Gods justice and judgement

Hellooo! I'm pretty excited because I've had a response to my previous post, a friend has directed me to this blog post.

It boldly teaches about the side to God which I struggle to write about: his justice and judgement. It explains Gods apparent violence and vengefulness in the Old Testament and links this with his grace and mercy and with the New Testament. Worth reading all the way through (the end is the best part) since it tells us why God has the right to act as he does.

Thanks Joshua and Robbie :)

Does God give up? Heaven, hell and other stuff

I tell you! There is more joy in heaven over one sinner who changes his or her heart and life than over 99 good people who don’t need to change. Luke 15:7

We’ve all read the story of the lost sheep. It’s pretty cute; a shepherd searches and searches for this one missing sheep even though he would do alright with 99. You might also have read the story straight after it about a woman looking for a lost coin even though she has another 9. So here’s the spoiler: the lost sheep/coin represents us when we aren’t interested in God, and the moral is that God, the shepherd/woman, never stops searching for us, and doesn’t give up until we are returned to him. Happy endings all round.

But wait a minute. Hang on. Hold the phone. These stories seem to miss one major issue: the fact that not everyone gets ‘found’ before they die. Not everyone makes a final confession to God on their death bed.

And then what? Well, eternal torment obviously. Fire, brimstone, little red men poking everyone with their tridents, all that stuff. As I say so often, I am not a Bible scholar, and so I’m not in any position to start arguing the existence of hell and what form it might take (although I would suggest Rob Bell’s book Love Wins for anyone interested). I can, however, discus why I think the idea of people being sent to an eternal hell is unrealistic, and goes against what we know about the nature of God.

To start with, neither you or I know what goes on in someone else’s heart, so for the sake of argument lets imagine that every single human has the potential to love God and go to heaven (whatever heaven is, I could write a whole ‘nother post on that topic), and that no one’s heart is so bad that it can’t be reversed.

So if you really think about it, an eternal hell suggests that God gives up on us.

I mean, that either God must consider some people to be irreparable, or that he stops caring about them after a certain point. Both of these suggestions contradict the Bible which tells us quite clearly that nothing is impossible for God, no heart is beyond his ability to heal, and that Gods love is infinite, it transcends time and space and human knowledge. If this is the case why then should he stop pursuing us after death? Why would he give himself this cut-off point, a point at which he considers our souls to be beyond his reach and he is simply content to see us end up in a place of punishment and separation from him?

Another idea, as C. S. Lewis presents in his final Narnia novel, suggests that hell is something people choose i.e. the choice to spend our lives without God and without love and goodness. Rob Bell says we have a choice every day, whether or not you are a Christian; a choice between spitefulness and kindness, cruelty and humanity, pain and hope. It is choosing to make someone else's life difficult, ignoring the person who is desperate for friendship, breaking someone's heart. It is rape, human trafficking, destruction of forests, child abuse. You can see why the language used to describe hell is so strong and offensive: it reflects the darker side of the world.

But even then, even those people who make all the wrong choices must be loved by God, for God loved the world so much, that he gave his only son. Not just Christians or good people or people who go to church every Sunday. The world. So if he loves the people that make the wrong choices then he must be searching for them.

I'm sure most of us will agree that some part of us carries on after we die. Why then do we dismiss the idea that God continues to seek us out even after death? That he pursues our hearts even if we die with those hearts in shatters or rotten to the core? I want us to consider the very real concept that he never gives up on a single human soul, that sometime in the distant future he will gather us all together in heaven.

My final point is this, I know that God is impossible to comprehend and in his mysteriousness and complexity he will always do things which we can find no explanation for. I also understand that God, like any loving parent, disciplines his children to make them better people. But I can’t reconcile myself with the idea that God sends people to hell because they are too far from him, or that he allows them to separate themselves from him, at least not without trying to reach them.

I was taught that the moment you make even the smallest move towards God, he comes running towards you with his arms wide open. Since none of us is perfect, and since we’re all sinners, no matter what religion we follow or gods we serve, I think that when we make that small move there must be rejoicing and celebration in heaven.

So make the move, because God will never give up on you.

Fin.

Disclaimer: this post is based on my very limited knowledge of the Bible and on what I know about God as a person and how he acts. I recognise that I probably miss some fundamental pieces of scripture and I would love to hear what anyone else has to say on the topic.

Also when I started writing it I had no idea how deep it would lead me into ideas about heaven, hell and the good and evil in all of our hearts. So sorry if I got a bit carried away and didn’t explain everything properly.

The Ash, the Oak and the Yew

As I've said before, God is creative, so I'm pretty sure He loves it when we're creative too. Here's a fairytale for ya, because reading smart stuff all the time is boring :)

There were once three trees; an ash, an oak and a yew. All three trees were very wise, and great leaders from far and wide came to ask for their advice.

   They were the oldest trees in the forest, perhaps in the whole world. They stood in a clearing at the top of a hill. The ash was very cruel and enjoyed watching others suffer, and he considered himself far above ordinary creatures. The oak was very kind and loved all living things, from the children who gathered his acorns to the gnats that landed on his bark. The yew, the most magical of all trees, was very strange and she spoke honestly or not at all.

   One day the Queen of the Fairies came to the hilltop where the trees stood. She was tall and willowy, she wore a gown made of butterfly wings and her silver hair flowed behind her like a veil of mist.

   She knew the disposition of each of the trees and so she went first to the ash because he was aloof like she was. She said to him, “Ash! My husband has left me because he says he has fallen in love with another woman. How can I win him back?”

   The ash thought for a moment before replying, “you must kill this other woman and he will return to you.”

   The Queen went away and followed the Ash’s advice. She poisoned the woman her husband loved but he did not return to her. So the Queen had the ash chopped down.

   Then she went to the oak because she knew he would help her as best he could and she asked him the same question she had asked the ash.

   The oak answered immediately, “the only way to win him back is to love him, my lady.”

   So the Queen went to her husband, who was grieving, and made him a delicious meal and comforted him in his sadness. But she had not been kind to him for a hundred years and he did not trust her. So he left in the night without telling the Queen where he was going. She ordered the oak to be cut down as well.

   Finally the Queen of the Fairies went to the yew tree and asked her the same question she had asked the ash and the oak.

   Now, the yew had watched her brothers be killed at the hands of the Queen and she would only reply honestly or not at all, so she thought a long time before giving her answer.

   “My lady,” she said, “I cannot answer your question.”

   “Why not?” asked the Queen, imperiously.

   “Because I have seen your heart. If the king knows even a fraction of what is there he will never return to you because you have no real love to offer him.”

   At the yew tree’s words the Queen flew into such a rage that she ran like the wind back down the hill to get an axe and chop the tree down herself. But when she returned the yew was gone. Only a deep hole in the earth showed where she had been.

   As the yew tree predicted the Queens husband never returned to her. The ash became the beams and door of a house but after only a year the house was abandoned and still stands empty today. The oak, on the other hand, was made into a handsome set of doors for a castle and kept its people safe for a very long time.

   Nobody knows what happened to the yew tree, but some say that she hid in a church yard where the Queen of the Fairies would never dare follow.

   The End

I tried to think of a good moral for this story but all I could come up with was this: always give honest advice but be careful who you give it to. It’s actually part of a longer fairytale-type-novel that I’m writing so I didn’t write it with a moral in mind, although it fits in nicely with the broader story.

Inspired by my grandma who regularly took me on jaunts to fairyland by way of the magic swing in her garden.

Naming and Shaming: ashamed of the Gospel

I am ashamed of the Gospel. I don’t want to be and I know you’re not supposed to say that, but I think maybe a lot of other people are experiencing this too so let me explain.

When somebody asks where I’m going on a Thursday evening I'm pretty sure I say the word ‘Union’ noticeably louder than the word ‘Christian’. I’m the sort of person who, when asked what I believe in, tries to explain the Gospel without the words sin, love or grace. Impossible, I know. But shamefully those words make me cringe. This is absolutely, unrequitedly, totally and completely wrong. They are words which represent the red-hot molten core of the Christian faith, and I hardly ever speak them aloud, even to my Christian friends and family.

So having read Romans 1:16-17 where Paul says he isn’t ashamed of the Gospel (and he didn’t need to tell us, his actions make it perfectly clear), I did some serious thinking to try to get to the root of the matter.

The conclusion I came to is that to some extent we are conditioned by society to be embarrassed by religion. Think of the nutters screaming spiritual abuse in the streets, or the corny Sunday schools where the Bible is simplified into stories devoid of meaning, or the many pointless wars fought in the name of Jesus. Think of watery squash in brown glass mugs. Who wants to be associated with that? With all the stereotypical things which we know the Christian faith is not really about but which we also know society associates us with.

When the name Jesus instantly makes you think of beards and sandals and kumbaya it can be hard to repress a cringe, and even harder to tell people about the Gospel. Having been conditioned to be embarrassed of the Christian community I find myself thinking that people aren’t interested in joining it. Society tells us that being ‘religious’ is unnecessary, it’s looking for something more when there’s no need; we should be content with the distant, hopeless gods society gives us (money, celebs, careers) and its arid spiritual landscape.

What an ingenious way for the Devil to stop us spreading Jesus’ good news: make us feel ashamed of it, as if it’s not relevant. But in fact, the lack of spirituality in our society is the very reason that we can and should speak the Gospel. People are not stupid (as we are often led to believe). Most realise that something is missing from their lives, and many know what it is: spirituality. I have a feeling that a lot more people are interested in hearing what we believe than we think.

So, what can we do? First off, if like me you’re scared of saying words like grace or talking about Jesus in front of others then learn what these words really mean and who Jesus really is. That means learning from the Bible, from online sources and from people in the church. These true meanings need to take the place of the Jesus-freak meanings coined by society so that we can talk about them without feeling embarrassed.

Next, try to talk about this stuff more! You DON’T need to throw yourself in at the deep end and start street preaching or praying for strangers on trains. I find it helpful to begin by telling a Christian friend a way in which God has shown himself in my life recently. Easy-peasy, and that will encourage them too.

Pray that God will give you opportunities to discus him with other people, and for the courage to take those opportunities. Don’t stress if you miss them though, God doesn’t have a three-strikes-and-you’re-out rule; there will always be another chance.

Finally, if you aren't a Christian, or if you're not sure if you are, or if you are but would like to know more, please don't be afraid to ask! Christians will admire you for having the guts to question the faith that I bang on about all over this blog and they'll probably be glad that you brought it up first and saved them that awkward question: "soooooo, what do you believe?"

Remember, God isn’t ashamed of you, whether or not you call yourself a Christian, no matter how good you think you’re doing, even if you're ashamed of what you believe in sometimes.

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:2

Fin.

So I've basically been trying to work out why I can't just strike up a conversation about my faith with a stranger on a bus (or even someone I know) and thus forth save them and lead them to the path of righteousness or whatever it is I'm supposed to do. What do you guys think of this? Am I way off the mark here or do other people find it hard to talk about Jesus and stuff?

I've also been told that it's difficult to post comments. There should be the words 'no comments' under this post which you will click on and reach a page where you can post your wonderful thoughts to me.

The 'W' Word

“Enjoy all the useless days of this useless life God had given you here on Earth, because it is all you have.”

I often find myself returning to Ecclesiastes when I don’t know which part of the Bible to read. This seems odd because most of it is King Solomon going on and on about how miserable and pointless life is (although Jesus hadn’t arrived yet so we can cut him some slack). Solomon repeats the point over and over again: that life is painful and useless so we should eat, drink and enjoy being alive.

But the book offers some pretty good advise on how to approach life, and in particular how to approach work. I will totally understand now if, having just worked out that the W word I referred to in the title is Work, you choose to go and play candy crush instead of reading the rest of this. Should you choose to read on I promise to try to write something interesting.

Like many people I struggle to balance how much I work with how much I enjoy myself. Not so long ago I was a fairly typical university student, trying to hold off procrastination enough to pass my degree. My main motivator was guilt. If I didn’t do so many hours in a day it meant I was lazy and therefore a bad person, but soon I realised that the guilt was driving me mad, with my tiny brain going round and round in circles because no matter how guilty I felt I never seemed to do enough work. At this point God took pity on me and led me to Ecclesiastes.

The third verse says “what do people really gain from all the hard work they do here on Earth?” and it forced me to question what I was really gaining from trying to study harder. Mostly a headache. I probably didn't work all that much more and in all honesty I didn’t even want to do a degree by my third year, I just wanted to finish and get the certificate regardless of the numbers written on it. I don’t recommend this attitude towards working, it’s a pretty poor one and doesn’t yield great results. My point is, if you’re striving to work hard at something it should be motivated by a desire to do that something rather than the feeling that you’re a bad person if you don’t do it.

Work is valuable and important. All through the Bible we’re told that working hard is better than being lazy. Even Solomon acknowledges this: “if someone is lazy the roof will begin to fall. If he doesn’t fix it, the house will leak.” (Ecc 10:8). God worked 6 days out of 7. But the Bible doesn’t say “God rested on the seventh day because he’s had a really stressful week and just needed an evening off to watch Poldark and forget that he had to go back in on Monday.” It says that God saw everything he had created and it was very good, so when he finished he rested and blessed that day. This sounds like he enjoyed the work and just wanted to sit back and admire it for a bit. Nice one God.

Whilst growing up, the working people I knew never really had anything good to say about their jobs, and in a society where we are educated in order to achieve money and a career, this whole enjoying work thing is something of an alien concept to me. I’m guessing that this is the case for many of us: the W word invokes visions of uncomfortable shoes and badly fitted nylon trousers, glass-fronted conference rooms and black coffee in paper cups. Oh the horror! Maybe I’ve just watched too much of the Apprentice. But please dear friends, let us return to the wise words of Solomon: “I have seen what is best for people here on Earth. They should eat, drink and enjoy their work.”

It then goes on to say that God blesses some people with the ability to enjoy their work and that he keeps them busy with what they love to do. Doesn’t this kinda sound like God wants us to enjoy work? If that’s the case why aren’t we striving to achieve a job we will enjoy? Perhaps we don’t know what that job could be. Maybe such jobs don’t pay well, or aren't considered a valuable vocation.

Maybe it's time to start seriously thinking and praying over what we really should be doing work-wise. It’s really important to remind ourselves that 1) God doesn’t want us to be miserable. And 2) that no matter who you are and how little you think you have to offer God has a plan for you.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

Fin.

This post is dedicated to all those still studying for exams, and for anyone who has just fallen out of the education system and is wondering what exactly they are going to do with their lives.