The Unfair God of Christianity...

I have heard people ask, "How can a loving God send someone to hell?"  This is a very good, well-intentioned question.  Allow me to pose a different question:

"How can a loving God allow someone into heaven?"

For the sake of illustration, think about the person on this earth you love most.  Have that person in mind?  It may take a few seconds, so don't rush ahead in reading until this person is in mind.  Now, consider a perfect stranger who has wronged you somehow.  Do you have this stranger pictured yet?  Now (especially if you are a Christian), the Bible commands us to love one another (John 15:12), and even to love people as we love ourselves (Matthew 22:39, Leviticus 19:18)!

This perfect stranger who has wronged you is now sentenced to death because they wronged you, and now you actually consider this option the judge gives you:  "If you give me the life of this person you love the most, I will not punish this perfect stranger who was actually the one who wronged you. The stranger will go free, but you loved one must die."

Absurd, right?

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16, NIV)

"You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation."  (Romans 5:6-11, NIV)

If you allowed your loved one to die for this stranger, the news and media would tear you apart and your family may very well disown you.  Can't you see how unfair it would have seemed to you loved one?  Gos was likewise unfair to Himself when He decided to become a human and die a painful death so that we can live.

Somehow we get confused about how God would send anyone to hell, but don't you see how confusing it is that He would allow someone to come to heaven and live forever?  We have wronged Him a million times, and since Adam and Eve wronged Him, the entire human race has been in rebellion against its Creator, who still loves us so much, He allowed His Loved One to die in place for us, so we do not have to die and spend eternity in unspeakable torment.  Instead, we can spend forever in happiness and love and unspeakable majesty.

This amazing love is offered to you, too, my reader.

"Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne."
-Jesus (Revelation 3:19-21, NIV)

What Gift Will YOU Give?

The older I get, the more I see the worth of old people. They are invaluable resources to anyone. I am sure you may have already thought of the crabby old man down the street, or that stubborn wrinkly woman who complains a lot about how in her day young people weren't so rude... but perhaps us younger generations can be rude, especially to older people. Before I go off on a tangent, let me tell you a story.
**

With a stomach full of Arby's, we drove down a dusty county road. Overgrown weeds on either side of the road blocked the view of the fields, but the sun still made the scene beautiful. Before we left, I asked Lavene Lemaster if should would like it if I drove (My car and luggage was at her house, I was on my way back to school from there).

We talked about all types of subjects: Her neighbors, her friend should would go see an Elvis inpersonator with, her church, her family, and so on. Then, as if God had wanted me to learn something ASAP, Lavene began to speak. I turned my head toward the passenger seat to see her kind, intent eyes looking at the road...

"I always tell my friends that God gave us all talents, but I started to think I don't have any talents. But then I thought, "Well I love people, so maybe loving people is my talent."

Leviticus 19:32 (New American Standard Bible)
You shall rise up before the grayheaded and honor the aged, and you shall revere your God; I am the LORD.

John 15:12 (New American Standard Bible)
"This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you."

Perspectives--What Are YOU Stressing About?

I will admit I should be sleeping now. I regret not making a to-do calendar this semester. Organization is a blessing we should take more advantage of.

I started to stress out about work and homework, until I was reminded of the young father in Uganda who is stressing about where the next meal for his family will come from. Or what about that elderly man in Toronto staying up and sitting by his frail wife's dying body, just incase tonight is the last night. I also consider that little girl being forced to hear her parents relentless hurl heart-breaking words at eachother while she is being deprived of sleep and has to go to school tomorrow and explain how she "accidently ran into the doorknob and blackened her eye."

I suppose some call the above paragraph "appealing to emotions." Appealing to emotions has been a method many people have used to persuade another into common beliefs. Do not be fooled, friend. I am appealing to your brain.

I often wonder how I can help people, whether they are better off or worse off than I. I know that simply blogging about such issues will not bring about much change. It is my prayer that I can help others.

We think we have a lot to worry about. But the words of Jesus says otherwise. I think we would be surprised how much better life is when you simply serve others and quit focussing on what we have to worry about, whether you are a Christian or not.

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you
will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and
the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they
have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you
are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the
rest?

-Jesus
(see Luke 7, NIV)