Bitter, are we?

As you may have read here a few days ago, I've been reading and listening to a lot of things about hell lately, and particularly about our (i.e. Christians') various views of what hell is, what hell means, how hell came about, etc, etc. There are some great books and more that I want to add to my reading list.

There's one thing, one thought that came to me whilst reading all this, that I haven't been able to shake. We have to make a lot of assumptions . . . but hypothetically, if at the end of time, what would happen if God was, in fact, a universalist in His view of hell - aka, everyone gets in because of God's grace - whether they lived their lives in a "worthy" way or not? Would we be bitter? Would we be "happy" for the "sinners" or would be put out they they actually got shown God's incredible love in that way?

We get bitter at a lot of things. It doesn't take much - I remember one instance where a friend of mine got bitter because privileges were extended to our peers that hadn't been extended to us in the past - when we were at that "lower" position. Completely not a big deal (and I'm deliberately staying cryptic here).

But I think this reflects some of our thoughts on heaven and hell. It's almost as though we are, at best, indifferent about them being sent to hell (are they expendible because they're going there anyway?) and we would be upset if we lived our lives to get into heaven and then God had to ruin it and let everyone in.

I relate to the pseudo-fictional Chip from The Last Word, and the Word After That who says that there are two sets of questions depending on your view of life, the universe, and everything:

In my way of telling the gospel, what [is called] the modern Western way, there were always two key questions:

1. If you were to die tonight, do you konw for certain that you'd go to be with God in heaven?
2. If Jesus returned today, would you be ready to meet God?

Jesus is important because he paid for your sins when he died on the cross, so if you die tonight, or if Jesus returns today, you'll be forgiven and you can enter heaven.

But in this new understanding of the gospel, two very different questions come to mind:

1. If you were to live for another 50 years, what kind of person would you like to become - and how will you become that kind of person?
2. If Jesus doesn't return for ten thousand or ten million years, what kind of world do we want to create?

Here Jesus is important because he leads you and forms you to become a better and better person, and the kind of people who truly follow his way will create a good and beautiful world.

The first set of questions, which used to satisfy me, don't anymore, at least not on their own. I'm realizing that both sets of questions have validity, and the second may be more important.

I, too, am realizing that the second set of questions are vastly more important than the first. I'm less like Chip in that I've never subscribed to the first set of questions to the same degree as he describes.

And there are a lot of other things going on in my head as well. Things about church, about faith, and worship that the established faith community are not fulfilling. I'm neither benefiting nor being a benefit in the current arrangement.

In anycase, one final quote:

To believe in God is to believe in the salvation of the world. The paradox of our time is that those who believe in God do not believe in the salvation of the world, and those who believe in the future of the world, do not believe in God.

Christians believe in the "end of the world," they expect the final catastrophe, the punishment of others.

Athiests in their turn . . . refuse to believe in God because Christians believe in him and take no interest in the world . . .

Which is the more culpable ignorance?

. . . I often say to myself that, in our religion, God must feel very much alone: for is there anyone besides God that believes in the salvation of the world? god seeks among us sons and daughters who resemble him enough, who love the world enough so that he could send them into the world to save it.

Louis Evely, In the Christian Spirit (Image, 1975)

That's it. More to come.

Grace,

Des