Christian Thinking

FRI., APR. 23, 1993, 5:59 AM
FARM, STUDY

If you are a Christian, then you must think like a Christian… right?! And all Christian must… and do… think alike… right?! Well, you should know that, with My love of diversity, this is far from truth. There are a few principles, but the thinking that comes from them may take several paths. Hear Me, o son, as I teach you about thinking.

As a Christian you must accept the principle that I, as Almighty God, the One God, did choose to come to earth in human boy baby form; grow to manhood; preach, teach, and heal for about 3 years; and then give up this human life that all who believed in Me in this life would be saved. Saved from what? to what? Here’s where a divergence occurs.

Some would thunder that you’re saved from perishing forever in a lake of fiery brimstone, a painful consequence for not believing, whether you hear of Me or not. A variation of this is that you live eternally in a very hot (or cold, whichever is worse) hell, with other sinners, quite apart from Me, suffering for eternity. This pictures Me as a jealous, vengeful God, Who wants to save only a few of “the very best.”

Other thinking would have hell as a final possibility, but that salvation from such a fate could be possible after death. You only go to hell if you really want to, and even in such a state there is the possibility of being saved. This view takes seriously the Creed’s affirmation that I, as Jesus, descended into hell, continuing to try to save those who had not believed in their earth lives. I, as Jesus, may still have a mission in hell.

Other Christians focus more on “saved to”, with this being a continuing relationship with Me, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Those who believe most fully, know the Holy Scriptures best, and have believed in and loved Me as Jesus are in the closest relationship with Me… the box seats, if you will. There are others in this “heaven,” but farther away from Me… some even in the “upper bleachers.” This is seen as a reward for living a clean, disciplined, sin-free life. Goody-goody Christians do finally benefit from resisting sin so well.

This assumes, of course, that I am in one place, on a throne, so there are some very close, some less close… on to those who are in, but very far away… because only a few can be close to a single throne.

A more both/and view and interpretation holds that while I may be on some sort of throne as Almighty God, with Jesus, My beloved Son on My right (and I, as Holy Spirit, must be on the left… at least somewhere) I also am omnipresent, being as close to those far from the throne as to those close. Here the Scripture that the last shall be first is relevant. I want to be close to all who want Me, even the least of these. The goody-goodies are not rejected or neglected. They just don’t get more attention than those with more sins to their credit.