spiritualsim lesson 8

spiritualsim lesson 8
When discussing the subject of persecution it might be helpful to start at the beginning. From its earliest foundation Christianity was a faith that "appealed." Why was that? It wasn't just that the Romans established peace across the empire and laid down good communications for this new faith to spread far and wide. Christianity arose in a society steeped in mystery religions, magic, Greek philosophy, Epicureans, Cynics, Gnostics and so on – none of which offered people any hope at all. But Christianity appealed to all classes of people with a message of love, forgiveness, acceptance and hope of eternal-life particularly to the marginalised and dispossessed in society. And they flocked to it in droves. However, unlike Judaism which was tolerated by the Romans, Christianity was outside its protection and therefore ripe for persecution. And for the first three centuries of the Christian era Christians were brutally persecuted by the state suffering many martyrs. However, after Constantine became Emperor it was the Church that became the persecutor of those outside its teaching – which is deeply regretful.
In is parting words Jesus told his followers to love one another as a witness to their belonging to him. He also told them that the first (and greatest commandment) was to love God and neighbour as self. There is no confusion here; the golden rule is to do unto others as we would have them do to us. Christianity is a religion of peace, forgiveness, mercy, inclusion and kindness. Of course there are Christian fundamentalists just as there are fundamentalist in every religion i.e. people who cherry-pick their scriptures to justify beliefs and actions. However, the correct way is to look across the whole of scripture to determine what the overriding principles are – this is the way to do ethics. Christians have been involved in wars just as others faiths have also. There is a magazine called "Barnabas Fund" which supports the persecuted Church (i.e. Christians) throughout the world. Today in 2016 there are many countries in Africa, the Far East and so on where Christians are brutally persecuted for their faith. It's also true that aetheistic, secular powers (e.g. Hitler, Pol Pot, Stalin etc) murdered more people than every religion put together.
What should we make of "predestination" a doctrine advocated by Calvin and others? The first thing we should do is discuss God's knowledge – something usually covered in philosophy of religion. If God is perfect, omnipotent, omniscient, and eternal then it follows that his knowledge is perfect too. This means that God eternally knows what "Fred" will do before he does it -he would have to if he is God – for God is not limited in any way. However, "Fred" can change his mind because Fred also has free-will. This doesn't limit God's knowledge – because God is patient and not coerrsive (see the parable of the Prodical Son).
But it should be stressed that while the Bible emphasises love, compassion, forgiveness and tolerance it also speaks (in many places) of judgement. For example the Old Testament book of Judges. "Judges" does not refer to a law court but to "saviours," (heroes) raised up by God to deliver his people from a desperate situation. But the people never learned the lesson for once the emergency was over they reverted to their old ways and suffered further "judgement." Jesus too spoke of judgement. There are also many reference in the Bible to the "elect" (e.g. Matthew 24:22; 24:24; 24:31 etc. AV). There are also numerous references to heaven as a place exterior to the human heart. For example Jesus saw heaven being torn apart and the Spirit descending (Mark 1:10); and a voice coming from heaven (Mark 1:11). Jesus also took loaves and fish and looked up to heaven (Mark 6:41). And when people came to Jesus to test him they asked him for a sign from heaven (Luke 24:51). There are many more references besides these. Finally, Jesus said that whoever believes, and is baptised, will be saved but whoever does not believe will be condemned (Mark 16:15) – it's a question of faith leading to the transformation of lives, morals and life-style. Predestination has long been a hotly contested issue but it need not be. The gospel is clear where salvation lies – believe in the person of Jesus.

Rog
15th Feb. 2016