Diana:   Daniel, it just isn’t registering with this man … People who want to change the Bible into what they want?  Well, we simply have to pray they get it before it’s too late … Revelation 21:8, Revelation 21:27 and Revelation 22:14 — that is what I read today, and it’s all through the Bible, starting with Genesis, that men cannot lay with men and that being sexually immoral will send you to fiery flames.

 

Scaughdt:   Diana, everything that you & Dan & Lucy & Bart have been saying here has registered perfectly with me so far.  After all, your belief system about the Bible is pretty standard man-made, evangelical, “born again” dogma – the same stuff that about 40% of your fellow Christians believe (at least in relation to homosexuality; the topic at hand) … It is also very similar stuff to that which I have heard pretty regularly over the past 40+ years of my life, so I’m really not feeling that confused by anything you have offered so far …

 

I think where you get confused about my full understanding of your denomination’s particular biblical interpretations is where I show no fear of being damned to Hell … Rest assured that this lack of angst is not due to any arrogant certainty that I will not be going there.   As a devout Follower of The Way of Christ, it is critical for me to purposefully remain “humble as a child” (Matthew 18:3) – even in those times when my personal experience has shown my opinion to be probably correct (as is currently the case).  To remain sincerely open to truly Loving you & yours, I must remain purposefully open to the possibility (however slim) that you are right & I am wrong regarding my own post-mortem destination.  This I have done …
And yet even though I know that I might indeed be cast into Hell by your God after I die (or am refused entrance to Heaven and thereby end up in Hell indirectly – effectively the same thing), I am not at all afraid of this fate … How is this possible, you might wonder?  Well basically, it is because I am currently actively living The Way of Christ – a Way of Being that repeatedly turns away from one’s own personal desires & one’s own personal fears in order to turn towards others and actively Care for them.   And this is what crushes my fear of Hell (1 John 4:18) and this is what allows me to repeatedly enter the “Kingdom of Heaven” that Jesus repeatedly mentions in the Gospels (see Luke 17:20-21 + almost all of his parables) … Will this Way of Living get me into Paul’s post-mortem paradise after I die? Probably not, I must admit – and yet I cannot be truly walking The Way of Christ as long as I am striving in any way to attain my own post-mortem salvation, or am in any way worrying about my post-mortem damnation … Got it?
It’s really not rocket science, my dear … I simply would much rather have the guarantee of regularly inhabiting Jesus’ Kingdom in this lifetime than abandoning that Heaven for the mere possibility of an eternity with your somewhat fickle God … And, the “Heaven” in which you believe would actually be a form of Hell for me anyway; to know that I had been singled out to receive an eternal reward of pleasure & comfort while billions of Souls just as deserving as my own are burning forever below me.  That kind of raw injustice & flagrant cruelty would drive me crazy, and if I couldn’t convince God to wake up and remember the perfect Love that Jesus said He once knew (Matthew 5:48), then I would have to remain true to my (ironically God-given – see John 14:26 & John 15:26) moral standards and depart from that wicked place … So I think you can see that I really do get it; I just don’t ethically resonate with it.
 

 

Diana:   You’re just sick.

 

Scaughdt:   Hmmmm — sick of Paul’s warped teachings usurping The Way of Christ perhaps, but I think I know what you mean … And rest assured that you are fully forgiven for that attempted insult …

 

 

Diana:   Poor Scaughdt — so blind.  Please, before it is too late — Wake up!

 

Scaughdt:   Thank you for your concern, Diana!   Even though you are worshiping a God who you believe is going to condemn me to an eternity of ruthless suffering, I send you great blessings of Peace & Joy anyway …

 

And you know, seeing as how The Apocalypse of Peter is still valid Scripture to this very day (at least according to 2 Timothy 3:16), none of us really have too much to worry about.  For in that particular holy scroll, Jesus notes that those who are saved can petition God to grant mercy for the damned in Hell (after reaping only what they have sown), and then come to Heaven thereafter.  As such, my Friend, I am wondering:  Will you consider doing that for us?  If you end up being correct and go to Heaven after you die – while I with billions of other “sinners” are forced to remain in Hell – will you petition God for mercy on our behalf?   Will you attempt to awaken in Him the perfect Love that Jesus claimed he once knew but has obviously forgotten (Matthew 5:48 + Luke 6.36 + Matthew 8:21-22 et al)?

Filed under: Burnishing Bigotry by Scaughdt