Jesus brought life eternal in Heaven for those who want it. That's what needs to be communicated.
If we can understand that, if we want that gift, recognise that we want it, decide to accept that gift - then the rest follows, sooner or later, one way or the other.
(Thanks to the Holy Ghost - the spirit of Jesus Christ - our guide and comforter; all this is available to anybody at any time, for the asking - sooner or later.)
The spiritual war is between those who want what Jesus offers; and those who reject it.
The battles in spiritual war are fought over the undecided souls, the waverers, the drifters, the sleepwalkers, those who Love but whose love is misdirected.
(The undecided souls' personal battles are to understand, to know, to decide, to commit.)
Those who are incapable of love are self-doomed, they are the demons and the servants of demons - they are the other side, but the battles are not 'about' them.
To try and evangelise demons is misplaced effort that might save others. We should be battling them, not arguing with them.
(Of course we may be mistaken that some specific person is demonic in desire. But we must discern, judge and act on that judgment - to the best of our ability. Once one is personally sure - by clear intuition confirmed by the Holy Ghost - then such persons become The Enemy; they are not the subject over-which we struggle.)
8 comments:
Do you think Evil people is not capable to chose eternal life and Heaven?
I agree with your perception of self chosen damnation in a lot of cases, specially the ones who choose unconsciousness or Nirvana, or the ones loving Evil too much. But I don't know how that fits with God punishment as described a lot of times in the Bible.
Is not possible to have smart bad guys thinking: "OK I'm gonna behave badly in this life, and when I die choose go to Heaven without repent, and trick God"?
Would they prefer to go to Hell to suffer and keep on going with their vices?
God has set up the game so is impossible to people deserving Hell to get to Heaven, without him even to act?
@SS - Not 100% sure what you're asking. But the way I believe it works is that to enter Heaven requires repentance and making a permanent committment to love. Then Heaven is harmonious and good, permanently; everybody having the aim of contributing to loving creation.
(BTW: The traditional Christian teaching is that everybody deserves Hell, no exceptions. Everybody can enter Heaven by following Jesus - never too late.)
I don't believe we can ever rule anyone out entirely.
Acts 9
Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. 3 As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.
“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. 6 “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.
Thanks Dr. Charlton. Your blog is very inspiring and brings a lot of wisdom.
Kind regards from Spain.
@Nova - Yes, but that is a different question. You are talking about the certainty of knowledge; and knowledge can never be certain.
We must judge, and act upon our judgments, and failure to do so is to sin.
We often bet our lives on our judgments - how could it be otherwise?
(We bet our lives - and more - upon our judgment of who should be our spouse, for example.)
We may be wrong, that's a fact.
We must also be prepared to change our judgment if significant new knowledge indicates so.
A great post. Makes the stakes and the contestants clear.
Saul of Tarsus was given a great gift. God saw what was in him, and what Paul would be once God inspired him to cease being Saul. Though He did have to scare him sightless first.
But what of those who are not given over to evil but nevertheless spend their lives denying the divinity of Jesus Christ? Observant Jews and Muslims explicitly reject Christian teaching about Jesus, yet there are upright Jews and Muslims. Virtuous Hindus and Buddhists may not be as compelled to deny the Jesus's divinity as Jews and Muslims are, but they typically either disregard Him altogether or lump Him in amongst a selection of moral teachers.
Are such people damned, or at the moment of death will someone tell them "What you have been seeking, the real truth behind what you believed, is Jesus Christ. Accept Him."? And will those people have the spiritual discernment or guidance in that moment to accept Him? The Catholic Church (mine) has long taught extra ecclesiam, nulla salus.
That seems draconian, and not fully consistent with a loving God. Unless... there is some means for non-evil non-Christians to see and, when the scales fall from their eyes and despite life-long rejection of Him, embrace Jesus Christ and accept His offer - which must still be freely and knowingly chosen.
"To try and evangelise demons is misplaced effort..."
I think it was actually Christopher Hitchens who told this joke:
A priest was at the Gates of Heaven, about to be admitted. He said to St. Peter,
"Surely I would be better used ministering to the poor souls in Hell."
St. Peter grinned and said, "You don't get it, do you?"
HRS writes above:
And will those people have the spiritual discernment or guidance in that moment to accept Him?
It seems to me that we have our mission and if we accept the need for repentance and atonement through faith, then that faith also includes that He would have the pathways for all on earth sorted out. I don't feel the need to think it any further than that. The system is good and sufficient.
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