Is Heaven a Place?
Making Sense of Biblical Stories in the Twenty-First Century
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With the aim of helping us insert our faith values into our ordinary lives, we must make changes in the way we are taught, and specifically how we teach our teenagers; to help us to feel worthy of God’s abiding love! By centering attitudes on events which make sense to us in our present world, not the world of 2000 years ago, it will be much more likely that we will accept a faith which proclaims living for the benefit of others, and turn away from self-centeredness.
For young people to embrace their faith, we must make the Gospels come to life in their world of experience! They need to know that transformative love is not an emotion; it is the foundation upon which Christianity is built. Unless we find a better way to help them understand this virtue, our precious Gospels may end up being debunked as fodder for the ignorant by our young adults, including secularists and agnostics.
Priests and Ministers need to stop accenting our sinfulness because doing so makes us feel unworthy of God’s love; in fact, Catholics recite that they are unworthy before receiving Communion. Yes, everyone is a sinner, but when we are reminded only of our sinfulness, we are made to believe we are causing the pain and suffering Jesus endured. Would it not be much more beneficial to all, if we were reminded that Jesus suffered for us in order to teach us how deeply He loves us!
Unfortunately, traditional ways of interpreting Scripture leads many people to believe that prayers are only answered by God when the person is worthy of what they are praying for. For them, prayers that are not answered “prove” the person praying is not worthy. There are many ways our prayers are answered, but not always in the way we expected them to be answered.
how we teach our teenagers; to help us to feel worthy of God’s abiding love! By centering attitudes on events which make sense to us in our present world, not the world of 2000 years ago, it will be much more likely that we will accept a faith which proclaims living for the benefit of others, and turn away from self-centeredness. For young people to embrace their faith, we must make the Gospels come to life in their world of experience! They need to know that transformative love is not an emotion; it is the foundation upon which Christianity is built. Unless we find a better way to help them understand this virtue, our precious Gospels may end up being debunked as fodder for the ignorant by our young adults, including secularists and agnostics. Priests and Ministers need to stop accenting our sinfulness because doing so makes us feel unworthy of God’s love; in fact, Catholics recite that they are unworthy before receiving Communion. Yes, everyone is a sinner, but when we are reminded only of our sinfulness, we are made to believe we are causing the pain and suffering Jesus endured. Would it not be much more beneficial to all, if we were reminded that Jesus suffered for us in order to teach us how deeply He loves us! Unfortunately, traditional ways of interpreting Scripture leads many people to believe that prayers are only answered by God when the person is worthy of what they are praying for. For them, prayers that are not answered “prove” the person praying is not worthy. There are many ways our prayers are answered, but not always in the way we expected them to be answered.
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About the Book
Technological advances evolve at an astonishing rate, and this new appreciation of science is forcing many to abandon faith values entirely. Social media distributes a wide array of information, including secular ideals that have limited or no validity. Traditional faith values are being lost because they are perceived as having no valid application in today’s society.
In Is Heaven a Place?, author Dr. Richard B. Fratianne offers a new look into selected passages of the Bible to help Christians of all faiths gain a deeper insight into the modern application of the words and actions of Jesus and the prophets. By viewing Biblical stories and events as metaphors, he shows how to live faith values effectively in this emerging, technology driven, and progressively unethical society.
Taking a more meaningful look at the Bible, Is Heaven a Place? re-energizes Christians, especially young adults, in their faith practice and enhances the spiritual energy of their lives. Fratianne presents modern applications to scriptures meant to stimulate thought, reflection, and prayer by all religious leaders and lay people.
About the Author
Richard B. Fratianne, MD, is Emeritus Professor of Surgery at Case Western Reserve University and Director Emeritus of the Comprehensive Burn Care Center at The MetroHealth Medical Center, Cleveland, Ohio, which he founded in 1969. He continues to serve as coordinator of the Aftercare Programs for Burn Survivors for both children and adults. Fratianne and his wife of sixty-two years, Mary, have five children, nine grandchildren, and one great- granddaughter.