Where Is Heaven? A Response to Sam Harris

A clip surfaced of Sam Harris from a recent interview he did on Triggernometry where he expressed incredulity about the apparent absurdity of the idea of “heaven”, given that we have telescopes and satellites that have never observed it. In this video I respond to that sort of literalism and confusion about what heaven means from an ancient and symbolic perspective.

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Timestamps:
00:00:00 - Start
00:01:45 - Intro music
00:02:10 - The ancient worldview
00:03:05 - Heaven and the invisible
00:06:55 - Earth
00:10:34 - Perception and analogy

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My intro was arranged and recorded by Matthew Wilkinson.

[telosbound]

Sam Harris finally went full Reddit mode 😂😂

[OrchinX]

Always enlightening, thank you Jonathan. I wish the American Protestantism most of us knew in our youth as "Christianity" had the capacity for this. Many intelligent people could've skipped a very embarrassing atheist phase if their Christian friends had answers like these to a question like "where is God, exactly?"

[MisterMunkki]

It is quite honorable to patiently give intelligent answers to stupid questions x)

[DerekJFiedler]

Not the most shining moment. Yet it prompted an illuminating talk. Thank you, Jonathan.

[MIbra]

I don't know Sam personally and I have not read his work. I have just seen some talks and interviews. Based on those I feel that when he talks about religion, at least sometimes, he doesn't seem to come from a place of love, as in wanting the good for the other, but rather from a place of resentment.

[chrisc]

I always used to use the line "...a sophisticated concept of God, as opposed to new atheist xyz, who thinks Christians believe if they ride a space shuttle far enough they'll look out the window and see an old man on a cloud"

_this was supposed to be a sarcastic caricature_

[mercurymachines]

Sam said a lot of ridiculous stuff in that interview but what he said about Heaven was absolutely hilarious... I can't believe that actually came out of his mouth.

[faithfulandfoolish]

This video was wonderful; but I don't understand why we feel the need to dignify Sam with a response at all anymore, since he's basically gone fully into uncharitable troll mode. But I get it, we all do what Sam does to varying degrees, whether by petty resentment or lazy/inherited habit. Its good for us all to be reminded of the broader reality of these things! So basically, thank you Sam! 😉and Jonathan!

[bananas]

I made the same argument Sam made literally when I was in kindergarten. My reasoning was that God can't possibly exist because there's no oxygen in space, so even if he is up there, he must be dead

[krotchtine]

I always think, "why don't we see heaven through the telescope?", is a lot like asking why we don't see ourselves playing the video game when our character looks up.

[davebarbadillo]

Dear Jonathan. This explanation is absolutely superb. Thanks.

[timothymeadows]

I think Sam Harris reveals the religious nature of the devout atheist. He came off as very mechanical and closed minded when he talked to Jordan Peterson.

[marybrewer]

I had this beautiful experience the first time I rode in an airplane. Little by little, my perspective changed, until the very dimensional quality of what I saw below was markedly different. It was something I’ll never forget.

[sentjojo]

Wow, I was recently struggling with the idea of the bodily assumption of Mary. I didn't understand why it was necessary or why we should believe it happened. But this video made it click in my head.

Her body was necessary for our salvation. Her body was the body that brought us the incarnation. So it only makes sense that her body would "ascend" to heaven, her body is the New Testament holy of holies, and the new Eve. In the same way that our physical bodies descend from Adam and Eve, our salvation descends from the new Adam (Christ) and the new Eve (Mary).

It's like I knew all of this but couldn't fit it together. I hope I'm understanding it correctly

[torinmccabe]

What helps me is to recognize the diversity of humanity. There were science minded people in the past and how they understood God was not literal but rather as a "prime mover" who setup the Universe and/or as "the nature of being" (something very close to Sam's near worship of consciousness). These people existed alongside the more literal (salt of the earth church goers) and metaphorical (Carl Jung) believers of religion and those to which is was experiential (song, awe). All these types used to sit together in the broader church. Secular modernity seems to have torn us all apart and we can no longer understand how these different types of people have different views of God, religion, politics, etc.

[MoreChrist]

Very helpful, as ever. I watched this and Benjamin Boyce's solid critique of Sam Harris today.

There's also the element of heaven being beyond time, matter, and space. (Which already points to the limits of language in suggesting something spatial)... So these strawmen arguments positing heaven as a 'superthing', to channel PVK, miss that as well.

[kethby]

Get em buddy, I was baptized in these atheistic heros before I saw the light. Now these arguments are so widely accepted despite being so trivial and it is nice to see some playful pushback. I appreciate ya. And cheers from TO

[PsychoBible]

Man, materialism really has made us dumber.

[dicaxersatz]

Based on his consistent characterization of Christians as childish thinkers, I have reached the definitive conclusion that Sam is no longer (if he ever was) acting in good faith when he discusses atheism. It’s baffling how a person who is capable of thinking in complex terms with regard to other topics can only rigidly adhere to the most basic and concrete conceptualization s if anything approach inc metaphysics much less the concept of God.

I wish Sam all the luck in the world in finding a scientific basis for morality. If only it were that simple! It’s the definition of a fool’s errand. On the other hand, he could find himself at God’s doorstep at the end if his philosophical journey. Perhaps he should save himself time and read chapter 1 of Mere Christianity?

[WarInHeaven]

I think this corner of the internet forgets most people are still at this point. In fact in America it’s probably a majority think in this paradigm