Is it true or myth? Literal or not? This is an important question as it still affects us thousands of years later in culture wars over science, history and religion. It figures into patriarchal society and the reduced status of women. It is the affirmation that all humans are sinful and need a savior. So this is no unimportant question.
Are we to think that God wipes away tears once we get to heaven, but we have to die to experience it?
Actually, the teaching that God will wipe away our tears isn't a promise about heaven. It is a promise for now, that extends into the afterlife.
What do beliefs have to do with our dreams? The truth is that our hearts believe tens of thousands of things about innumerable subjects. Beliefs are the fabric of our experiences, and the filter for the glorious desires within you.
I believe that God has given us the power to access, activate and achieve our dreams. Of course there are lots of methods and programs to help us reach those goals, but I wondered if it was less complicated.
And I found that it was.
Yes, we do need to learn how to steward our hearts into those dreams. But I wanted to know what the common denominator was in getting our heart's desires. Was it prayer? Was it having enough faith? Was it being smart enough? Was it just luck? Or was it an arbitrary God who blessed some but not others?
Is it really appointed unto a man once to die and then the judgment? Let me ask you a question. How many times did Lazarus die? Unless you believe he is physically alive today then you know that Lazarus died and was raised from the dead, but then some years later he died a natural death again. He died twice. Plus, what about all those thousands of people in our day who were clinically dead for some time and then came back?
So maybe, just maybe this verse has been used out of context.
Breaking soul ties. We did it. We tried it. It didn't work. Then we shoved our heads in a hole in the wall waiting to figure out what's next. Ok, maybe not, but it did leave us stranded trying to figure out the next religious technique.
But as somewhat of a spiritual scientist who digs deeper, I wondered why there was usually temporary relief but no permanent changes. Here is what I discovered.
What is the Lake of Fire? It is assumed that the Lake of Fire is a place of eternal torment, or hell. That is the standard modern definition in most churches in America. But is that true?
I think I can show scripturally and logically that the Lake of Fire is a symbol for the fires that destroyed Jerusalem in AD 70.
It talks about a great gulf between heaven and hell right, which no one can cross? The rich man is in a place of torment where the flames seem to burn him. Certainly this is a story that God torments people for eternity with flames of fire right?
Except… that there are elements around this story that teach us that this story has zero to do with an idea called hell.
Is it possible that the Church of our day has inadvertently participated in conspiring to hide the truth about Father God and who are his children? Would that be harmful to a person who is told they have to leap over certain thresholds in order for God to accept them? Would you agree that if, and that is if, God is the Father of all, and all humanity was a child of God, it would be wrong to hide it from them?
Is this an important question? Absolutely. Who is in Christ completely kicks Western theology out of its box and reorients it back to biblical-early church constructs affirmed by even the church fathers. But it is more important than breaking out of some ivory tower theological prison. It sets our personal experience and our "knowing God" back to the simplicity of the gospel of grace.
I am speaking in particular here to Christians, believers, those maybe who grew up in organized church. I would usually say that the one truth that brings the most dramatic transformation in a person's life is the heart revelation that God is love. I still think that is true.
But then we go to a church. Then we pick up a Bible that was written in another place, another time in history, spanning thousands of years of insight, by approximately 39 different authors and in cultures very different than our own. Don't get me wrong. There is remarkable unity, progressive revelation, and clear teaching.
So how can we get this wrong: "God is love!"?
I'm honored to travel to various countries around the world. I see different colored skin and many different belief systems. But a smile, laughter, hurt, desires, and love are universal. When we get out from under heavy religious threats and rise to a heavenly view of humanity, it is nearly inevitable to ask the question: "Is God the Father of us all?"
Did you ever really think about the resurrection? I mean the concept that one day your spirit will leave the perfect bliss of being in the eternal, incomprehensible joy of God’s presence in heaven, and suddenly come back to earth where the molecules of billions of people from all of history are reassembled into physical, albeit new, form? Suddenly graves will break open to the terrifying stares of unsuspecting people. It is called the resurrection, or at least a version of how the story goes.
That is such a good question! I'm glad you asked. The answer is simple: He is closer than your very breath! This begins a new series of simple grace questions that many of us need answers to and those simple answers can very profoundly affect our lives.
Some worship songs, as sincere and heart-felt as they may be, subtly teach us that God is at a distance and he needs to be invited.
