Faith is more than just me and Jesus

There’s a Twilight Zone episode called, “A Nice Place to Visit.” This episode first aired on April 15, 1960. The quick synopsis of the show is that the main character, Henry Francis “Rocky” Valentine gets shot while robbing a pawn shop. When he wakes up, he is greeted by a respectable man named Pip, who guides him around, shows him to a beautiful apartment where he is told he’ll be staying from on, and explains to Rocky that he can have anything we wants — anything at all. Rocky is initially skeptical but comes to believe what Pip is telling him. He has a grand time — he wins at gambling, he wishes for beautiful women and they just show up, he asks for riches and they appear. Life is great! This goes on for a while and eventually Rocky calls Pip to tell him that he is bored. Everything he wants, he gets — there is no challenge and no surprise. Pip tells him that only Rocky and he are real in this place — that Rocky is really all alone, everyone else is just a figment of his imagination. By this time, Rocky realizes he is dead and says that he doesn’t think that heaven is for him and asks Pip if it can be arranged for him to try “the other place.” And finally Pip tells Rocky: “Heaven? Whatever gave you the idea you were in Heaven, Mr. Valentine? This is the other place! “ The episode ends with Pip laughing malevolently as he watches Rocky try to escape his paradise.

The episode offers some great theological questions for the viewer to ponder. Some think that heaven is getting your own mansion away from everyone and getting an endless supply of…