News from the Natural World: Are there humans in heaven? Wonders Orangutan on its death bed.
Joyo the Orangutan was always one of the wisest old men of the forest. Even amongst Orangutans, his wisdom was renowned. Long had he pondered the great questions of the animal kingdom. Am I prey or am I a predator? If a skyscraper falls in a city will it make a sound? How do we know we are not all just brains in puddles? These questions and many more have kept Joyo and the rest of the animal philosophers awake long into the night. But there was another question that had been plaguing the animal kingdom, one that Joyo didn’t have the answer for.
Are There Humans In Heaven?
The question was whether there were any humans in heaven? Animal heaven was a place where animals could relax from the endless cycle of life and death. Hunger, Pain, Thirst and Cold were removed and animals could live in harmony free from death and disease. Animals that had been predator and prey would live side by side no longer locked in the deadly cycle of death. Wildebeest forgave Lions, Fur Seals high-fived Great White Sharks and Mongoose and Cobra danced together under the giant orange orb. But there was one animal that all the other animals couldn’t forgive, the human.
Humans had committed too much evil. Joyo knew this. He had seen first hand the utter pain and destruction that the humans caused. Yes, other animals caused pain and suffering but this was largely for survival. Humans caused pain and suffering for pleasure, for-profit and because it was too much effort not to. Surely humans wouldn’t be in heaven, it would ruin it for all the other animals. One day Joyo discovered a book left behind by a human gap year student. It was called The Bible. Joyo read the pages with glee, the humans also believed in heaven. But there was a crucial difference. The humans believed in heaven in the same way as the animals but there was a juxtaposition. Because there was so much sin and evil in the human world there was an opposite of heaven. This was a place where all the evil humans went.