Jesus said to the thief on the cross, “Today you will be with me in Paradise,” after the thief on his own cross had defended Jesus and asked for the Messiah’s mercy (Luke 23:39-43). What does Paradise mean?
In Islam, life in Paradise, known as “Jannah,” is a place where every human desire is met. Jannah is pictured as a garden where the righteous recline on couches made of gold and precious jewels. Residents eat delightful food all the time without the unpleasant experience of having bowel movements or intestinal gas. They drink all the wine they want with only the pleasant experiences of intoxication and none of the negative ones. There is wonderful water to drink, but they never have to urinate. To expel the water, the faithful just sweat, but the sweat smells like perfume.
As they dine in luxury, residents tell all the stories they want while they reminisce and brag about the glories of their past lives. All the men are given houris, who are gorgeous young women constantly renewed as virgins. They never lose their youth, freshness, and good looks. While the women are still subjugated to the men, they get to be recreated as houris and are constantly youthful, beautiful, alluring, and highly valued.
In other words, at least for the men, Paradise from the Islamic perspective is an idealistic continuation of the current life involving constant sensual pleasure.
To the Christian, the afterlife is not centered on sensual pleasure, but on a relationship with God. Jesus said to the thief on the cross, “Today you will be with me in Paradise.” The emphasis is not on an ideal continuation of this life, but on being with Jesus and God the Father for all eternity.
In Revelation 21 and 22, there is no need for the sun and moon, because all light will come from God. The river of living water flows directly from the throne of God and beside that river is the tree of life, the leaves of which are used to heal all memories of the pain of the previous life.
Protection comes from God and the highest duty is that of worship and singing God’s praises. While we admittedly see through a glass darkly, the consistent witness of the New Testament is that our needs will be met directly by God. The afterlife is not pictured as fleshly pleasure, but as an eternal relationship with God, sharing in His glory.
The Sadducees, who did not believe in an afterlife, attempted to trick Jesus by posing to him a theorical situation in which a woman had been widowed seven times, having been sequentially married to seven different brothers. They asked, “In the resurrection, whose wife will she be? All seven were married to her.” (Luke 20:33).
Jesus answered that marriage is characteristic of this life, not life in heaven. We will be like angels, who have no need to reproduce, thus, there will be no need or desire for marriage. In other words, while we will maintain our individual identities, freshly sensuality will not be part of our beings. We will all be primarily related to God, and through God to each other.
To the Muslim, Paradise is attained through the merit of obedience. One must attain worthiness by observing the five pillars of Islam and abstaining from wine, pork, and sexual impurities. What is important is outward conformity, not inward transformation, thus the necessity of living in an Islamic society that demands outward compliance.
The exception to earning one’s way to Paradise through obedient conformity is that of martyrdom in Jihad (holy war) against the enemies of Islam. Interestingly, the 9/11 terrorists who flew hijacked jetliners into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were reported to make frequent visits to strip joints and bars, which is against Islamic practice. Yet, as men preparing for martyrdom in Jihad, they had no need for self-denial or observance of the Islamic law because of their perceived free ticket to Paradise.
In Christianity, resurrection to the afterlife cannot be earned by obedience to requirements nor by self-sacrifice. It can only be received by accepting God’s gift of a relationship to God through Jesus. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). He died as the sacrifice for sins, enabling believers to be forgiven and restored to a relationship to God by His mercy.
St. Paul said in I Corinthians 15 that after resurrection, Jesus’ followers will have new “spiritual bodies.” We don’t know exactly what that means, but Paul describes our current bodies as being seeds of what will become the full plant, the full destiny of God’s plan for our existence, the most important characteristic of which is that we will be with Him and share in His glory.
To the Christian, life both here in the world and in Paradise for eternity is about having a living relationship with the Father. We become His children, and His Spirit transforms our lives in conformity to the life and example of the divine found in Jesus Christ.
Dr. Dan Darby is a retired United Methodist pastor.
