The Superficial Christian

There was a man who lived in a neatly maintained, tastefully decorated otherwise nondescript home in a well organized and regulated community within an above average suburb of a rather swarthy city. The man was a member of a well-respected congregation of an organization of believers who met every Wednesday and Sunday for prayer and community.

Each Wednesday and Sunday the man, his appropriately pretty wife and well-mannered, well-groomed children would attend his well-respected congregation?s meetings and worship. Once inside he was greeted with broad smiles, hand shakes and words of encouragement and reaffirmation. Each meeting the leader would begin with a prayer of thanksgiving for all the souls who like them had found the right path and a prayer for forgiveness for all who had strayed. Within the congregation the warmth that only confidence can supply overflowed.

As it turns out, one day while trimming his well maintained lawn, the man suffered a heart attack and died. His impending death was confusing to the man at first. The feeling of a fist stuck in his chest, piercing pain radiating down one arm, followed by a slow fade to nothingness. Despite all he had read and heard about the promise of death and life everlasting, the man was afraid.

Much to his relief we awoke in heaven. Surprisingly enough heaven seemed a lot like his home. The angel in charge brought him to a neatly maintained tastefully decorated home in a community of people who seemed to be remarkably like him. Every day at the appointed hour all would join in a large structure greeting each other with broad smiles, handshakes and words of encouragement and reaffirmation. The room was spacious and well appointed with a large lobby at the rear for greeting and a large common room for assembly, at the back of the room where three doors.

Once all had assembled the angel in charge came through the first door with a man who looked a lot like the man though Jesus must look like. The assembly would shout praise waving their hands and the man who looked like Jesus would walk through the assembly giving out high-fives. Once this was done the angel and the man who looked like Jesus would exit through the second door.

The man persisted in his blissful existence for his first eternity but as he entered his second he began to harbor a strange feeling. It started as a passing notion but as the endless days of his eternal existence moved forward the notion formed into doubt and the doubt into a nagging question. You see every day at the appointed hour the angel in charge entered the meeting place through the first door with the man who looked like Jesus and exited through the second door but the man had never seen anyone enter or exit through the third door.

For most of his first eternity he hadn?t even noticed. When he did notice he had assumed it was a door to a closet but now well into his second eternity he could no longer square this assumption. Why in heaven, where all that you need is eternally available, would God require storage space?

The man was not accustomed to nagging questions, all his life and through his first eternity in heaven any notion of doubt had been quickly erased each time he met with his congregation of believers and their broad smiles, handshakes and words of encouragement and affirmation. Doubt was a sign of weakness; weakness caused people to stray from the right path. The man did not want to stray so he prayed as well as he could for God to grant him the strength of resolve and remove these doubts from his mind.

Yet the doubts persisted and the question began to consume all his waking moments. Others in the community began to notice his obvious distress and before too long word of his condition was brought to the angel in charge who summoned the man at once to the meeting place.

Once inside the angel gently confronted the man, ?What is wrong, why are you unhappy?? The man replied, ?I am not unhappy, I just have a question? The angel replied, ?Don?t you know that in heaven all your questions will be answered?? ?Even questions about heaven?? the man asked. ?Yes?, replied the angel. ?What?s behind the third door?? asked the man. ?I have been here for over one eternity and I have never seen anyone enter or leave through that door, what is it for??

The angel replied, ?I can tell you but I must warn you, you will not like the answer?

?But, I know in my heart that I must know? said the man in a rather weak voice

?Once you know the answer you will be compelled to open the door and once you open the door nothing will be the same,? warned the angel.

?I can?t face spending another eternity not knowing, feeling this way, I would rather know,? said the man his voice now a whisper.

?Are you sure,? pleaded the angel.

?Yes? croaked the man

?Very well, the third door is the door of truth. Anyone who opens it will instantly know the truth but I warn you once opened, things will never be the same?

?How can the truth be bad?? asked the man.

?You will see, the door is unlocked, enter if you wish,?

The man stood in front of the door for a long while considering what he might do, ?the door of truth? he thought, ?why would opening this door change everything?? In the end it came down to eternity stricken by doubt against the risk that knowing the truth would change everything.

The man opened the door and at once discovered?.

He was not in heaven