In our religious traditions we believe in certain truths. Some of these concepts come from the bible, others from tradition, still others are based in what we dub as "theology". Which, as I understand it, is our human understanding of scripture. Theology differs among denominations, obviously religions, but even more often - individuals. Here are some basic truths, do you agree?
God created the heavens and the earth.
God loves all of his creation.
Jesus lived and taught how God desires us to live out our lives. Prophets try to share God's love and warnings to people.
Would you agree with me that these are generally accepted truths among Christians? What about some of the less "warm and fuzzy" beliefs.
God desires a relationship with his beloved children, but can not be in relationship with anyone who sins.
God hates sin.
Jesus died to fulfill our (mine and yours) debt to God, for we are sinners and deserve to die as he did.
Because of Jesus's sacrifice, God offers us his grace which we must accept to gain eternal life.
For those who do not accept God's grace through believing in Jesus, they will not gain eternal life - they will spend eternity in hell.
This includes those who have never heard the message of the gospel.
Now here is where it gets interesting. Those who say "it does not effect me" are wrong. Even if you are a believer in Christ, I am sure that you know of others who aren't. We are also called by Jesus to go out and spread the good news to those who have not heard. Our compassionate hearts ask, can our God of Love really condem to Hell those who have died as infants? Or those who have never heard the gospel?
Well... the bible is pretty clear - there is no other way to the father except through me (Jesus). John 14:6 However many theologians believe (and teach) that there is a certain age we must reach before God expects us to make that decision. Or all children that are baptized are accepted by God. So what do we believe?
I do have to admit - I don't know. Now I'm not trying to ignore this issue because it is important. It is easy to say, well God is a God of mystery and I am not capable of understanding his ways. But how would my actions change if I really truly believed that all nonbelievers went to hell? Would I try harder to evangelize?
There is a new book out entitled "Love Wins" by Rob Bell. It presents this very issue. Today among my generation we have a difficult time accepting a God so willing to condemn those we know are good and love so much. We are in a culture of acceptance - but is our God? Are we simply trying to soften the gospel? Do we really believe that we need to accept Christ into our life? Will everyone go to heaven?
A couple years ago I read another book on this subject entitled "If God is Love". The authors point was that if God is truly a God of Love then he would accept all of his children into heaven no matter what. Interesting theological point. In many ways I love the idea, but it's not what I have been taught by my faith tradition or in the bible. It is very dangerous to make God into what we would like God to be... instead of accepting God and following the path laid out for us. I learned that the view of God accepting all people to heaven is called Universalism. One can also be an exclusivist, or on the other side believe in inclusivism (that God saves through Christ but includes others on the basis of what work, and that inclusion is based on response to truth) and accessibilism (that God somehow reveals his saving truth to all humans who have ever lived, and has done so at least one time in the life of each person, and judges on that basis but salvation is only through Christ). Taken from Scott McKight and his great conversation about Rob Bell's new book.
I enjoyed reading C.S. Lewis's Narnia series. In "The Final Battle" there is a beautiful description of a sort of heaven. Some who were there didn't realize it - they were still in the dark, but still there. One was of a different faith and baffled to be there, but chosen by God and loved. Does it cheapen our grace if others who are not like us are "allowed" in? Doesn't Jesus teach us not to worry about it in the parable of the Vineyard owner (paying all his workers the same no matter how long they worked?) Matthew 20:1-16
So here is the rock and the hard place. Will we know for sure who gets into heaven or how? If we truly believe the only answer is Jesus, how does that change our actions?
Praying for direction,
your sister in Christ~ Erin Michelle
Showing posts with label issues. Show all posts
Showing posts with label issues. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Thursday, October 07, 2010
Imagine a world...
Many people tell me I really only about 8 - or act like it many days. I love to play pretend and color! Even at work my favorite phrase starts with "Can we... " I love to rearrange the furniture and change things up to keep it new and fresh. Color, music, movement, and nothing for too long. Imagination is a huge part of me.
Yet I am not always stuck in my 8 year old world. None of us are. Something makes all of us mature and grow up. Sometimes we want it... sometimes we don't. People say the world ages us. We have all seen pictures of children who seem much older and wiser than their years. It's the tough situations in life like poverty, hunger, violence, fear, anger, and injustice that age us.
Yet there are many of us who haven't experienced that side of life. Imagine the college frat boy whose parents pay for college and spends more time partying than studying. Now imagine the college boy who's father walked out on his pregnant mother before he was born who is working 4 jobs to support himself and his family as he goes through college. Who is "older"? Now imagine a 20 something old boy who is in a refugee camp trying to protect his family and get as much education as possible while being displaced and fighting for his daily needs. Who is "older"?
It's often hard for me to connect to the stories and parables of Jesus. I wonder what kind of a world he lived in. Obviously not a world where he grew up going to public school and had his own personal computer to blog his thoughts out to the world and keep up with his friends on facebook. The stories he tells relates to his life and the lives of the people similar to him. The broad concepts relate to my life - struggling with money, struggling with sin, not wanting to love my neighbor. And these are the ways the church and our church leaders teach us today. Yet their are significant differences.
Social Justice is a concept many "religious" people grab onto and run with or run from. For some it is what the gospel is all about. For some it has nothing to do with the gospel and how dare you try to make it. I believe social justice is something Jesus was all about.
Love your neighbor. Not just the one who lives next door or upstairs, but everyone on the planet. Get to know people who are different than you. A different race, culture, gender, religion. Don't judge. Share your beliefs and your belongings. Take care of the widows, the orphans, and the sick. Not just by throwing some money in a plate or towards a charity. Go out and do it. It can and may change your life. That's what Jesus did. He didn't give all his money to the synagogue and work towards becoming the next "Nazareth's Carpenter of the Year". Jesus went out and walked among God's children and told them that first - they were loved. Second - they needed to follow him.
I read an amazing book (almost in one day!) by Barbara Kingsolver called "The Bean Trees". It's an amazing story of a young girl whose goal is to get through high school without getting pregnant and make something of herself somewhere far away from home. She ends up going from Kentucky to Arizona and along the way "inherits" a small child. Once in Tucson she starts making a life for herself working at a tire repair shop that just also happens to be a safe house for Central American refugees. In my eyes, it's a story of how Taylor Greer grows up.
My favorite line is during a conversation with a friend who happens to be a refugee from Guatemala who has experienced some awful things in his life. After hearing his story Taylor says "I hate to say it, but I really don't know. I can't even being to think about a world where people have to make choices like that." Her friend replies - "You live in that world."
I live in that world. We say it all the time, especially faced with something beyond words difficult, I can't imagine... what that would be like, or I can't imagine a world where that happens.
We don't have to imagine it. It's here. The question is what do we do about it. What does our christian faith move in us to do about it?
Give.
Be there.
Go out and love people.
Not just go out and preach to people about how Jesus saves. I mean, yes Jesus saves. But if I was a widow walking to the drug store wondering about how I'm going to afford my medication and you handed me a pamphlet about God I might curse at you. If you walked with me and became my friend, perhaps helped me with my paperwork for healthcare I would say "God Bless You" and go to church if you invited me.
If I was a poor young adult struggling to find steady work to pay the bills and wondering what is good in this world and you tried to tell me Jesus was good I would ask you if he was hiring.
Meet basic needs.
Preserve human dignity.
Don't do it through a middle man - go out and make a friend.
The best way I know to not get lost in the imaginative world is to experience the real one. Don't keep yourself in a pretty imaginative world were everyone has what they need. Go out and live, love, and share the love of God.
In peace,
your sister in Christ~
Erin
Yet I am not always stuck in my 8 year old world. None of us are. Something makes all of us mature and grow up. Sometimes we want it... sometimes we don't. People say the world ages us. We have all seen pictures of children who seem much older and wiser than their years. It's the tough situations in life like poverty, hunger, violence, fear, anger, and injustice that age us.
Yet there are many of us who haven't experienced that side of life. Imagine the college frat boy whose parents pay for college and spends more time partying than studying. Now imagine the college boy who's father walked out on his pregnant mother before he was born who is working 4 jobs to support himself and his family as he goes through college. Who is "older"? Now imagine a 20 something old boy who is in a refugee camp trying to protect his family and get as much education as possible while being displaced and fighting for his daily needs. Who is "older"?
It's often hard for me to connect to the stories and parables of Jesus. I wonder what kind of a world he lived in. Obviously not a world where he grew up going to public school and had his own personal computer to blog his thoughts out to the world and keep up with his friends on facebook. The stories he tells relates to his life and the lives of the people similar to him. The broad concepts relate to my life - struggling with money, struggling with sin, not wanting to love my neighbor. And these are the ways the church and our church leaders teach us today. Yet their are significant differences.
Social Justice is a concept many "religious" people grab onto and run with or run from. For some it is what the gospel is all about. For some it has nothing to do with the gospel and how dare you try to make it. I believe social justice is something Jesus was all about.
Love your neighbor. Not just the one who lives next door or upstairs, but everyone on the planet. Get to know people who are different than you. A different race, culture, gender, religion. Don't judge. Share your beliefs and your belongings. Take care of the widows, the orphans, and the sick. Not just by throwing some money in a plate or towards a charity. Go out and do it. It can and may change your life. That's what Jesus did. He didn't give all his money to the synagogue and work towards becoming the next "Nazareth's Carpenter of the Year". Jesus went out and walked among God's children and told them that first - they were loved. Second - they needed to follow him.
I read an amazing book (almost in one day!) by Barbara Kingsolver called "The Bean Trees". It's an amazing story of a young girl whose goal is to get through high school without getting pregnant and make something of herself somewhere far away from home. She ends up going from Kentucky to Arizona and along the way "inherits" a small child. Once in Tucson she starts making a life for herself working at a tire repair shop that just also happens to be a safe house for Central American refugees. In my eyes, it's a story of how Taylor Greer grows up.
My favorite line is during a conversation with a friend who happens to be a refugee from Guatemala who has experienced some awful things in his life. After hearing his story Taylor says "I hate to say it, but I really don't know. I can't even being to think about a world where people have to make choices like that." Her friend replies - "You live in that world."
I live in that world. We say it all the time, especially faced with something beyond words difficult, I can't imagine... what that would be like, or I can't imagine a world where that happens.
We don't have to imagine it. It's here. The question is what do we do about it. What does our christian faith move in us to do about it?
Give.
Be there.
Go out and love people.
Not just go out and preach to people about how Jesus saves. I mean, yes Jesus saves. But if I was a widow walking to the drug store wondering about how I'm going to afford my medication and you handed me a pamphlet about God I might curse at you. If you walked with me and became my friend, perhaps helped me with my paperwork for healthcare I would say "God Bless You" and go to church if you invited me.
If I was a poor young adult struggling to find steady work to pay the bills and wondering what is good in this world and you tried to tell me Jesus was good I would ask you if he was hiring.
Meet basic needs.
Preserve human dignity.
Don't do it through a middle man - go out and make a friend.
The best way I know to not get lost in the imaginative world is to experience the real one. Don't keep yourself in a pretty imaginative world were everyone has what they need. Go out and live, love, and share the love of God.
In peace,
your sister in Christ~
Erin
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
New Vocab New Fire
I learned a new word, more than that though... a new condition millions around the world find themselves in which can be devastating. A term born out of our need to control as much as possible, especially people. Our governments need to know constantly what we are doing, where we are living or working, and our general status. Without the proper documentation of who we are we can't get a job or see a doctor, go to school, or travel out of the country. What if you didn't have this documentation? What if you couldn't prove you were a citizen of anywhere?
You would be stateless. There are an estimated 15 million stateless people in the world today. Unable to work unless paid under the table. Unable to travel, unable to vote, unable to provide for their families, unable to get an education to work past their present. Alone and unaccounted for - and uncared for.
Some refugees are stateless, however many have citizenship simply in a state where their is conflict and war. If given refugee status though they are allowed to travel and given aid. Unlike a stateless person who may not be fleeing from any conflict, simply unable to prove where and to whom they were born. (honestly not really their fault either is it?)
Without proper documentation (birth certificate, social security number, work permit, general ID's) people are denied everything. This is a problem in many countries from Bangladesh to the Dominican Republic to Pakistan and the independent states that were a part of the USSR. Imagine your government saying "No. We don't claim you and we don't know who you are."
Sometimes this is done accidentally, in a state of chaos or upheaval, sometimes specific groups are targeted (ethnic, racial, religious), and almost always it is a generational inheritance. If your parents don't exist to the government how do you?
So in response to this issue my heart cries - LEARN. Learn as much as you can about everything you can so that you can go out in understanding and love. I have 3 different colors of post -it's (yes I organize my life in colors and post it's) one for Issues I Want to Learn About, another for People to Learn About, and another for inspirational quotes from others. There are many issues I don't know about, but much I can learn. There are people who have gone before me asking the same questions and living out their lives in response. I want to learn from them to better understand my own calling.
My favorite so far -
When I feed the poor, they call me a saint.
When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist.
Dom Helder Camara,
Archbishop of Recife, Brazil
You would be stateless. There are an estimated 15 million stateless people in the world today. Unable to work unless paid under the table. Unable to travel, unable to vote, unable to provide for their families, unable to get an education to work past their present. Alone and unaccounted for - and uncared for.
Some refugees are stateless, however many have citizenship simply in a state where their is conflict and war. If given refugee status though they are allowed to travel and given aid. Unlike a stateless person who may not be fleeing from any conflict, simply unable to prove where and to whom they were born. (honestly not really their fault either is it?)
Without proper documentation (birth certificate, social security number, work permit, general ID's) people are denied everything. This is a problem in many countries from Bangladesh to the Dominican Republic to Pakistan and the independent states that were a part of the USSR. Imagine your government saying "No. We don't claim you and we don't know who you are."
Sometimes this is done accidentally, in a state of chaos or upheaval, sometimes specific groups are targeted (ethnic, racial, religious), and almost always it is a generational inheritance. If your parents don't exist to the government how do you?
So in response to this issue my heart cries - LEARN. Learn as much as you can about everything you can so that you can go out in understanding and love. I have 3 different colors of post -it's (yes I organize my life in colors and post it's) one for Issues I Want to Learn About, another for People to Learn About, and another for inspirational quotes from others. There are many issues I don't know about, but much I can learn. There are people who have gone before me asking the same questions and living out their lives in response. I want to learn from them to better understand my own calling.
My favorite so far -
When I feed the poor, they call me a saint.
When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist.
Dom Helder Camara,
Archbishop of Recife, Brazil
Best of Luck with your passion -
your sister in Christ~Erin
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