Christians sadly often think they are specially chosen by God as if they are in some exclusive club.
The truth is the entire world is in the same club. What's the club? The club is of the forgiven human race whom God has decided to absolve of all it's past present and future sins eternally.
No there are no conditions ... You don't have to change or be good or get the right attitude. God has the right to do whatever He wants and He has decided to give this gift gratis to the planet. He has flatly signed an unconditional release, acquittal and not guilty verdict on the entire planet. We may think this is I'll advised and may even promote more bad behavior. But what's done is done and God is at peace with His decision and Has literally swore He will not change His mind.
My friend Who shall remain annonymous will write me right after she sees this post and say " wait a minute you have to do something... You have to believe" Yes and no. Believing doesn't make it true ( your forgiveness). You are forgiven eternally whether you come to the party or not.
Here is an illustration I am borrowing from an author. Pretend you are chronically I'll and have been hospitalized for a couple months. Every night you worry that the leaky roof on your house is letting rain in and destroying your house.
You worry and fret every night and can' t sleep because you know you can't fix it. One day your brother in law waltzes in to your hospital room and announces to you that last week He got a work crew together and completely tore out the old roof to the rafters and replaced it with a brand new roofand it's leakproof!
Well whether you believe it or not.. You have a new roof and your problems are over. If you believe Him you will enjoy your hospital stay and get some rest and peace. If you don't believe Him you will worry and fret even though you have a new roof.
All faith does is allow you to enjoy the benefits of your roof. It doesn't create the roof. Your brother in law put the roof on before He knew whether you would appreciate it or not.
Admittedly to lay there and not believe your brother in law and to continue to fret and worry is a he'll of a thing to do in the misery department.
Now back to my main point about the nonexclusive club. Jesus flatly states if He dies He will lift "All men to Himself". He really is the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the disciplined and principled (??)..Noooo He takes away the sins of the entire world!
Christians aren't special. Let's be honest, they are not even especially sin free. A good share of the time they embarrass themselves and the gospel with their mean spirited political views and biases and colossal public disgraces.
So what is the advantage of a Christian?
1st Timothy 4:10
"God is the savior of all men, especially those that believe"
Here's what Christians have. They believe that God showed the planet who He was in the man Jesus Christ. They believe this Jesus was God in the flesh inviting all to the party..the drunks, the straights, the gays, the tax cheats, and all the riffraff. The nice people are invited also although a lot of times they are busy.
So Christians are lucky to believe this. They can maybe sleep at night because they believe their roof is not leaking. However they better not think they are special and in the club and the world is not.
So the entire planet stands in this unconditional grace and forgiveness. Everyone is under this cloud of forgiveness from Hitler to Mother Theresa. Hitler is a tough one isn't it? His evildoing was appalling and unparalleled. But somehow the eternal word brought Him into being and the image of God was in Him.
Will Hitler be in heaven? Who knows but I say He has a decent chance. God has certainly made a way for Him to get there. We ourselves aren't going to be there based on our behavior are we? In fact the bible says we are dead in our sins and our only hope is to be resurrected in the righteousness of Christ. Well that's His only chance also. He will be raised from the dead with the opportunity to enter the party if He accepts this weird gift of acceptance based on no merit of His own. Luther once said " God forbid that I should limit the time for acquiring faith to this present life. In the depths of the divine mercy there may be opportunity to win it in the future state"
It's clear that some will turn this down. It's hard to fathom... But our drive to justify ourselves is very powerful... Don't underestimate it.
Now in this piece I have gladly strayed from old time Evangelical Christian theology because it makes no sense. That line of thinking would say you have to accept Jesus consciously in this life to see heaven. Well that eliminates way more than 1/2 the planet. I do agree no one enters the kingdom but by Christ. Yes; Christ has saved Mohammed the little boy born in Tunisia who was run over by a school bus. Yes Christ has saved His Father who never gave salvation much thought and spent most of His conscious hours driving cab to support His wife and 6 children in fluxing Mohammed on $125.00 per month.
Jesus death and resurrection is way more than enough to guarantee their eternity. There is certainly the mystery of iniquity that must be allowed for. These two Muslim folks I used for examples may decide they don't like this giving person with pierced hands who asks nothing from them. Whenever they meet Him in truth they may decide it's not for them. But we are not to decide how Jesus meets them whether it's now through a radio broadcast or later thru Jesus meeting Him at their death. You cannot bet against Gods mercy!
Mercy always has and always will triumph over judgment or none of us have a chance. This planet has never stopped topping itself thinking of new ways to harm each other and turn justice on it's head. But God has never changed His mind and waits as more and more billions of people born in His son's image become eligible for His grace and forgiveness..
Why do we love bad news even when it works against us?Why do we react against the absolutely tipsy turvy grace of God? Why are we more comfortable with comeuppance and conditions which can never be met and being certain those nasty people get what's coming to them?
Even when it makes us miserable we won't allow someone to take grace too far. Why people might take advantage of such grace and start living immorally! Well people do that anyway. People don't need permission to do whatever they want; they just take it when they want it.
If God had allowed our behavior before or after we hear about the gift, to determine whether He would give it...we would all be lost.
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