Chapter 8  Communities on the New Earth

‘That which does not kill us makes us stronger.’ Friedrich Nietzsche

Many have lived through hard times and then later realised that they have grown from the experience. We suggest that this process will continue until each and every person reaches maturity.

In our current lives, few boundaries are set on the actions we can take and the places we can go. Some are restricted by health and financial constraints and others by the laws or circumstances of their country, but in many aspects of our lives we are free to make our own decisions as to how and where we live.

We suggest that to encourage individuals to become more Christlike, small communities will be created on the new earth and boundaries will be set so that it will not be possible for a member of the community to leave. Because God is a good parent, we believe he would not wish for any of his children to live in a harsh or unpleasant environment, so every one of these communities will potentially be an agreeable place to live.  Each person will have their own accommodation and the opportunity to develop their interests and hobbies. Although people will no longer need food to stay alive, they will be encouraged to grow food and share meals with their neighbours. Eating will still be fulfilling, and mealtimes will have the potential to be enjoyable and relational.

Everyone, both male and female, will have the same strength and physical ability, but each person will retain their own individual and unique characteristics. People will have much less to fear, as the animals will not harm them and their physical bodies will recover from any injury. The communities will be prevented from mixing to avoid the possibility of one attacking or exploiting another. However, people will still have the potential to suffer if others in their community cause them physical or emotional harm.

Each time a person suffers they will be challenged on how they respond. These challenges will offer the chance to grow in maturity. Many exchanges will be difficult and even painful at first, as everyone will continue to act out their destructive ways and attitudes until they see them as futile and let them go. This is how we envisage the chastisement (judgement) of God taking place on the new earth.

There are many references in the New Testament to the resurrection of the dead and God’s judgement (for example, John 5:28-29, Acts 17:31 and 24:15 and Romans 2:5-10). Jesus’ parables often incorporate a warning about God’s judgement, such as the parable of the sheep and the goats (Matthew 25:31-46). Whilst these scriptures can appear stern and unsettling, we believe they are ultimately very good news for everyone. Don’t be alarmed by the English translations that say some will experience eternal punishment; a better translation is that some will receive chastisement for a period.

Love always seeks the benefit of those who are loved, but it cannot do this effectively without establishing boundaries. Boundaries are the limits that love sets as damage limitation on our twisted desires, destructive ways and rebellious actions. God cannot love creation into abundant life without at some point establishing these limits, just as any loving parent does for the good of their children.

The chastisement of God is, in fact, proof that God loves us (Hebrews 12:6). If God didn’t care about us, there would be no need for him to bother about boundaries, chastisement or justice. We believe it is crucial to hold the two fundamental concepts of God’s love and justice together – and never to separate them, as is so often the case in Christian theology. God is perfectly capable of enforcing boundaries and bringing forth restorative justice that will eventually benefit everyone.

Our book, Hope for Everyone, describes in detail how Jesus places individuals in tailor-made scenarios that bring about chastisement, fiery trials, painful lessons and even weeping and gnashing of teeth. This is not God being vindictive, but rather his means of showing us the self-made consequences of our destructive actions and attitudes. Just as in parenting, sometimes ‘punishment’ is simply allowing consequences to play out so that lessons can be learned.

All of this hardship is God’s way of pruning back all that is diseased and dead in order to bring healing as people mature. For example, Yuri in Hope for Everyone is a hardened Russian gangster who dealt in drugs and abused and prostituted vulnerable young women. He knew little of agape love during his lifetime, and when he is raised from the dead he hurls abuse at Jesus when he is welcomed by him. Jesus places Yuri in a community of men from similar backgrounds, and it is not too long before they work out that violence is futile in a world where injuries heal and adversaries cannot be killed. Yuri goes on a journey through successive periods (jubilees) in different communities and eventually, after all manner of trials, begins to open his heart to God’s love for him.

We believe that people will have to face up to the wrongs they did and the people they hurt and take responsibility for their actions. In the fullness of the ages, people will be judged and chastised, but also restored and reconciled. For us, it’s a case of the inseparability of God’s love and his justice, rather than just one or the other. Surgery can be extremely painful, but it is always for the benefit of the one ‘under the knife’.

The communities we describe are places where healing can take place, however quickly or haltingly this may be. God has created humans to be naturally sociable and ‘interdividual’; we exist in relationship to ourselves, each other, God and the environment around us. Because most of us find it difficult to form relationships with more than one hundred other people, we suggest that these communities will consist of no more than two hundred individuals and often considerably fewer. Small communities provide all the possibilities for developing the attributes of agape love, whilst at the same time making it difficult to become lost in the crowd.

In Hope for Everyone, we describe the journeys of four principal characters and their progress through different communities toward healing and an understanding of God’s unfailing love. Some take longer than others to come to maturity, based on their degree of openness to the healing process. We accept it is likely that some may resist reconciliation, and for them it will be a long and difficult journey. But however long it takes, we are convinced that each person will reach maturity. Jesus was clear that the work of judgement and chastisement will not fail. God’s fiery love for us will indeed bring everlasting change and reconciliation to all of creation (1 Corinthians 15: 20-26).

We believe God’s great plan is to bring into existence multitudes of his unique children, who will eventually learn to live in peace and harmony with one another, enjoying his wonderful creation and knowing they are loved by their heavenly father. Jesus came to tell us this good news and to demonstrate a life of agape love here on Earth. God is working even now to bring this good news to his children, so that we might begin to know his unfailing love in this life. Though many still toil under the weight of their destructive ways and twisted desires, God’s loving boundaries and chastisement will ensure that no one will continue to suffer in this way for forever.