I will say one thing, and I don't mean this to be confrontational, but I do
believe it strongly:
The idea that this life ONLY is the time to accept or reject is a great
cop-out for many people to practice hating and judging their neighbor - since
anyone can scream hellfire and damnation at others then blame them for rejecting
the message. Also, I just can't accept that God would damn someone who
attends Sunday School weekly and hears the Gospel preached but rejects
Christianity in this life because her pious father took her to church then went
home and raped her repeatedly, for example.
For justice to be just, it simply MUST account for mortal circumstances
that cloud judgment and push people away from truth. That, according to
the Bible as I read it, is the most powerful application of grace - and
rejecting a chance in the post-mortal existence, imo, is rejecting the heart of
grace.
Summary:
I don't believe God will punish someone for rejecting the Gospel if believers, especially, do a lousy or even abominable job of modeling it - and especially if people see evil done in the name of Christianity and reject the Christianity they see rather then pure Gospel Jesus preached. The idea that He is limited in His ability to save and exalt by our understanding and implementation of His Gospel is ludicrous to me. Jesus' Gospel and grace, in my opinion, are FAR more powerful than that.
1 comment:
I agree 100 percent. God doesn't damn people for misunderstandings, for people who in good faith arrive at the wrong conclusions, or who are faithful to perceived truths that turned out not to be true after all.
Absent his vision on the road to Damascus, Saul may have lived his entire life as a persecutor of the saints rather than becoming the greatest Christian missionary of all time. He was turned by the grace of Jesus Christ, and a mighty powerful one that most could not hope to receive.
Alma's words to Corianton (Alma 40-42) say exactly what you're saying here. If you're the kind of person who desires goodness and righteousness, you're going to be rewarded with that in the resurrection. You mind could have been wrong about everything as long as your heart was right before God.
Jesus will not save us in our sins, but I believe he will save us in our stupidity. We'll all enter in through the same gate, and that gate will be wide open for anyone who would have walked through it had they recognized it for what it was. Our lives will provide ample evidence -- no matter how wrong we've been -- as to what we truly desired and why.
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