Will there be any NASCAR racing in heaven? It seems like any heaven worthy of the name would have racing, right? I mean, from both the participant’s and the spectator’s view, racing contains a lot of what makes our lives meaningful and enjoyable.
There is challenge. The striving for excellence and improvement. Using our strength and our intellect to overcome difficulties and limitations. There is danger. There are known dangers that we can avoid through planning and preparations, and there are unknown, random dangers that we can only tackle with our skill and our technology. There is competition. One person striving with another, battling with wits, cunning, and experience. All of these meld together into a mix of excitement that grabs us at the very core of who we are as humans.
Can any of that exist in heaven?
It seems like it should. I mean, what are our lives here on earth for if not to prepare us for the world beyond? If that’s true, then the logical progression should lead to heaven representing the pinnacle of all that is admirable about us: our ability to face challenges, our ingenuity and our capacity to improve ourselves. What are skills for if not to address challenges? What would be left of us as humans if we found no need for skills in heaven? Not only that, but we feel connected with one another in struggle. That is why we cheer for our favorite teams. When our driver is winning, we feel elation. When he’s falling behind we feel like we’re right there in the car urging him on. The empathy generated in the arena is another admirable, and defining, trait of humans.
So, is there NASCAR in heaven?
Will we not all be perfected beings there? Yet, where is the room for improvement if we are all perfected? Will we all be the same in heaven? If not, where is the justice? Will some be better than others? Will some succeed where others fail? Who is the poor sot who fails even in heaven? Who is the sucker that always comes in last in the celestial races? And isn’t he perfected? Isn’t he as good as he’s going to get? How could he ever improve? Will the outcome of every race be the same—each driver performing to the limits of his perfectly designed abilities—the slower ones destined by God to be the unerring also-rans for his cherished champions? Some heaven, huh? Fated to spend all of eternity hanging your head in implacable failure.
What of the challenges? The dangers? Will heaven’s stock cars ever hit a wall? Will they ever shred a tire or blow an engine? Is there anything that can go wrong in a perfect world? If not, then where is the challenge? And if there is challenge, can drivers come to harm? Can they die? Does heaven need ambulances and hospitals? If not, will the fans yawn at carnage and mayhem on the track? Who will care if a car gets crumpled like a ball of tinfoil when the driver always walks away unscathed?
Is there NASCAR in heaven? Do you deny it? It does present difficulties. But, who is going to break it to all the God-fearing fans? I dare you to try.
Clearly, I’m drawing an extreme point here. Supposedly God could devise some enterprise that would satisfy all of our desires. But think about it—the problem persists if we look at almost any other thing that we engage in. Rock climbing? Where is the challenge if you know you’re up to the task and cannot get hurt? Running? Why bother if you never get winded and you never improve? Gymnastics? Where is the fun if everyone can do any move that can be conceived? What about non-sports endeavors? Will there be business to run? Will there be people who need our care? Will there be problems to solve or inventions to create? Everywhere you look we see the same pattern. The things that make life wonderful are nurtured in the soil of potential suffering.
We are amazing beings because, when we show compassion, courage, fidelity, sacrifice and love, it costs us something. It costs us something because we need to divert resources away from our own survival and success against an inhospitable, uncaring and dangerous universe. That we still care, that we still give, that we still love; these are our most beautiful and praiseworthy characteristics. They exist precisely because of the adversity we face. How can heaven be heaven if it contains adversity? But if heaven has no adversity, how can those beautiful traits exist?
How can there be NASCAR in heaven? Yet, how can it be heaven without NASCAR?