Journal: Global Journal of Classical Theology
Volume: GJCT 20:3 (Mar 2024)
Article: A Note From Our Editor: “Believer’s Heaven—Plus Coda 1 And 2”
Author: John Warwick Montgomery

A Note From Our Editor: “Believer’s Heaven—Plus Coda 1 And 2”

John Warwick Montgomery

This will be my final issue of the Global Journal as its founding editor—after more than twenty years of hard (but very pleasant) labor. The baton passes to Adam Francisco, who possesses an Oxford D.Phil., reminding me of a former colleague who used to twit me by saying, “Sure, you have a dozen degrees, including three earned doctorates, but mine is from Oxford.” The Global Journal’s orientation will not change; it will remain a non-confessional but evangelical paper, with Reformation/Lutheran bias, open to scholarly contributors of all persuasions.

I am now in the final decade of my life. On 18 October, I became 92 years of age. The only consolation was that I managed to exceed my father’s longevity (he died at 91). Father, unlike me, was a sportsman and outdoor fellow who always seemed to regard me as a bit of a wimp, addicted as I have consistently been to scholarly pursuits. Thus, my exceeding his lifespan gave me perverse satisfaction.

Now that heaven approaches, I am giving some thought to how it works. A recent—and apparently final—number (20, titled Supermalt1) of the Belgian-French cartoon series “Du côté de chez Poje” faced the matter in stark terms. (We shall here provide a short, summary translation.)

(Poje, the owner of a popular neighborhood bistro, is in conversation with one of his colorful clients.)

Client: “I am troubled by the thought of dying. It’s not death that bothers me; it’s what may come afterwards.”

Poje: “You’re not the only one troubled by this.”

Client: “Suppose that during your whole life you have served a God, but not the true one. Imagine a Christian finding himself suddenly face-to-face with Allah. Imagine a Jew, on dying, being confronted by the Buddha. In these cases, the poor dead person would be condemned to wander eternity without hope. THIS is what gives me the goosebumps! The lesson is clear: we had better make the right choice—not a wrong one.”

Poje: “But suppose—I am just saying ‘suppose’—there is nothing after death: absolutely nothing, zero, the void.”

Client: “Yup, that would certainly simplify things … But suppose—I am just saying ‘suppose’—there really is something after death …”

(Later; Poje and his wife are in bed.)

Wife: “What’s the matter?”

Poje: “I’ve got a real case of the jitters. My customer was right: we don’t reflect enough on these eternal matters. Suppose there really is life after death?”

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