“Going up.”
That right there says it all. Or a lot of it.
In a recent post, I mentioned a Youtube video (https://youtu.be/3Q3PSISAZL8) in which two guys try to hand out free masks in Huntington Beach in Orange County, here in California. As seen in the video, no one that the guys encounter is wearing a mask, and they are met with argument, heckling or cussing out. It is funny and quite chilling, all the more so as COVID-19 cases have soared here lately.
In the video, what one woman early on says really struck me. She asks the two guys where they are going on when they die, implying that she isn’t afraid of death. After the guys goof around (“Up in the sky,” “Poke”), the woman answers her own question: “Going up.” To Heaven, not “to the sky,” presumably.
This says a lot. It says a lot about why a lot of conservatives, many of whom tend to be evangelical Christians or at least are more conservative in their beliefs, aren’t concerned not only about being protected against the coronavirus but also about climate change.
When people feel assured that they’re going to Heaven or that some other blissful reward awaits them after they die, they aren’t so worried about dying and even less about what happens here – and to the rest of us? – on Earth. The world can go up in flames, be flooded, racked with drought and illness, and they’ll be safe in Heaven or in the knowledge that Heaven awaits them.
This notion is also evident in suicidal Islamic terrorists, who believe that virgins await them in the sweet hereafter. We also see it in the argument between traditional Catholic doctrine, which teaches that Heaven is the reward after a hard life, full of suffering, here on earth and liberation theology, which teaches that one should work and struggle, if not fight, for justice and a better life, the blessed community, here on earth.
It doesn’t matter what happens here, in this life; we are going on to a better place. This is a Hell of an argument to go up against.
I couldn't agree with you more!
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