Wednesday, July 17, 2019
“But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit upon his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered in his presence, and he will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left. “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’ “Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ “And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’ Matthew 25:31-40
Whatever
do you do with an elephant in the room.
It’s rather difficult to ignore a beast that’s 13 feet high, weighs-in
at 7 tons and eats 300lbs of veggies out of your fridge every day![2] But that’s a theological reality for many
people when the topic turns toward judgment day. So many categorically deny a final judgment,
where unbelievers are consigned to everlasting punishment, or Hell. Rob Lowe, a “Christian” preacher, at the
outset of his rise to rock star status in evangelical circles, at least seemed
orthodox; then came Love Wins, his book unveiling his
Universalism view, that, ultimately there is no judgment…God unconditionally forgives
and loves everybody forever, believers and unbelievers alike.
The
question, then, is whatever became of sin, punishment, and
accountability? It’s the new
elephant in the room when it comes to passages like Matthew 25 (and about 1259
other chapters in Scripture).
So, if Scripture
is wrong, and Rob Lowe is right, along with all the other Universalists,
atheists, agnostics, (and whatever other terms you can dredge-up for those who
snicker at the thought of an actual judgment day), that must mean that I can live
my life the way I want, take whatever I want, ignore whomever is in need, build
my empire, exploit the weak, and generally just have a fine time being the
master of my fate, the captain of my life’s ship, and get heaven in the bargain? I can be Joel Osteen, Donald Trump, and Genghis
Khan all rolled in one, and God’s gonna break into a huge, welcoming smile when
I hit the pearly gates?
Is that
it?
Or is the
truth found in Christian orthodoxy, the faith handed down from Jesus through
the apostles, recorded and taught for two-thousand years…not to mention the
unquestioned teaching of the Old Testament’s four-thousand-year history of
accountability and judgment for sin.
So, is it
orthodox truth, or the hare-brained neo-orthodoxy of the late 20th
century that says just go with my Burger King theology…have it your
way! If the hare-brains are
right, we are all going to have to take a scissors to our Bibles…and cut out
the last part of Jesus’ words recorded in Matthew’s Gospel. He said:
“And he will answer, ‘I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me.’ “And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life.” Matthew 25:44-46
For You Today
With so much emphasis these days on unity with total acceptance of
everybody’s thoughts or lifestyle, and the vilification of any kind of separation,
or differences, from life roles to unmarked bathrooms, the idea that one person
might go to heaven while another winds up in hell, is as intolerant an idea for
this generation as can be. It is put in
the waste-bin of rejected out-of-hand nonsense, and totally unsuitable for
rational culture.
Oh my…that sounds like something of a judgment, doesn’t it?
Go to VIDEO
[1]
Title Image: Pixabay.com Unless otherwise noted, Scripture used from
The
New Living Translation©
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