Friend: So you think you may have one or two children in heaven that came from fertilized eggs that never implanted in Nancy’s womb. That's absolutely wild. What would that be like? Being in heaven after leaving a body that only had 32 cells in it?
Me: There is no way I could know for sure, but this is what I think. I don’t think the little spirit baby waddles up to St. Peter and says, “Yo! Big fisherman-person! Change my diaper!”
The baby spirit wouldn’t know how to talk yet. As an unborn baby it wouldn’t have had a chance to develop language skills and I’m guessing it probably wouldn’t be able to process and understand language as a spirit any quicker than it would have been able to if it had lived on in its body.
Friend: So you think the spirit baby has to grow in knowledge just as it would if it had undergone normal development in a physical body?
Me: I would assume that to be the case. As a matter of fact, I would think that someone would need to “carry” the baby spirit up in heaven in much the same way that a mother “carries” the baby’s body while it’s in her womb.
Friend: And just where would you “put” this baby? How would you carry it?
Me: I imagine that you would carry the baby in your heart; that is to say that the baby spirit would come to live in your spirit and, as it developed, begin to experience your emotions. I think the spirit baby would be able to actually feel the love in your heart for him, to experience it directly.
Friend: So the female spirits will carry the baby while the male spirits are out playing golf?
Me: Actually, we are neither male nor female in the next life. And I don't see any reason I couldn't take a turn beaming pure love into the little developing heart of some newborn human spirit someday.
Friend: So instead of looking like you’re pregnant, you could actually be pregnant?
Me: That's very cold. You seem very cranky. I think we need to bathe your soul in some liquid love.
Friend: You can just keep your spirit inside your body, Mr. pregnant man.
Me: Whatever. It just seems to me that if a mother has to “carry” a baby in her body that a spirit in heaven might “carry” the spirit of an unborn baby in his heart. The spirit of the unborn baby would be able to sense the presence of another being as it grew and developed. I would imagine that the developing human spirit would be able to literally feel the love directly communicated from heart to heart by the person or persons “carrying” him.
Friend: More than one person might be involved?
Me: It might be a group effort in more ways than one. On the one hand you might be able to trade off the baby between spirits. On the other hand, you might be carrying the baby as a group of some sort. Jesus made a truly remarkable statement in John 17:22 when He prayed that “they may be one just as We are one.” The persons of the Godhead are never alone. They are continuously, eternally aware of each other and they continuous, eternally feel the warmth of the love that they share.
I wouldn’t be surprised, in the life to come, if there weren’t ways for us to literally connect to one another and enter into a state where we could feel each other’s love just as the Trinity does. Back in the 60’s they used to get groups together and have something that they called a “love in.” They would get together and meditate and try to interact with each other in a way that was very gentle and kind. Jesus said that a time will come when we will be one as the members of the Trinity are one. I could see us getting together in heaven so that our spirits all touch, or overlapped, or even intermingled in some way and all get “high” together on pure love. I could see an unborn baby spirit thriving as it rested gently as the focus of a group of adult spirits having a love in.
Also, this would enable the spirits that used to be male to occasionally take a break and play whatever the heavenly equivalent of golf might be.
Friend: You’re terrible.
Me: I’m just saying! But the point is that the developing human spirit would never be alone and would always be able to feel the love.
Friend: This is all very interesting and it sounds really neat, but basically it’s all just speculation, isn’t it? You don’t have anything directly from the Bible to back it up, do you?
Me: I guess I would refer to this as informed speculation. I think these are fairly educated guesses, but they are guesses. But I think the whole process of educated guesses can be very helpful.
Friend: How so?
Me: If you’ve lost a baby through a miscarriage, or if you lost a small child, it’s a wonderful comfort to think of that child being in heaven, but it’s all sort of nebulous. I think we need to create vivid visuals to combat the other vivid visuals that will try and haunt us.
Friend: Vivid visuals?
Me: If you just lost a baby and then you see another woman who is pregnant that is a vivid visual. You are seeing what you just missed out on. If you had a chance to see your baby’s dead body, that is another vivid visual. In that case you see the pregnant woman with your eyes and then you might see the dead body of the baby you lost with your imagination. That’s a devastating one-two punch.
Friend: I think that would be horrible.
Me: I’m sure you’re right. The question is, what are you going to do when that happens? Do you have a plan? Do you want to let those images stay in your mind and start munching away on your brain or do you want to have something to replace them with?
Friend: So you imagine your unborn baby in heaven.
Me: That’s exactly right. Only you are not just imagining in the way you might have a daydream about being the winning quarterback in the Super Bowl. You aren’t going to be a winning quarterback in the Super Bowl. That’s a fantasy. But the baby actually is in heaven. The baby is surrounded by love. The baby will never know the hurt and pain that you knew growing up. No one will ever tease your baby. No one will ever hurt you baby’s feelings. No one will ever break your baby’s heart. I would be as specific as possible with my vivid visualizations.
Friend: What other details could you add?
Me: Well, if you already have a grandmother up in heaven, who do you think is going to be first in line to take care of that child? Who do you know in heaven who loves you? Since they are in heaven they are already freed from the curse of sin. They are never selfish or short tempered. They live lives of perfect compassion. They live in a state of constant serenity. And if they know you and love you they are going to do everything they possibly can to take care of your baby. And even if you don’t have anyone up there that you know about who loves you, there will be a long line of perfected human spirits just waiting for a chance to take care of your baby, whatever it’s state of development when it went to heaven.
Friend: And one of those people might someday be you: a pregnant man in heaven.
Me: I’m looking forward to it.
3 comments:
It's all conjecture, of course, but I think there is more evidence in favor of immediate completion than of process. Process, it seems to me, is a very mortal concept practiced by mortal beings who exist in the time/space continuum. When we are in heaven we are said to be 'raised immortal' and I think the notion of a spiritual human growth process at that point is no more likely to occur than that of a physical human growth process in heaven.
When we are raised from the dead, we become instantly perfected. This is true of the raising of the body, but I think also true at the raising of the spirit. You yourself have suggested rhat when your body is raised from the dead it will be that young adult body that you can only now distantly remember. It will be your body in perfect form before the ravages of age (themselves caused by the ravages of sin) damaged your body. I think the raising of the spirit will be the same way: raised completed, perfected, and no longer subject to decay.
I suspect when we are all in heaven together we will have a healthy chuckle about Mark, the spiritual incubator. Besides, if you got pregnant in heaven, Mom would kill you!
But I like that you provoke us to think about such things. And I especially like your exhortation to 'vividly visualize' our futures in heaven. That's something we don't do near enough of and it's a profitable way to spend the mind's time. Heaven is much closer than any of us generally realize. In the blink of an eye any one of us could be ...
Oh you crack me up! Interesting read as usual Mark!
While it is true that we must be instantly perfected morally at the point of death, it is not necessarily true that we are finished growing and learning. We'll have to make it to heaven to find out who is making the best gestimate.
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