Are There Virgins In Heaven?

It's a question which arises when one is told that suicide bombers are assured that their reward will be a certain number - 10 - (is it?) of virgins waiting for them in heaven.

This is a hard one.  Does God really reward dead young men with virgins?  What about the virgins?  Do they have any say in the matter?  If they exist, can they not choose for themselves who it is they want to marry?  It just does not seem to be the kind of thing which the living God does.  After all, Mary, the Lord's mother, was given a choice.  She could have said 'No'.

What is it that we know about God?  We know that if we sow to the Spirit, we shall reap eternal life of the Spirit.  What does sowing to the Spirit mean?  It means treasuring as important those things which God treasures.  Laying up treasure in heaven and walking by faith in His Word.  Honoring all men and in the Church even submitting to one another.  Asking God to show you the way of good works, so that all men may give glory to God because of the good things they see you do.

What about money?  Another difficult one.  There are those who say you do not need to give anything to do with money to God.  That He does not require it.  Yet Abraham paid a tenth of all he had to Melchizedek.  The thing is, whatever we have here, is as a result of what God created.  It belongs to Him anyway.  Giving back a tenth is such a little.  It's also a really good discipline.  It helps you to exercise faith, makes you think hard about what you really need when it comes to spending your money, and helps you to think less about your own needs and that tiny bit more about the needs of others.

If you are a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, then there is another point for consideration.  He said that to those who were counted worthy of standing in God's presence in the ages to come, 'neither married nor were given in marriage'. No virgins there then.

None of this seems to suggest that there are virgins waiting for suicide bombers.  Rather it suggests a place 'state' in which this present world no longer has any influence.

The 'new heavens and new earth' has not come yet. We wait for it.

So here in this place, on this earth, we still need to look out for the betterment of others, and that the Lord will bring to nothing those who have an agenda which is not in His will.  Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as in heaven.