tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post1377561606339395257..comments2024-03-28T16:35:26.665+00:00Comments on Bruce Charlton's Notions: Being a Good Person is not enough - not here and not now...Bruce Charltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-60156274497468315012017-08-27T16:48:12.341+01:002017-08-27T16:48:12.341+01:00@JW - I think universalism denies the reality of h...@JW - I think universalism denies the reality of human free agency and human evil; whereas I believe that people could and would choose to reject the gift of Christ's salvation. <br /><br />Indeed, I don't find this difficult to understand, having been an atheist most of my life and given that the standard mainstream Western public morality is one which would certainly reject Christ's salvation. <br /><br />On the other hand, if at any point anybody did repent, then I am sure that God would welcome them. However, I do not think we can assume that everybody would repent - not given what we know about people. <br /><br />The important thing is that nobody who wants to live as part of God's family in Heaven would ever be rejected from it.Bruce Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-65472741628234502262017-08-22T07:05:50.497+01:002017-08-22T07:05:50.497+01:00Snufkin, I believe the idea originally comes from ...Snufkin, I believe the idea originally comes from Malachi, with his metaphor of the sun.Wm Jas Tychonievichhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07446790072877463982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-9440356906785361642017-08-22T04:51:27.056+01:002017-08-22T04:51:27.056+01:00Snufkin, I believe the idea originally comes from ...Snufkin, I believe the idea originally comes from Malachi, with his metaphor of the sun.Wm Jas Tychonievichhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07446790072877463982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-3150062021029806602017-08-21T21:39:27.957+01:002017-08-21T21:39:27.957+01:00@JW - My point is about what people will choose fo...@JW - My point is about what people will choose for themselves - *very often* often it is impossible to persuade people to choose what is best for them. Bruce Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-15957491215102204102017-08-21T18:10:00.411+01:002017-08-21T18:10:00.411+01:00Yes Snufkin, C.S. Lewis's fictional meditation...Yes Snufkin, C.S. Lewis's fictional meditation on Heaven and Hell, The Great Divorce, is predicated on very similar lines.John Fitzgeraldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13951246561259007162noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-70104629679362472862017-08-21T17:34:38.069+01:002017-08-21T17:34:38.069+01:00"Motivation is everything because motivation ..."Motivation is everything because motivation is our true inner self, it reflects our evaluations, our aims, our hopes and wishes - and the normal attitude of normal people nowadays is one of inversion of the Good - virtue is inverted, beauty is inverted."<br /><br />I don't think it is necessarily so binary. I think that there are many people who profess the secular received wisdom, but who do not believe it in their hearts. They live in a world of lies, and present an acceptable face to it. The motivation here is survival. Their sin is to fail to stand up to the demonic and back Christ outwardly. They are full of fear, and they feel powerless to do anything about it. I think these sort of people look to Christ in their hearts, profess him within, and even if they never admit it to the world, at death, given the choice, they will accept Christ. Because Christ came to help the weak in faith ("poor in spirit"), I hope that his suffering on the cross covers these people, and he will welcome them, even if it is with a rueful smile.<br /><br />"Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."<br />(Matthew 5:3)<br /><br />If this reading of scripture isn't the case, then I fear heaven will be sparsely populated, and that doesn't strike me as God's plan at all. I tend towards the universalist in my thinking, which is not mainstream, and not your view Bruce. By analogy, I suppose I think of Christ as an 'A' level examiner. He likes to award one A grade, but he loves even more to award a million E grades. After all, it's still a pass.Jane Wrigghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15953428874073191778noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-64600333465024998682017-08-21T14:19:45.127+01:002017-08-21T14:19:45.127+01:00This reminds me of the teachings of the Orthodox C...This reminds me of the teachings of the Orthodox Church, which I often find quite helpful. <br /><br />It says that Heaven and hell are in fact the same place; an afterlife in the absolute presence of the pure energies of God. The blessed people will perceive these energies as a divine Light, an everlasting bliss — whereas the condemned will perceive the very SAME energies as horrible, consuming fire.<br /><br />In other words: God has not created a specific place where He is not present (a hell). It is all in the eye of the beholder, and certainly a consequence of the lives we have lived.Snufkinnoreply@blogger.com