CFF Objection #5 Continued...

I think I'll spend a little more time hashing this one out since it has been such a big issue for me - not to mention that, despite what the length of my previous post may have suggested, I didn't really cover that much material last time.

Q2: "There are moral-living Muslims, Jews, Christians, Mormons, and Hindus. Isn't how a person lives and treats his neighbor more important than what he believes theologically?"

A2: "this question makes the assumption that morality is what life is all about...Jesus didn't come into this world to make bad people good; he came so that those who are dead to God can come alive to God."

"Though it's hard to comprehend, the worst thing is to say to God that you don't need him." "The pattern in Exodus is threefold...redemption, righteousness, worship." "If I try to work myself toward goodness, I am essentially saying I don't need to be redeemed by God. I am my own redeemer. Any person, good or bad in our eyes, who says that is in violation of a fundamental principle of God's revelation, which is that redemption is the first step."

R2: There were kind of two parts to the response on that question so I guess I'll take them one at a time.  The first part gave a perspective that I don't think I have ever considered before; but it also kind of brought up even more questions for me.  Theologically speaking, then, what is our purpose in life - and for that matter, the purpose of our creation?  To seek God?  That seems like it would suggest a pretty self-centered reason for the creation of humans (on God's part).  Maybe it's just because I'm coming from a "new-Christian" point-of-view; but it almost seems to me that morality, good stewardship of the Earth, etc. would be more "noble" reasons for our creation.  But, I suppose, what would all of that matter to God in the end? Hmmm...the gears are turning on this one.

This response offered me perhaps my first true glimpse into the rationale for the system of heaven and hell.  Never before had I considered the whole process in that light - that the greatest sin is to reject God.  More to come on heaven and hell with Objection #6

Q3: "People say Gandhi lived a more virtuous life than most Christians; why should he be sent to hell just because he wasn't a follower of Jesus?"

A3: "God himself does not send anybody to heaven or to hell; the person chooses to respond to the grace of God or to reject the grace of God." 

"Scripture tells us nobody is really good until he or she is first redeemed."

From Abraham's story in the Bible we are given the response, "Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?"

"This means we can be absolutely confident that whatever God does in the case of Gandhi, or any other person, he will do what is right."

R3: This is definitely one of the questions that hung me up for years; and I'm still not totally satisfied with the response given by the book - he almost suggests that maybe God would bend the rules for certain people?  However; by applying my new understanding of what Hell really is, it is easier to accept the process.  The three-step process mentioned above clearly lays out God's "order of operations" - from this point of view, it doesn't matter how much good you do if at the foundation you are still committing the greatest sin possible (rejecting God).  

The whole system is a testament to free will - hell is more of a natural consequence to a choice that we make rather than a punishment.  (again, this is kind of skipping ahead to O#6, but having read it already it helps to understand this section a little better)  Hell is not a place of eternal flame and torture - those are both just statements of imagery.  What hell actually is is the absence of God.  In all reality then, there are many people who are already living in hell here on Earth.  What makes hell different in the afterlife is that they will no longer be ignorant of that absence - at that point they will be fully aware of the choice that they have made and its consequence.  It's the knowledge and understanding that you made the choice to be absent from God, when he gave you the choice, that will be the torture.

Some of the pieces of the puzzle are beginning to fit together...this book is definitely making me consider a lot of my questions from a new perspective.