…is God’s message
I like to imagine myself as a today’s “Elihu”. He was a commonologist.
We are one human race made up of billions of INDIVIDUALS. We each have unique thoughts, so having different detail beliefs about God is expected.
If we think rationally about one another’s cultural inheritance and respect that we each have unique life experiences. We can gently question the “only Christians make it to Heaven” as self-centered thinking.
People can love each other without the Bible. Not everyone is exposed to Christianity. Even if they are exposed, many do not believe it’s truth. I believe that’s partly because Devine attributes have been projected onto certain humans. I also know that the Devil works hard at intrusion. The messages from Satan typically spawn confusion. Satan is aggressively after us all. The Message from Jesus is that we should follow God’s one simple command. God’s simple directive defeats Satan! And God’s Grace enables us to overcome evil.
The mainstream Christian foundation: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” John 3:16-18 NIV
What did John mean by his words. Literally he says that we will not enter Heaven unless we believe that Jesus Christ is our Savior. But is that what Christ exactly meant by HIS Words?
John was a man… a fully human man. John and Jesus had a special relationship. Jesus’s death and the way he died would have hurt John especially deeply. Understandably, there’s a great deal of emotion in John’s writing. He had just cause to be hurt and angry about his best friend being taken from him as if a criminal.
John’s personal writing reflects his pain along with his love. Jesus’s words do not reflect pain, only love. Yet we know Jesus endured great pain. And not just on the cross.
I believe that John wrote Truth. I also understand that he was subject to his own emotions, like we all are. I don’t see conflict in John’s writings. I see love, beautiful fully human love, for us and his dear friend Jesus.
When we focus on the simple Devine messages from God… starting with the book of Job and finishing with Christ’s Words. We can feel with our spirit and see with our heart God’s good and perfect plan. see Luke 8:21
The focus on Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross is morbidly selfish. When we think of Jesus, God wants us to focus on Jesus’s life, his ministry… where he loved and healed us. God showed us a glimpse of the reward for following Christ’s example with the resurrection. So we’ve selfishly been celebrating Christ’s death with the cross symbol. The early Christians celebrated Christ with the fish symbol. Jesus was a fisher of us.
A typical mainstream church peddles eternal life and uses John’s words as its foundation. God’s church focuses on Jesus’s ministry and uses God’s Son’s words as its foundation.
The symbol of the cross is a sad one. The fish is a happy one. We mourn Christ’s death and celebrate His life.
Jesus taught in parables… not in literal terms. He used examples of compassion to teach us. He “spoke” that we would not enter Heaven except through him… referring to his thoughtful behavioral examples, not whether or not we accept Him. Jesus Christ taught us how to love one another.
Being a good “Christian” means accepting others’ beliefs when they too love God (Nature), love others and love themselves. Jesus does not teach us to divide ourselves from one another. We do that on our own. With a little “help” from the Devil.
Many think that their particular belief in God or their belief that there is no God, is the only correct thinking. That’s not what Jesus taught. That’s what man teaches. That’s what Satan wants us to do… fight each other over power. Jesus taught us to love and respect each other, Jesus did not teach us to divide and conquer in the name of our own personal religious doctrine.
God created us in the image he wanted with the capacity to love and help others… including the sparrow.
Maybe we’re reading too much into John’s words. Maybe we should interpret John’s literal words in context of Christ’s allegorical words of compassion.
We can learn from and appreciate John’s writings same as we do with all the inspired writers of the Bible. Their beautiful work frames God’s message. But our direction should only come from God.
Jesus taught in common sense terms and only had one primary and fundamental rule to live by:
Love.❤️
Love is always in His words. Jesus didn’t teach us doctrines. He told us to love God the Father. He told us to love others. He told us to love ourselves. He showed us how. Thankfully, God Spirit graciously helps when we ask and are able to listen. Too often our selfishness gets in the way.
Even agnostics and atheists are following God’s rule when they love themselves, others, and realize Nature as a mysterious source of Sustenance to Love. Our BEHAVIOR and THOUGHTS are what matters most. Hate, pride, and judging others will get us closer to Hell. Love will get us closer to God…
God is reflected in Nature. We can “see” God in a hummingbird, a twig, the stars, maybe especially the stars. God is in everything.
Choosing to be a Christian is not the ONLY way to Heaven. It’s just the only way, according to John.
I believe that Love is the only way to Heaven, according to God. Pray for love.
When we love, we are as one. No matter what the religion or “non-religion”. Don’t you feel it when you meet a stranger and become friends? Your new friend could be any “religion” or “religious denomination”. We only get into trouble when we stray from love.
None of us own the rights to LOVE nor do we own the right to tell others what and how to think and believe. God wants us to love and care for each other.
LOVE is the foundation that Heaven is built on… not man’s doctrines.
Love works when nothing else does.
see site summary page 4 – Inside❤️Out for benediction.
