Heaven Has No Class

I ended up back at Camp Tall Turf counseling for the last session. I have not counseled since 1996. Life has really come full circle for me here. But because of my isolation in a camp setting I have little access to the news for these 10 days and other media that pique my interest to write something about.

Tonight, however, I was discussing the New Heavens and the New Earth found in Revelation 21 with the campers in my cabin and came across the verse where God on his throne offers the everlasting drink and specifically mentions it will be without cost.

I have heard that this may be alluding to a "heaven" without a class system. No rich. No poor. Just God's people taking only that which they need and none of what they don't need. There is no greed and no need for an economic system to distribute the food and resources. My third grade teacher once asked if the world could live without money and I remember being the one who impulsively raise my hand and said yes. She said said that greed and laziness would get in the way and I guess I was not thinking about the fallen world but the perfect world.

In a book I am reading concerning nonviolent social action as Jesus third way of dealing with conflict (as opposed to flight or fight), Walter Wink mentions that the nonviolent lifestyle is one that needs to live as if the person is already free from the oppressor. That is, they already live the goal they are trying to achieve. We know we are going to live with God and be like Jesus and so we do our best to live that here and now. Maybe we should start by simply taking what we need and nothing that we don't need.