Latter Day Sinner

As most of you know by now I argue divinity on the Internet. Sometimes I get sympathy, sometimes I get derision, and sometimes I get blocked. I had a relatively pleasant conversation with a stranger that eventually made it to the 64 Thousand Dollar Question: I take it you are not a Christian? It got me thinking about when Jesus preached “Not everyone who says Lord Lord will enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” This obviously refers to Christians that acknowledge Jesus with their lips but deny him with their lifestyle. But there are three other categories. The ones who both speak and live of Christ. The ones who do neither. And then there are people who deny Christ with their lips but acknowledge him with their lifestyle. The first is obviously fit for Christ’s Kingdom. The second obviously is not. But the third? What of them? I find myself more and more in that last category. What of me? If I can’t honestly call myself a Christian for doctrinal reasons but live a life that is at least reasonably Christlike, then am I still in some way fit for his Kingdom? There’s a character in CS Lewis’s The Last Battle from The Chronicles of Narnia series that never wanted to know Aslan but when Narnia was dissolving Aslan took him to the higher country because his life was acceptable even if his affiliations were not. I’ve always identified with that character. I see good in people who do not know Christ and even some who do not want to know Christ. I wonder and I worry about them and suspect that the fate of my eternal spirit is tied in helping people be better people whether Christ is in their life or not.

And yet I argue with strangers on the Internet about whether a traditional testimony of Christ is really the best way to find the divine. I obviously don’t think it is or I would be trying to get one. That pisses people off. Merely stating that I don’t see compelling evidence that a book in finite fallible human words written by finite fallible humans could somehow still be inerrant is enough to make people acknowledge Jesus with their lips but deny him with their lifestyle. It’s puzzling to me how unchristian some people get when I question some of the basic tenants of Christianity. Before long they are crying “Lord, Lord!” and telling me to go to Hell in the same breath. If I believed in a literal Hell I’d probably be more concerned. I wouldn’t want to worship a god who condemns people for eternity even if every choice they made in seventy or eighty years was a sinful one. If that’s the real God and He damns me to Hell, then Heaven probably isn’t all it’s cracked up to be either.

I tend to have a proximic view of the afterlife. Those who love and serve God are invited into His presence. The greater the service the closer to God they will be. On the other hand those who want little or nothing to do with God are “rewarded” with the degree of separation that they have earned. God honors everyone’s choices in my view of Heaven. This is vaguely like the doctrine of three heavenly kingdoms and outer darkness in LDS doctrine, but the Church is a little self serving that tithes and temples get you into the best kingdom. Reminds me a little of Papal indulgences. But that’s an argument for another day and a much more heavily LDS audience than y’all are. Live a life worthy of Crist and keep being awesome.

12 August 2023