What’s wrong with this picture?

Stairway to heaven_jpg

I lifted this picture off my Twitter feed and posted it on Facebook to solicit some reaction.

Dylan, true to form, pointed out the very practical problem of certain suffocation.

My first question was, Who made these stairs that will supposedly take us to heaven?  Although longer, they look like the sort of stairs that one would find in an airport or a mall.  The way to heaven is man-made?  This goes contrary to the one thing that distinguishes Christianity from most (every?) other religions.

In Christianity, you don’t get to heaven because of your prayers, church attendance, putting money into the collection plate, by what you do or by what you don’t do.  You get to heaven because of what God does.  God makes it possible for us to go to heaven by the death and resurrection of his son.  All we need to do is accept this free gift.  This picture shows the way to heaven as much harder than it really is.  But Daniel is also right, this staircase is too easy–if you hang onto Jesus it will cost you your life.

Then there’s the caption.  I was trying to figure out what it meant.  Then I concluded that if you “share” this picture and/or “follow” it on Twitter, you can get to heaven.  This is consistent with the works-based, man-made stairs problem discussed above.

Dean noted a further problem, “Following “Us” is only going to get you as far as “we” can carry ourselves. It’s a dead end.” 

For those who end up in heaven, I think the general consensus is that one would have followed Jesus is some manner, not people who post mindless, and unfortunately not meaningless, pictures on Twitter.

1 Comment

  1. Rob Bakker

    Pictures like this and talk of “streets of gold” etc. freaked me out when I was younger. I didn’t really want to go to heaven. It was too weird and you were stuck there forever. Since the alternative was worse it sort of led to a position that I guess I better try to be a Christian, I suppose. Not a lot of joy, just resignation. I want paradise to look like a perfect Earth. Besides, I get tired walking up stairs.

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