🍿 Question Of ‘Eternity’: Which Heaven Is Right For Me? 🔌
Weekend Plug-in 🔌
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You die and go to … well, it’s complicated.
You wake up on a train. At the station, you follow the crowd. You connect with your afterlife coordinator.
You have a week to decide where to spend eternity.
And, by the way, your wife of 65 years must choose between you and her first husband — a war hero who’s waited 67 years to see her again.
That’s the intriguing plot of “Eternity,” a new romantic comedy starring Miles Teller, Elizabeth Olsen and Callum Turner.
READ: ‘Eternity’ Digs Up A Rom-Com That’s Got A Problem With The Afterlife
“The afterlife has always fascinated people,” Religion Unplugged’s own Joseph Holmes noted in his recent film review.
“While organized religion is on the decline, more Americans believe in an afterlife today than they have since the 1970s,” Holmes wrote. “So it’s inevitable that we would start to see more creative interpretations of the death — and what happens after — in the stories we tell, unmoored by the need to be faithful to religious tradition.”
Elizabeth Olsen’s character must choose between her two dead husbands — Callum Turner and Miles Teller — in the “Eternity” movie. (Photo courtesy of film studio A24)
• • •
RATED PG-13, “Eternity” is far from perfect, as Holmes’ review makes clear.
Still, I found the concept fun and entertaining, except for a few brief Hollywood cringeworthy moments.
The movie — which my 26-year-old daughter, Kendall, invited me to see with her — certainly made me think.
As a Christian, I believe in heaven.
But like a lot of believers, I lack a clear idea of what to expect. And I’m in no hurry to go.
As Kenny Chesney sang in his 2008 No. 1 country hit, “Everybody wanna go to heaven. But nobody wanna go now.”
For theologians, N.T. Wright’s 2007 book “Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection and the Mission of the Church” sparked ongoing debate over the nature of heaven.
“If there is a new earth, what kind of bodies will we have?” my friend Jeremie Beller, Bible dean at Oklahoma Christian University, said of the questions raised. “What is the implication on things like marriage?
“Interestingly,” Beller added, “the movie sounds like a modern spin on the question the Sadducees asked of Jesus in Matthew 22:23-33: ‘Whose wife will she be?’”
My friend Trey Morgan, a preacher in Lubbock, Texas, said: “I personally don’t think my relationship with my wife will decrease in heaven, just change. It won’t be a marriage in heaven as it is on earth but somehow different.”
Morgan is OK with that.
“While I don’t understand what heaven will be like exactly,” he said, “I can find comfort knowing that God who designed the wonders of my marriage is who designed heaven as well.”
Heaven isn’t about being with earthly spouses, as my friend Bill Robinson, a domestic missionary in New York City, sees it.
It’s about being with Jesus.
“The glory of that world won’t be the resolution of all our earthly storylines but the joy of being fully healed, fully transformed and fully at home with the One who loved us first,” Robinson said.
A husband and wife — played by Miles Teller and Elizabeth Olsen — explore an afterlife in Beach World in the “Eternity” movie. (Photo courtesy of film studio A24)
• • •
ONE OF THE FASCINATING aspects of “Eternity”: Each person picks the afterlife theme that fits them.
Options range from the Pearly Gates Classic Edition to Smokers World (because cigarettes can’t kill you twice).
Among others: America World. Beach World. Catholic World. Clown World. Corporate World. Infantile World. Medical World. Museum World. Muslim World. No Men World. Outdoor World. Paris World. Protestant World. Romance World. Space World. Weimar World (Without Nazis). Wine World.
But be careful: If you choose the wrong one, you can’t simply say “Oops!” and ask for a do-over.
“You’d probably pick Texas Rangers World,” my daughter suggested.
That sounds about right.
Bobby Ross Jr., far right, at a Texas Rangers game with his daughter Kendall, daughter-in-law Paige and son Keaton. (Photo provided by Bobby Ross Jr.)
Others that might be fun to visit:
• Best Days World: I’d love to relive the day I met my wife, the day we got married and the days our children were born. I’d love to relive my first Texas Rangers game, my first time tasting the cheese sauce at my favorite Tex-Mex restaurant and my best Christmas with my parents, grandparents, siblings and cousins.
• Hallmark Christmas World: I already found my true love, but I’d love to help save a small-town cookie company from takeover by a big national corporation and welcome a snow-trapped royal family to an obscure village in New England. In fact, I’d love to enjoy a slightly different version of these same things year after year.
• Hound Dog World: I’d love to hear what my basset hound, Frannie, really thinks and learn more about what makes her droopy-eared breed so lazy and lovable.
Frannie enjoys time outside in her Oklahoma City neighborhood. (Photo by Tamie Ross)
• Newspaper World: I’d love to go back to an era when Sunday newspapers were 4 inches thick and landed on nearly every driveway — and people actually read them. (Maybe in the afterlife, the ink wouldn’t leave black marks on your hands.)
• Role Play World: I’d love to enjoy a Hall of Fame baseball career. I’d love to be a famous country music singer and get invited to join the Grand Ole Opry. I’d love to write a best-selling novel renowned for its perfect prose.
I could go on, but I don’t have an “Eternity” to devote to this column.
If you’ve seen the movie, I’m curious to know what you thought and which afterlife you’d pick.
You die and go to … where?
Inside The Godbeat
Next Friday, look for Weekend Plug-in’s annual review of the year’s best religion journalism.
Speaking of which, I’m still waiting for a few Godbeat pros to share their favorite and/or best story of 2025 with me.
I look forward to hearing from you!
The Final Plug
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Happy Friday, everyone! Enjoy the weekend.
Bobby Ross Jr. writes the Weekend Plug-in column for Religion Unplugged and serves as editor-in-chief of The Christian Chronicle. A former religion writer for The Associated Press and The Oklahoman, Ross has reported from all 50 states and 20 nations. He has covered religion since 1999.