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Ezekiel 36:26"I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh." NIV One of the biggest problems with Salvation is the potential for sin associated with the persistence of the self into the afterlife. As many, if not most Christians will fess up to, they still make mistakes and they still sin from time to time in one way or another. But in the afterlife, supposedly no one will sin in the Kingdom of God. Clearly, something has to change. God will give the Saved a new heart, and a new spirit, such that they will never stray again. But at that point, will they really be themselves anymore? Or will they simply be puppets resembling their former selves? And why not just start out that way, instead of condemning billions to the eternal junk pile as ultimate failures? While our mistakes, errors, and failings do not, or at least should not, define us, the potential for imperfection is what helps us identify and value the best qualities and achievements within ourselves and others, what drives us toward continual improvement and mastery, and what reveals to us the true nature and need of grace and love. As much as I hate to be wrong, I know it makes me a better person. It would be a shame to lose that facet of existence for all eternity. To err is human. :-) |
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
A New Heart - Holy Mackerel!
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Love it. I've heard this question asked a number of times and I've never heard a good answer. It's also something that never occurred to me while I was a Christian, so I have no idea how I personally would have made excuses for this. Do you happen to known if there is a somewhat standard Christian response to this?
ReplyDeleteThanks Hausdorff! I don't know if there is a standard response to this question, as I rarely see debates get into that type of platform thinking. But I think that questions like this can at least initiate some deeper thought in people who haven't taken the time to think out whether or not the details make sense. I think that, because such a question is not inherently confrontational, but rather it invites them to consider their own theology on a less superficial level.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a Christian, I thought heaven would be perfect (and on earth) because the evil would be sealed off and god's goodness so strong that we wouldn't even be tempted. Plus, we'd have wisdom - you know better, you do better kind of thinking. The opposite to the Eden story, actually.
ReplyDeleteIn order to keep heaven from being boring, I imagined we'd have eternity to fix all the problems humans caused on earth and learn to really manage the ecosystem so there would be no starvation. Then we'd be free to learn about the universe and develop technology to explore it!
I just didn't acknowledge the paradox you point out. Plus, we had universalistic tendencies, so all life would be 'redeemed' and either the devil was a metaphorical twistedness of thought or would also be redeemed. Hell wouldn't last forever, just learning and adventure.
I miss my idea of heaven.
Prarienymph, that sounds like a great version of heaven! :-) It's like what we have now, only a lot better!
ReplyDeleteTo me, a vision like that is good to have, as long as we know we play the larger role in bringing it to fruition than any deity. Although we have many, many problems in our world today, I think humanity is gradually making that most of that vision a reality. Although it's not likely to be complete in our lifetimes, technology, and the interconnectedness of the globe through it, are speeding up progress of that vision. At least I hope so!
Did you create that comic yourself, as it appears?!? If so, I'm very impressed! I would love to get into the issue it raises, but not until our debate on your other blog has been completed. I can only handle one at a time. ;-)
ReplyDeleteThanks Mr. Wallflower! With a lot of help from photoshop, yes, I made the comic myself. :-)
ReplyDelete