Martian Visitor IX

A MARTIAN EXAMINES CHRISTIANITY by Arthur Levett, Page 60
Chapter IX The Martian Inquires As To Everlasting Life “ Will you tell me now something more about this everlasting life to which you have referred? ” asked the Martian. “ So far as our experience has gone, it points to the fact that everything must die and disintegrate at the end of its allotted span of life; man, the lower animals, the plants, the rocks, the universe itself, all are more or less progressing towards the end, to be resolved into their elements which then combine into other forms. But that, I take it, is not what you mean by everlasting life? ” “ Oh, not at all,” said the Modernist. “ However much I may disagree with my friends here on other matters, we all of us firmly believe in God and in the immortality of the soul. That is what we understand by everlasting life.” “ You mean that your individuality continues to exist throughout the ages even after your body dies? ” “ Our souls, yes,” said the Priest. “ Our earthly bodies die and disintegrate and are resolved into their elements as you say; but our souls, our spirits, live on eternally.” “ And are judged by the Lord and either received into Heaven and eternally blessed, or condemned and sentenced to eternal damnation in Hell,” added the Fundamentalist. Page 61 “ And where are this Heaven and this Hell, as you call them? ” asked the Martian. “ Heaven is the abiding place of God and His angels.” “ His angels? ” questioned the Martian. “ Yes,” said the Priest. “ Angels are bodiless spirits created to adore and enjoy God in Heaven.” “ And also the spirits of the departed that have been judged worthy of being received into the presence of God,” added the Fundamentalist. “ Hell is the abiding place of those souls that are condemned.” “ Yes, I know,” said the Martian, “ but where are these places located? ” “ Heaven is up above,” said the Priest. “ Up above? ” echoed the Martian. “ We Martians know there is neither above nor below in space; that what is ‘ up’ to you would be what you would call ‘ down’ to your people on the opposite side of your planet. We have never heard of this place you call Heaven.” “ Heaven,” said the Fundamentalist, “ might be a few miles away and you would not know it, for our souls cannot find it until our bodies have died.” “ Then how do you know that it exists at all? ” asked the Martian. “ Because the Bible tells us so.” “ And we have also the word of our holy fathers of the Church, who were inspired of God,” added the Priest. “ Is Heaven or Hell described in any other place than in this book? ” asked the Martian. “ No,” said the Priest, “ that is the only place.” “ And where in this book is this Heaven described? ” “ Here,” said the Fundamentalist, “ in the Apocalypse of St. John the Divine.” Page 62 “ And Hell is also there described? ” “ It is.” “ So these departed souls,” interrogated the Martian, “ have the capacity of enjoyment in Heaven or suffering in Hell, though they have no material bodies, no brain, no nerves, no organs of sense? ” “ Yes,” said the Priest, “ because they retain their earthly individuality.” The Martian spoke thoughtfully: “ We on the planet Mars assume that an individual’s personality is betokened by his mental attributes. He is bright, clever, alert; dull, foolish, or sluggish; he is kind, generous, benevolent; unkind, selfish, or malevolent. We have ascertained that whatever attributes he may possess, they are due to the character of his mentality. This, in turn, is determined by his physical attributes. We have found that a chemical change in his organism will oftentimes cause an entire change in one’s personality. Do you say that this same personality persists although the body has disintegrated at death? ” “ Yes,” said the Priest, “ as I have explained. The manifestations emanating from the brain do indicate one’s personality, but the personality simply uses the brain as a vehicle through which it finds expression.” “ I think I get your idea,” said the Martian, “ and when the body, including the brain, dies, then the personality departs.” “ That’s it,” said the Priest, “ just as one would escape from a falling house.” “ Then the soul is the same when it leaves the body at death as when it comes into it at birth? ” “ Not at all,” said the Priest. “ The soul develops as the child grows. It has a free will, and can choose between good and evil, and also as to how it will develop. It is the master of its fate.” Page 63 “ And your religion teaches you that you will meet your dear ones who have gone before you to this Heaven? ” asked the Martian. “ Yes,” said the Fundamentalist, “ we will be reunited for ever. There will be no parting there. We will be for ever relieved from the cares and trouble of this world; we will be with our loved ones and enjoy with them eternal bliss.” “ Of what will this bliss consist? ” asked the Martian. “ Why,” said the Fundamentalist, “ we will live in love and peace; we will chant the praises of God and be happy in His presence.” “ Will there be nothing else for you to do? No work, no occupation, no deeds to accomplish? ” “ Oh, yes; we, as emissaries of the Lord, will guard and safe-keep our loved ones and other good people on earth.” “ But your god would not need you for this if, as you have told me, he is omniscient and omnipotent. As an infinite being he could obviously be everywhere at once.” “ Our God entrusts some of these duties to His angels,” said the Fundamentalist. “ And to the saints,” added the Priest, “ who frequently intercede with God in our behalf and plead with Him to grant our prayers.” “ You mean,” asked the Martian, “ they direct your god’s attention to points in your favour that He might otherwise overlook? ” “ Oh no! He grants the requests of the Holy Virgin and the blessed saints who intercede for us because of their purity and perfection and because of the great and holy work done by these saints when they were on earth.” Page 64 “ And do these angels of whom you have spoken guide the affairs of the universe? ” “ To an extent, yes,” said the Fundamentalist. “ They act as the messengers of God in answering prayers offered up by those on earth.” “ And they are eternally happy, are they? ” “ Eternally happy, yes,” said the Fundamentalist. “ Then they do not know of the suffering that goes on on earth? ” “ Oh, yes,” said the Fundamentalist, “ but they know that it is only temporary.” “ They also know that some of those on earth will not be accepted into Heaven and will suffer through eternity, do they not? ” “ Yes.” “ Would you be happy under such circumstances? ” asked the Martian. “ I believe in justice, and these people would not be sent to Hell unless they deserved it,” said the Fundamentalist. “ You would have pity for them, would you not; and if you had a profound pity, could you be happy? ” “ No, I could not have pity for them if they had been wicked and had rejected God,” said the Fundamentalist. “ Very well,” said the Martian. “ You have made it clear. Now, when a child is accepted into Heaven does it progress there or remain a child? ” “ I presume it develops just the same as its soul would develop here.” “ You say, however, it would not have the trials and tribulations which are sent to you on earth to form your character.” “ Well, its character would develop some way,” answered the Fundamentalist. Page 65 “ I am frank to state that we are not sure about this. God did not tell us this in His Book, and I am only expressing my belief. It may be that the child rests as a child in Heaven.” “ And that would be true even if it were an infant not yet able to speak? ” “ Yes, I presume so.” “ I would like to understand further,” said the Martian. “ Suppose a mother of a five-year-old child died at the age of, say, twenty-five years. If the child lived a good life would it be reunited after its death to its mother in Heaven? ” “ Yes,” said the Fundamentalist, “ and it is a wonderful thing.” The Martian continued: “ Suppose the child grew up and did not die until it was seventy-five years old. May I inquire whether its soul would appear in Heaven as the five-year-old child in order to be reunited to its mother, or would the mother of twenty-five welcome her child of seventy-five? ” “ Their souls would be united. It would not make any difference how old they were,” answered the Fundamentalist. “ But the soul of the child of five would have entirely changed, would it not, into the soul of the adult of seventy-five? ” “ I keep telling you,” said the Fundamentalist, “ that the mother’s soul would be reunited with the child’s soul, and that age would not count.” “ I see,” said the Martian. “ Now, if the child should turn out to be wicked, it would not be reunited with the mother.” “ No,” said the Fundamentalist, “ it would be condemned.” Page 66 “ Yet the mother, you say, in Heaven, would have eternal happiness knowing that her child was suffering in Hell, is that it? ” “ Well,” said the Fundamentalist, “ we have no right to delve too deeply into God’s mysteries. It is something that we ought not to think about.” Chapter X The Martian Examines The Moral Precepts Of Christianity Chapter VIII The Martian Examines The Characters of The Christian Saviour Home: Chapter I The Martian Visits The Earth

A MARTIAN EXAMINES CHRISTIANITY by Arthur Levett, Page 60

Chapter IX
The Martian Inquires
As To Everlasting Life
“ Will you tell me now something more about this everlasting life to which you have referred? ” asked the Martian. “ So far as our experience has gone, it points to the fact that everything must die and disintegrate at the end of its allotted span of life; man, the lower animals, the plants, the rocks, the universe itself, all are more or less progressing towards the end, to be resolved into their elements which then combine into other forms. But that, I take it, is not what you mean by everlasting life? ”
“ Oh, not at all,” said the Modernist. “ However much I may disagree with my friends here on other matters, we all of us firmly believe in God and in the immortality of the soul. That is what we understand by everlasting life.”
“ You mean that your individuality continues to exist throughout the ages even after your body dies? ”
“ Our souls, yes,” said the Priest. “ Our earthly bodies die and disintegrate and are resolved into their elements as you say; but our souls, our spirits, live on eternally.”
“ And are judged by the Lord and either received into Heaven and eternally blessed, or condemned and sentenced to eternal damnation in Hell,” added the Fundamentalist.

Page 61
“ And where are this Heaven and this Hell, as you call them? ” asked the Martian.
“ Heaven is the abiding place of God and His angels.”
“ His angels? ” questioned the Martian.
“ Yes,” said the Priest. “ Angels are bodiless spirits created to adore and enjoy God in Heaven.”
“ And also the spirits of the departed that have been judged worthy of being received into the presence of God,” added the Fundamentalist. “ Hell is the abiding place of those souls that are condemned.”
“ Yes, I know,” said the Martian, “ but where are these places located? ”
“ Heaven is up above,” said the Priest.
“ Up above? ” echoed the Martian. “ We Martians know there is neither above nor below in space; that what is ‘ up’ to you would be what you would call ‘ down’ to your people on the opposite side of your planet. We have never heard of this place you call Heaven.”
“ Heaven,” said the Fundamentalist, “ might be a few miles away and you would not know it, for our souls cannot find it until our bodies have died.”
“ Then how do you know that it exists at all? ” asked the Martian.
“ Because the Bible tells us so.”
“ And we have also the word of our holy fathers of the Church, who were inspired of God,” added the Priest.
“ Is Heaven or Hell described in any other place than in this book? ” asked the Martian.
“ No,” said the Priest, “ that is the only place.”
“ And where in this book is this Heaven described? ”
“ Here,” said the Fundamentalist, “ in the Apocalypse of St. John the Divine.”

Page 62
“ And Hell is also there described? ”
“ It is.”
“ So these departed souls,” interrogated the Martian, “ have the capacity of enjoyment in Heaven or suffering in Hell, though they have no material bodies, no brain, no nerves, no organs of sense? ”
“ Yes,” said the Priest, “ because they retain their earthly individuality.”
The Martian spoke thoughtfully: “ We on the planet Mars assume that an individual’s personality is betokened by his mental attributes. He is bright, clever, alert; dull, foolish, or sluggish; he is kind, generous, benevolent; unkind, selfish, or malevolent. We have ascertained that whatever attributes he may possess, they are due to the character of his mentality. This, in turn, is determined by his physical attributes. We have found that a chemical change in his organism will oftentimes cause an entire change in one’s personality. Do you say that this same personality persists although the body has disintegrated at death? ”
“ Yes,” said the Priest, “ as I have explained. The manifestations emanating from the brain do indicate one’s personality, but the personality simply uses the brain as a vehicle through which it finds expression.”
“ I think I get your idea,” said the Martian, “ and when the body, including the brain, dies, then the personality departs.”
“ That’s it,” said the Priest, “ just as one would escape from a falling house.”
“ Then the soul is the same when it leaves the body at death as when it comes into it at birth? ”
“ Not at all,” said the Priest. “ The soul develops as the child grows. It has a free will, and can choose between good and evil, and also as to how it will develop. It is the master of its fate.”

Page 63
“ And your religion teaches you that you will meet your dear ones who have gone before you to this Heaven? ” asked the Martian.
“ Yes,” said the Fundamentalist, “ we will be reunited for ever. There will be no parting there. We will be for ever relieved from the cares and trouble of this world; we will be with our loved ones and enjoy with them eternal bliss.”
“ Of what will this bliss consist? ” asked the Martian.
“ Why,” said the Fundamentalist, “ we will live in love and peace; we will chant the praises of God and be happy in His presence.”
“ Will there be nothing else for you to do? No work, no occupation, no deeds to accomplish? ”
“ Oh, yes; we, as emissaries of the Lord, will guard and safe-keep our loved ones and other good people on earth.”
“ But your god would not need you for this if, as you have told me, he is omniscient and omnipotent. As an infinite being he could obviously be everywhere at once.”
“ Our God entrusts some of these duties to His angels,” said the Fundamentalist.
“ And to the saints,” added the Priest, “ who frequently intercede with God in our behalf and plead with Him to grant our prayers.”
“ You mean,” asked the Martian, “ they direct your god’s attention to points in your favour that He might otherwise overlook? ”
“ Oh no! He grants the requests of the Holy Virgin and the blessed saints who intercede for us because of their purity and perfection and because of the great and holy work done by these saints when they were on earth.”

Page 64
“ And do these angels of whom you have spoken guide the affairs of the universe? ”
“ To an extent, yes,” said the Fundamentalist. “ They act as the messengers of God in answering prayers offered up by those on earth.”
“ And they are eternally happy, are they? ”
“ Eternally happy, yes,” said the Fundamentalist.
“ Then they do not know of the suffering that goes on on earth? ”
“ Oh, yes,” said the Fundamentalist, “ but they know that it is only temporary.”
“ They also know that some of those on earth will not be accepted into Heaven and will suffer through eternity, do they not? ”
“ Yes.”
“ Would you be happy under such circumstances? ” asked the Martian.
“ I believe in justice, and these people would not be sent to Hell unless they deserved it,” said the Fundamentalist.
“ You would have pity for them, would you not; and if you had a profound pity, could you be happy? ”
“ No, I could not have pity for them if they had been wicked and had rejected God,” said the Fundamentalist.
“ Very well,” said the Martian. “ You have made it clear. Now, when a child is accepted into Heaven does it progress there or remain a child? ”
“ I presume it develops just the same as its soul would develop here.”
“ You say, however, it would not have the trials and tribulations which are sent to you on earth to form your character.”
“ Well, its character would develop some way,” answered the Fundamentalist.

Page 65
“ I am frank to state that we are not sure about this. God did not tell us this in His Book, and I am only expressing my belief. It may be that the child rests as a child in Heaven.”
“ And that would be true even if it were an infant not yet able to speak? ”
“ Yes, I presume so.”
“ I would like to understand further,” said the Martian. “ Suppose a mother of a five-year-old child died at the age of, say, twenty-five years. If the child lived a good life would it be reunited after its death to its mother in Heaven? ”
“ Yes,” said the Fundamentalist, “ and it is a wonderful thing.”
The Martian continued: “ Suppose the child grew up and did not die until it was seventy-five years old. May I inquire whether its soul would appear in Heaven as the five-year-old child in order to be reunited to its mother, or would the mother of twenty-five welcome her child of seventy-five? ”
“ Their souls would be united. It would not make any difference how old they were,” answered the Fundamentalist.
“ But the soul of the child of five would have entirely changed, would it not, into the soul of the adult of seventy-five? ”
“ I keep telling you,” said the Fundamentalist, “ that the mother’s soul would be reunited with the child’s soul, and that age would not count.”
“ I see,” said the Martian. “ Now, if the child should turn out to be wicked, it would not be reunited with the mother.”
“ No,” said the Fundamentalist, “ it would be condemned.”

Page 66
“ Yet the mother, you say, in Heaven, would have eternal happiness knowing that her child was suffering in Hell, is that it? ”
“ Well,” said the Fundamentalist, “ we have no right to delve too deeply into God’s mysteries. It is something that we ought not to think about.”

Chapter X The Martian Examines The
Moral Precepts Of Christianity

Chapter VIII The Martian Examines The
Characters of The Christian Saviour

Home: Chapter I The Martian Visits The Earth