I recently had a conversation with a local church leader about "my un-biblical views" that God is the Saviour of the world and that all will eventually be reconciled to him.
It was suggested that I should not be expressing these ideas around the church as they were unsettling other members, causing division and undermining the leadership.
Phew!
In my devotions this morning, I began reading John's letters and soon bumped into one of my favourite verses.
Speaking about "Jesus Christ, the Righteous One", the Apostle John says that .....
"He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world" [1 John 2 : 2 NIV]
The Message puts John's statement this way .....
When he served as a sacrifice for our sins, he solved the sin problem for good - not only ours, but the whole world's. [1 John 2 : 2 MSG]
How clear is that?
Yet, most of mainstream Christianity, and particularly its leadership, proclaim that the perfect and supreme sacrifice of Jesus will leave the great majority of his creation totally unaffected as it rushes headlong toward eternal torment and destruction.
And, by the way, while being carefully supervised by the God of love.
All this just reinforces what I decided some time ago - my views are more un-churchical than un-biblical.
It's getting more and more difficult to keep attending church and keep smiling.
If only those pastor/shepherds would care enough for me to show me the errors of my ways and put me on the right path, instead of just telling me to be quiet.
..... still looking for a good church .....
Blessings, Barry
Not only is the eternal torment view out of harmony with Scripture, but it defies common sense and runs counter to any sane person's sense of justice.
ReplyDeleteFancy Jesus paying for the sins of all, but only collecting a small portion of what he paid for.
It's a bit like a farmer going to market to buy 100 sheep, paying for them and having only 5 arrive at the farm gate.
On investigation the farmer discovers that a thief stole the other 95 before they left the sale yards.
The thief didn't pay for them, just spun a good story and took them.
Everyone in the world, no matter how immoral, would consider the thief's action to be wrong and worthy of punishment.
Yet most (moral and just) Christians believe that Satan should be allowed to steal most of those Jesus paid for, and that's OK.
Go figure.
Barry
Also, lf Jesus paid the penalty for our sin and if the penalty is eternal torment how is it the he needed only 3 days to make that payment if the penalty were in fact 'eternal'. Or another way of asking the same question is 'why is Jesus not still in goal?'
ReplyDeleteGlenn
Great questions Glenn. I absolutely agree. Barry
ReplyDeleteHi Barry
ReplyDeleteI recently challenged my 'local church leader' with the view that if the majority of humans are going to spend eternity in hell. I aksed how could a loving father do that to an unrepentant child. His response was 'God isn't the way you want Him to be. We all want a God that has saved everyone but the biblical truth is that is not the case. Many people will go to hell forever. Any other positition is unbiblical and heretical and a perversion/twisting of scripture'. I countered by saying that what he just said equated to Jesus failing in His attempt to reconcile all of mankind. He was silent on that and did not want to persue the debate any further. My question to you now Barry is why is universal reconciliation so abhorent to people like my pastor and the 'Church leader' you mention. I have seen many scriptural references from you that clearly state the case, but that does not help me understand my pastor's position.
thanks
Glenn