I think saying NT Wright doesn't believe "Christian Don't Go to Heaven" is a bit deceptive... I haven't read this book (so maybe I'm speaking too soon), but I was in a bookstore the other day, saw it in the new books and read the first chapter. At least in this chapter he does say Christians go to be in the presence of God at death, but he says an "otherworldly" heaven is not the final destination. The final destination is when heaven and the world are one (the kingdom comes fully on earth as in heaven) and we are resurrected to live on earth. Even the World Net Daily article itself quotes him as saying, "that the period after death is a period when we are in God's presence but not active in our own bodies." What reformed believer doesn't believe that as well?

Surely we all know people who think of the final destination of humans as being simply heaven or hell, which, in the case of believers is defective thinking. I know as a child I thought this, and I'm sure others did as well. But in my case reformed theology came to the rescue in the form of the Westminster Confession, which teaches that human life in heaven after death is deficient because we don't have our bodies:

"The souls of the righteous, being then made perfect in holiness, are received into the highest heavens, where they behold the face of God in light and glory, waiting for the full redemption of their bodies..."

Thus we await resurrection into a redeemed world, a created world, and this world is where humans were created to dwell with God in the first place.

It seemed to me, at least in the chapter of the book that I read, that this was what NT Wright was getting at as well. I'll try reading a few more chapters at the bookstore if I get the chance and see if that is what he is trying to say (or if my assumption is totally off).

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C. Gorsuch
Glencullen Baptist
Portland, Oregon