Believers believe. Believers don't know. Believers would like to know but can live with not knowing. That is not to say that believers are stupid or foolish or are prime candidates to buy the Brooklyn Bridge. It is simply to say that believing is better than not believing; having faith, even a weak faith, is better than having no faith at all.
People of faith, for example, believe that there is life in death, that resurrection to eternal life takes place when we die in this life. Believers have absolutely no idea what heaven is like, none whatsoever and are okay with that. If any believer says that she or he does, offer to sell him the Brooklyn Bridge and check her off your list of people to talk to when having doubts.
However, all believers, we, you and I, have some vision of what heaven, eternal life, is like. We try to imagine what it means to be raised up in death, to live forever, to be able to see God "face to face." We know, know, we will be totally surprised by what we will indeed experience in death, that our present vision will pale with what we will experience.
But we can live with both not knowing what eternal life is all about and knowing that we are in for the surprise of our lives. For in the final analysis having a false, silly or superficial vision of heaven is better than having no vision at all.
Some would object, of course, especially those who do not believe. But that's all right. That is their problem, their problem. But, in a very real way, it is also our problem. We believers have an obligation to share our belief with unbelievers. But the essence of our faith is resurrection in death to eternal life. How do we convey what we believe to another when we have no way of describing what we believe except to echo Paul and say that our minds can neither imagine it nor explain it?
What we do is try even as we fail; and fail we will. We will never be able to give more than a silly or superficial vision of heaven and the one or ones we do give will, of course, always be false. But it is not our inability to explain the unexplainable that is the issue. What is is that we have enough faith to defend the unexplainable and do it not by words but by deeds. We explain our faith in eternal life by living out our faith as fully as we can in this life.
What keeps us going is our willingness to accept that our vision of life in death, no matter how silly, superficial or false, is better than no vision at all. That vision encourages us when we doubt and fills us to overflowing when we are at the top of our faith. That vision is also what encourages those who do not believe whether we believe it or not.
If we have any doubts, consider Paul who taught his faith by living his faith and not by explaining it. Yes, he tried. But in the end he knew that the only proof of what he taught and believed was the life he lived. That was enough for him and that, in the end, is enough for us.
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