JUDGEMENT DAY. Questions you never asked.

“Someday, you’re gonna have to answer for that.”

You’ve probably heard that at some point in your Life. Or, “we will all have to give an account”—-But have you ever asked:

1. What if there is some Afterlife, but not any “life-review” or punishment based on what we did in our lives?
2. Suppose there is life after death but not a Hell? What if there isn’t terrible pain and misery but not ecstatic bliss, either?  What might it be like then?

It gets me curious, when I think about it. What if there is an Afterlife, but not like what we have been taught or heard about?

You may have heard that in Christianity the greatest commandment is to Love God with all thy heart, all thy mind, etc……and that the second greatest commandment is to love thy neighbor as thyself. And so, just picture this:

You’ve died and you are being “weighed in the balance” or, its judgement day and you are being evaluated. And you yourself, in your own defense, say:  But I loved my neighbor as myself. I gave money to a beggar with a cardboard sign. I made sandwiches at the soup kitchen. I jogged and got a ribbon for “raising awareness”. I gave furniture to the Salvation Army.    All of which is nice, but——

What if you were then told:, Yes, those were good, but many of them you did for the recognition you got from other people knowing you did it—-and—-while you did those things, you almost completely ignored the BIGGEST commandment of all:

You never really sought God, or loved him. Certainly nowhere near “with all you Heart, all your Mind, etc”.   Not even close.  On the other hand I must ask: Can it even be done? To put God 1st. Consistently. Who has time? Or maybe thats the problem. It doesnt mean we shouldn’t try. But most of us dont want any one thing, or person, or activity to crowd-out too many other enjoyable things in our Life. A variety of interests and experiences is good, and yet loving God is the greatest commandment. Food for thought.

There must be thousands, millions of people like that. Who worry about “being of service and making a difference” while they practically leave out God. And they act as if they are completely unaware of this. Or maybe they don’t care. They spent sooooo much time on the 2nd commandment (and mostly for recognition) that they 95% ignored the first and greatest commandment.  Let that sink in.

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Andy Stanley & people who left Church

Billy Graham has passed away.
I suspect that Andy Stanley will now be the one who “directs society” rightly or wrongly, about Christianity.
He has recently preached a series of sermons on why people have likely rejected or turned away from Christianity and/or God, but that those versions or beliefs about God, were inaccurate and asks: who told you that? (I wish I could remember the name of this series or how it was worded/titled. Gods of the NO Testament?? Not sure.) But I couldn’t help thinking that people turned away from those things because they heard them in Church, for years, and their lives turned out differently from what they heard. It’s the churches who very likely who told them. Most of the public hasn’t gone to Seminary.

It seems to me as if Andy Stanley is laying groundwork on TV to criticize what has “gone before” in churches and getting ready for some sort of “re-set” as to what the public will be taught. People should be watchful to see where all this goes.
I’ve also heard that Andy has had arguments or disagreements with his dad, Charles Stanley and I think Andy himself has admitted that he likes to read DE-conversion stories (about people who have left the faith). I cant help wondering if sometime in the next few years that he himself may decide he no longer believes anymore. That may not happen. Whether it does or doesn’t is a separate matter.

The main thing with him right now looks to me to be about him trying to convince people that the Christianity folks have left over the last 30 or 40 years wasn’t the “Real” Christianity, and I’m curious to see how he will “define” it all and how he might make it appealing today to get people back into Church, as the numbers are significantly down.

.The sad part is too many people don’t read their New Testaments enough to call him on some of his teachings and challenge or refute him.
Example: will he say that Homosexuality is wrong, as it says, strongly, in the last half of ROMANS, Chapter 1 ?
Example 2: does he preach “Once saved, always saved?”, that you can’t lose your salvation? I believe that is a false doctrine, whoever teaches it. It ignores other clear teaching about “Apostasy”, and falling away, and falling-from-grace, and backsliding.
Where is any preacher on TV on the Daystar television network who will say Homosexuality is a sin? Either they wont, or they will poo-poo it with: welllll, it is, but then so is lying, stealing, lust, etc. That may be true, but you can tell they are really letting it slide. Or, they’ll simply accuse you of “legalism” which is really just a tactic to get you to shut up.  These days church attendance is down in the USA. I wonder what tactics will be used to get the public to become Christians and get them back into church? Joel Osteen is wrong. Rock music and blue jeans has been tried. Hyper-Grace and over-emphasizing “love” has been tried. Beware of falsehoods. Where will it go from here?

Losing Faith in Faith

My last post just before this one, was a PRO-Christian post, in favor of Christianity. This one isn’t. Dan Barker was a Christian but later on he left the faith. He writes about it in his book: Losing Faith in Faith. I was a little reluctant to post this, but as I’ve said before, what you choose to believe or not believe is entirely your own doing. No matter what your religion, philosophy or belief, can it stand up to the embaressing or tough questions that others might raise against it?  If you are a Christian, have you read any skeptical books? Likewise, if you are an Atheist or of some other Faith, have you read any PRO-Christian books? I think that’s fair. Make your own investigation and decide for yourself. One more thing: Barker does give footnotes and references. Do you know of any author who can disprove or counter his footnotes?  Norm Geisler? (Giesler?)  Ron Rhodes? Dan Comfort? To look at it another way,  C.S. Lewis was not a Christian but later he became one, so these things can work both ways.     https://www.amazon.com/Losing-Faith-Preacher-Atheist/dp/1877733075/ref=sr_1_1?s=apparel&ie=UTF8&qid=1516476834&sr=8-1&keywords=losing+faith+in+faith

Comedy: Flip Wilson

Flip Wilson was a huge and well-loved comedy success back in the ’70s. This is from his old TV show where he plays Rev. Leroy, and The Church of What’s Happening Now. Thanks, to Youtube.