main take away from my investigation. Religion was very important to people. It taught them many important lessons and made them feel good about their lives.
“Another interesting idea about heaven,” my grandma finished. “There isn’t just one. Every religion has its own idea about what heaven is.”
“Really?” I knew what I would be googling that night.
I googled heaven and hell.
There are hundreds of different ideas about heaven! No two religions agreed on what heaven was. Many people believed heaven was as real as Oso. Some people believe heaven is not real and you go kaput when you die.
Interesting idea 1: Buddhists and Hindus believe there are many heavens. When people die they became “reborn.” This means you come back to life as another insect, animal or human. It is called reincarnation. Still other people believed in reincarnation, but did not believe humans became animals or animals ever became people after they died.
Interesting idea 2: Chinese Confucians and other religions think heaven is a place where their ancestors go to live when they die.
Interesting idea 3: Jews believe heaven is unknowable. Like Buddhists, Jewish people try to focus on how best to live life on earth.
Interesting idea 4: In the early Christian religion, heaven was a physical place. Heaven existed above the clouds, far out in space. God and the angels lived in heaven, watching over people and earth. These people pictured God as an old man sitting on a throne of clouds, surrounded by angels with wings. Many people still think in this old-fashioned way.
Interesting idea 5: Modern Christians believe being in heaven means being close to God. No one really knew more than that.
Interesting idea 6: Islam replaces heaven with the word “Paradise.” Muslims believe that Paradise is a beautiful place of rivers, water fountains, gardens, and lots of food. Your every wish is answered immediately. You want chocolate ice-cream? It appears before you. You want a house on the seashore. It’s yours.
Some people think the opposite of heaven is hell.
Interesting idea 7: In the olden days people thought hell was where bad people went when they died. They thought hell was near the center of earth. Bad people suffered in hell; they were set on fire and tortured. Some people still believe this, but it is not true. It is make-believe. Very religious people made it up to convey to regular people what it would be like to be separated from God and the worst thing they could imagine was fire. This is where the myth of hell came from.
Interesting idea 8: Modern people believe hell is the absence of God.
Interesting idea 9: Other people believe hell is the termination of the soul. Your existence goes kaput.