And therein lies the paradox, I’m thinking. (Just as the “I never knew you” statement is part of that paradox.)

anita, please feel free to edit or merge or whatever, should this stuff get published.

To me, what you’re saying in these summaries sounds a lot like “The original texts are corrupted” belief that’s common among Muslims regarding the Bible (both OT and NT). The Qur’an is believed to contain the definitive versions of the lives of all the prophets portrayed, including Jesus (Isa), and yet… where is the evidence that the other People of the Book (Jews and Christians) have inherited severely corrupted and inaccurate manuscripts?

As an aside, it also seems to me that you’re reposting your comment (from an earlier post on this blog) to just maybe drum up some sales? I think that might qualify as spam, though obviously, that’s for Anita to decide, not me.

Jesus clearly set aside the old “eye for an eye” concept. In it’s place, he taught us to return love for hate, good for evil. Assuming he was, indeed, God’s Expression or The Word of God, he was letting us know that God doesn’t hurt people, not even if they are hurtful, that making people suffer to teach them they should not have made others suffer, doesn’t work but only reinforces the same, sad vicious cycle.

So, you’re right to reject Hell, as Jesus most certainly did.

I’ve actually written an entire book on this topic–Hell? No! Why You Can Be Certain There’s No Such Place As Hell, (for anyone interested, you can get a free ecopy of Did Jesus Believe in Hell?, one of the most compelling chapters in my book at http://www.thereisnohell.com), but if I may, let me share one more of the many points I make in it to explain why.

If one is willing to look, there’s substantial evidence contained in the gospels to show that Jesus opposed the idea of Hell. For example, in Luke 9:51-56, is a story about his great disappointment with his disciples when they actually suggested imploring God to rain FIRE on a village just because they had rejected him. His response: “You don’t know what spirit is inspiring this kind of talk!” Presumably, it was NOT the Holy Spirit. He went on, trying to explain how he had come to save, heal and relieve suffering, not be the CAUSE of it.

So it only stands to reason that this same Jesus, who was appalled at the very idea of burning a few people, for a few horrific minutes until they were dead, could never, ever burn BILLIONS of people for an ETERNITY!

True, there are a few statements that made their way into the copies of copies of copies of the gospel texts which place “Hell” on Jesus’ lips, but these adulterations came along many decades after his death, most likely due to the Church filling up with Greeks who imported their belief in Hades with them when they converted.

Bear in mind that the historical Protestant doctrine of the inspiration of the Scriptures applies only to the original autographs, not the copies. But sadly, the interpolations that made their way into those copies have provided a convenient excuse for a lot of people to get around following Jesus’ real message.

And you know what? I really can see why the notion of purgatory (or a place of purification, just to make that idea sound a bit more neutral) would appeal… because there would be a place to get rid of the nastiness, so to speak, in the afterlife.

OTOH, I can’t help thinking that people who were monstrous IRL (like Hitler and Stalin) would (assuming a deathbed profession of faith) be in the “Depart from me. I never knew you?” category?

Even just taking this at the most basic level – as applied to American Christianity in some of its more extreme forms – is pretty sobering, if only because there’s always a lot of “cultural Christianity” around (and “cultural [fill in name of other religion],” too), but – in our time, there’s a particular conflation of supposed faith and political ideas that I cannot square. (And I know I’m not alone there.)

Will those who profess the name of Christ but hate their fellow humans – whether that fellow human is an illegal immigrant who came here in order to find a better life for their family (to whom they’re sending more than 3/4ths of their meager take-home pay), a refugee, someone not of the same ethnic/racial/religious/you-name-it, we-segregate-for-it group of “Us” – do people who hate deserve to be in the presence of God forever?

which, of course, means that grace and divine love must be part of the answer, and then… well, to quote the King of Siam, “‘Tis a puzzlement.” And I’m puzzling right along with him.