for those who don't want heaven

-
There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, “Thy will be done,” and those to whom God says, in the end, “Thy will be done.” All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. —C. S. Lewis

I'm reading Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory: Rethinking the Things That Matter Most by Jerry L. Walls. He takes a conseravtive evangelical position on hell. He uses this quote from C.S. Lewis to begin his 3rd chapter, titled "If God is love, why is there a hell?" He appeals to God's love results in human free will resulting in a free choice by some to reject God. I disagree with the last point. I do agree God is love. I do agree that we have free will. But I do not think we have enough clarity of vision to freely decide for Jesus. I think that absolute clarity of vision can only come in the afterlife.

I think most adults, those capable of free will not hindered by mental health issues or brain damage, desire love. Love is an intangible, non-material ideal. I think this longing is perfectly fulfilled in Jesus. Some sects across humanity do not value love as the apex. Some sects think the solution for this desire is to overcome it and train ourselves to forsake desire. Some sects think this desire is beneath the desire for order and justice and value these other ideals more. Some sects dismiss this ideal as complex chemistry and simply a hormonal interaction.

I think this longing for love is part of the imprint of God's image on us.

Unfortunately, we are constantly using gods as an excuse to justify ourselves or our politics or our science. So the image of God is corrupted. For those who reject this false ideal of God, they have my complete sympathy. Eventually, we will all see clearly the God who is love. At that point, we can correctly pray, "Thy will be done."

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why did Peter put his coat on before jumping in the water? John 21:7

-
I have the great pleasure of facilitating every week a Bible discussion group with several high school students. We've been discussing the Gospel of John  this past year, and we finally finished tonight. We enjoyed the humorous scene John writes about in this last chapter. The great apostle John can't help himself when it comes to embarrassing his fellow inner circle apostle; the denial of Christ, his slowness in getting to the empty tomb, and this event in the last chapter. John 21:7 That disciple whom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he was stripped for work, and threw himself into the sea. What's the joke? Well John is the first to realize that Jesus is on the beach, #humblebrag, but then Peter puts ON his coat before jumping out of the boat? I've seen some academic ink spilled trying to explain this weird behavior on the part of this fisherman ( good one
Read more

christians should be the biggest supporters of the trans community

-
I read with joy and anger the comments under Gabrielle Union's tweet introducing the world to her gender non-conforming child Zaya. Meet Zaya. She's compassionate, loving, whip smart and we are so proud of her. It’s Ok to listen to, love & respect your children exactly as they are. Love and light good people. pic.twitter.com/G2lLVdD2VT — Gabrielle Union (@itsgabrielleu) February 11, 2020 I wish every kid could have such supportive parents. But out came the bible verse quoting trolls among others. But don't christians believe in an immaterial soul? That the mind is greater than the brain? That there is a spirit as well as a body? If people are truly materialists, then certainly they can make the argument that chromosomes determine who Zaya is. But christians do not tend to be materialists. So if Zaya asserts her identity as distinct from her chromosomes, wouldn't this be a proof for christians to say, "there is something more to us than our materials and
Read more

The near sacrifice of Isaac and bad religion

-
Image
Bad religion asks parents to sacrifice their children. Bad religion is cultural. Bad religion looks for scapegoats. Bad religion always find scapegoats in those with less power. Bad religion kills kids. Abraham's story in Genesis 22 is a story of good religion prevailing over bad. image source    Abraham lives in a culture which not only approves of child sacrifice, but even encourages it for assistance from the deities. Abraham believes his deity wants him to also perform this act of devotion. But after he ties his son up, he has an encounter with God unlike any previous one. It appears God changed his mind.  More likely, Abraham changed his mind about God. Evangelical and fundamentalist christians also live in cultures where they think their deity asks them to bind their children, to not let them live in truth their sexual identity. Hence, these children who normally benefit from the protective effects of religion on suicidal thoughts and tendencies actually experience it worse a
Read more