WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13, 2022, HOW DO I WRITE THIS

 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13, 2022, HOW DO I WRITE THIS

Okay, this is Holy Week, 2022 - about two thousand years after the crucifixion of Christ.

The main thrust today is controversial - is the only way to get to heaven as a Christian / believer in Jesus Christ?

I am of Judeo-Christian heritage and generally in the Judeo-Christian philosophy.

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From the Christian Scriptures:

John 14:6: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father (God) except through Me.” 

Acts 4:12: “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name (Jesus) under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

John 3:16-17: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son (Jesus), that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son (Jesus) into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”

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To me, this seems clear - Jesus or nothing.  If there is a heaven and a hell - Jesus must be involved.

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But how about Isaiah 55:8 “ For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

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Can people other than Christians get to heaven?  My human nature says “sure”.  I don’t know how, but it can happen.

In C.S. Lewis’s book, “The Last Battle” - part of the Narnia tales - generally considered for children, we have this: a Calormene soldier, who follows the god Tash, is welcomed by Aslan (the prototype of Jesus).  

[Aside: “The dark-skinned Calormenes are “unmistakable Muslim stand-ins,” as a writer put it, cruel-hearted worshippers of a false god.”]

Is there an “out” to the concept that one must be a Christian to get to heaven?

Jeremiah 29:13 says “If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.”  (In choir years ago we sang “If with all your heart you truly seek me, you shall surely find me”.) 

 

Lewis seems to indicate that the Calormene soldier truly seeks God and is therefore welcomed by God into what amounts to heaven in “The Last Battle”. Seek for the Lord where he might be found.

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The God that I know from the Judeo-Christian Bible is omnipotent (all-powerful), omniscience (all-knowing), and omnipresent (everywhere):

“Omnipotence means that God is in total control of himself and his creation. Omniscience means that he is the ultimate criterion of truth and falsity so that his ideas are always true. Omnipresence means that since God’s power and knowledge extend to all parts of his creation, he himself is present everywhere. Together they define God’s lordship, and they yield a rich understanding of creation, providence, and salvation.”

Likewise in the Judeo Christian tradition, God “SPOKE” and the earth was formed.  An all-powerful God - the only true God - can say one word - and boom it happens.  Christians see that in the New Testament as Jesus said “be healed” and the person is healed.  The Gospel of John starts with “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”.  

I am a frail human being.  I am finite, God is infinite - if God wants something (ha) he gets it (that statement doesn’t even make sense to me).  

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I don’t know who will get to heaven, I can’t judge people, I am not the gatekeeper.  That is way beyond my pay grade!!!  That all-powerful God can SAY “yup, I want Karen in Heaven”, and that all-powerful God can say “yup, I want (who - Adolph Hitler) in Heaven, I want Mother Teresa in Heaven, and I want Mohammed in Heaven - he gets HIS will.  (And, with the assumption that God’s ways are not our ways, God is outside of time - the beginning and the end - the Alpha and Omega).  From my reading (and rereading) of the fictional story, "The Shack", I think I can understand that God is so much different than I am!!!

Can serial killers be in heaven?  I don’t know.  Can world dictators who killed millions of people be in heaven?  I don’t know.  Can sweet old ladies who didn’t like blacks or Muslims be in heaven?  I don’t know.  Can I be in heaven?  I don’t know.  

But, my human mind (and therefore possibly incorrect) takes the concept of God as kind and merciful.

John 10:16 says “I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.”

I don’t understand death.  Can an all-powerful God in that millionth of a second when a person dies, “zap” a person to be “saved”.  I guess God is so powerful, loving, and knowing that absolutely nothing is impossible to Him (or Her or the Force or <whatever>).

I’ve been in too many discussions of heresies such as false religions (such as defined as docetism, Montanism, adoptionism, Sabellianism, Arianism, Pelagianism, and Gnosticism) be saved?  Not my issue.  That’s in God’s realm and under His control.  

How about 1 Peter 4:8 “Above all, love one another deeply because love covers over a multitude of sins.  

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.  I’m not the gatekeeper and even if this contradicts some aspects of the Bible I can live with it.  

So, can non-Christians be in heaven?  If God is omnipotent - he can accept whoever he pleases into heaven.  (I’m sure glad I don’t have to decide!!!)

LOVE WINS!!

Karen

April 13, 2022