About a year ago, I was introduced to an incredible young man who, despite our differences in ages, has become quite a mentor and friend. I don't think my "blood" son would be disappointed if I said CJ has become very much la son. I was so honored when a mutual friend of ours told me that CJ thought of Elaine and me as his second "parents."
Shortly after we met, we were talking about our mutual faith in the living Jesus Christ and what that meant in our lives. The conversation got around to my departed Dad who had passed without my knowing his "eternal destiny." He was a "good guy," but, as we have all been taught, that won't "...gitcha inta heaven." In the then two years since losing Dad, I had really struggled with this.
As tears welled up in my eyes, CJ put his arm around me and assured me that my Dad was fine. He said Hell was a Christian myth and tradition and teaching that has caused nothing but pain, suffering and misery. I looked at him and said, "Oh, CJ, how I hope and pray you are right. I don't think you ARE...that flies directly in the face of everything I have been taught for over 40 years and what has been a tenant of the Christian Faith for its entire existence." (Or, so I thought.)
He asked if I was willing to research it for myself. I considered the Bereans:
Act 17:11 These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
Most of whom I have shared these concepts have rejected them out of hand without even a smidgen of consideration. I have been labeled a heretic to be avoid at all costs. All I know is the incredible changes that have taken place in my life as the scriptures began to be opened to me by, I believe, the Holy Spirit. How could the church have it wrong all these years? Yes, I asked that. All the learned leaders in the Christian church and in our seminaries? Wrong? Yes, I asked that, as well.
However, I realized I had nothing to lose by "...searching the scriptures daily, whether those things were so." If I discovered CJ to be wrong, then I would just continue suffering in the wonderment of my probably lost dad. Is God going to chasten me, or anyone else, for actively seeking to prove or disprove a commonly accepted tenant? The Bereans chose to go against the mainstream, the learned, the establishment, to discover for themselves "....whether those things were so." After all, the Pharisees and Sadducees, the establishment at the time of Jesus knew the scriptures forwards and backwards and kept the laws and rites and sacrifices and KNEW the God of Abraham. And, yet...they MISSED the very Christ who was even IN their very presence! Is it SO hard to accept the POSSIBILITIES, remote as they may be, that we have also missed Him. Missed the real possibility that His sacrifice will actually redeem ALL those for whom He died? Is it wrong to at least search and see if God's LOVE actually outweighs man's perverted concept of God's justice?
I'm searching. I'm finding my answers. I would so encourage you to do the same. At the very least your research will CONFIRM what you already believe resulting in increased confidence in your witness.
Welcome aboard??
