I have been a Christian all my life. I almost literally lived at church when I was in high school...if I wasn't at school or sleeping, I was more likely at church. Why? Mostly because my mom was in charge of some of the music, and for some reason, she would drag me along. Didn't always like it, but church tended to give me a sense of peace and kept me out of too much trouble. Still does, actually. But lately, I've had some questions, so I figured I may as well post them here.
So...why does God care so much if we 'believe'? According to Paul, faith is a gift from the holy spirit, something that we cannot attain on our own. But everybody's favorite verse, John 3:16, states, "For God so loved the world that he sent his son so that all who believe may not perish, but have eternal life." So what gives? If we believe, we go to heaven. But belief is a gift from God. And not everyone believes. So that means that God only saw fit to give certain people this gift, and all the people he didn't choose to are damned? I have serious issues with this. I tend to be something of a Universalist...I truly believe that God loves ALL his children, and EVERYONE (even Hitler, serial killers and atheists) goes to heaven. I have a hard time putting into words exactly why I believe this, but I do. And the thought that God could be so petty so as to deny his amazing love to someone, simply because they don't 'believe'...is not the picture of God that I know, and frankly, I don't know that I would want to follow a God that petty.
Second of all, and this is a more recent qualm, is what the heck was the point of the crucifixion and resurrection? In his sermon this morning, Pastor Bob stated that these were necessary for our redemption, otherwise we would simply be known as the Friends of the Galilean Ethics Club. But...WHY? In our Adult Ed forum a few Sundays ago, we discussed some of this. But it left me quite unsatisfied. The answer that I got was along the lines of God's excessive love for us. Which is great. That much is fine. One conclusion I came to was that God saw that it was the right time to inform the world of his amazing grace, and the whole 'love thy neighbor' bit, knowing full well that at that time it would have been considered extremely blasphemous and quite dangerous to the Romans in charge and that Jesus would most likely be sentenced to an excruciating death. God so loved the world, that he sent his only son to die painfully so that we might know him. That's all I got.
But then why the resurrection? How the heck are we redeemed through it? Or is it another 'so we believe' thing? The only way it makes any sense to me is if there is another party...Satan, perhaps. Like if God made a deal with the devil, and said ok, you can have my son and then the rest of the world belongs to me. And then he and all of his angels went and fought Satan and his minions, defeated him, and then not only got Jesus back but the world too.
Makes for a great story. Unfortunately, I have at least two problems with this scenario. First of all, I don't really believe in Satan. Just don't. To me, there is one higher power, and that is God. Like darkness is simply the absence of light, cold is the absence of heat, evil is the absence of God. So...no one to make this deal with. Second of all...and maybe even bigger...is that I feel it is going down the wrong path to think that God would even make a deal with anyone. People talk about Jesus being as the Passover lamb: a sacrifice. Why would God sacrifice anything to anybody? I don't like it.
A retired pastor at my church (Pastor Ed, who happens to be Pastor Bob's father-in-law) said that the 'pound of flesh' debate is a medieval idea. But all I really got from what he said afterward is that God loves us a whole bunch and the logistics of how we are saved through Jesus is 'God's business.'
Happy Easter, everyone.
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