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This is sort of an afterthought about yesterdays post. I recently posted excerpts from a discussion between Shane Claiborne and Tony Campolo about interfaith dialogue. Within In the course of the discussion Tony said the following...
Catholicism would say that at the moment of death every person is confronted in that split moment with Christ and is given the opportunity of saying yes or no. To say otherwise is to say God has got to be a pretty unfair deity, to condemn three quarters of the human race to hell without them ever having a chance.
Max Lucado says something quite similar in his book Traveling Light
What of those who die with no faith? My husband never prayed. My grandpa never worshiped. My mother never opened a Bible, much less her heart. What about the one who never believed?
How do we know he didn’t?
Who among us is privy to a person’s final thoughts? Who among us knows what transpires in those final moments? Are you sure no prayer was offered? Eternity can bend the proudest knees. Could a person stare into the yawning canyon of death without whispering a plea for mercy? And could our God, who is partial to the humble, resist it?
He couldn’t on Calvary. The confession of the thief on the cross was both a first and final one. But Christ heard it. Christ received it. Maybe you never heard your loved one confess Christ, but who’s to say Christ didn’t?
We don’t know the thoughts of a dying soul, but we know this. We know our God is a good God. He is “not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9 NKJV
He wants your loved one in heaven more than you do. And he usually gets what he wants.
Grace for the Moment, Volume II Originally excerpted from
Max is not a universalist…for sure….he makes it very clear in his book 3:16 The Numbers of Hope…but this is pretty close…or as Shane Claiborne says: " If those of us who believe in God do not believe God's grace is big enough to save the whole world... well, we should at least pray that it is.”
It is Shane…it is….
2 comments:
Yeah, it is :)
There are so many presuppositions people carry round. They see the verse "It is appointed unto man once to die and then the judgment". And this going on the assumption that we live this life here and then there is "eternity" to come (I hate that word. We have made it bloody boring.)
What is "the judgment"? How is God so bound by all of these things that he could not have saved everybody without us all knowing ... and it is simply a matter of us coming to that acceptance, however that takes.
I can't believe how BORING Christianity has made everyting. Even death and dying and the ages beyond this one. God's redemption is something small that could be likened to an Act with 17 different sections and sub-sections. It's ALL SO BORING!!!
Thank goodness though we are not bound by our own stupid conceptions. I love hearing what others are pondering. It heartens me and is a healing sort of a thing after being stuck under the drudgery of what rich white people have considered is meant by "redemption" and what happened on Calvary.
Bring on the next bit, Papa. We're ready! :)
Sue...
Great musings. Thanks for the comments...
Cindi....
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