Image by echobase_2000 via FlickrHey everyone. As stated, this is a good read. It's Shane Claiborne's "Letter to Non-Believers" found in Esquire Magazine (how often would you think they'd have Christian writer?). I used this early on as a way to introduce persons to Shane and to be confronted by some of his writing.
As with many of the things I've been posting here, go ahead and read the whole thing.
Where I've had people complain about this is the last paragraph:
But, that's pretty much what one of my professors said in seminary -- "It may or may not be Christian to believe in universalism, that all persons are saved. But it is very Christian to pray that this will be the case." Or it's like a little skit I remember from youth group days that closed with Jesus up on the cross and asked, "When Christ is up on that cross, arms spread wide, who is it that he cannot embrace, who is outside of his saving arms?"
As with many of the things I've been posting here, go ahead and read the whole thing.
I want to invite you to consider that maybe the televangelists and street preachers are wrong — and that God really is love. Maybe the fruits of the Spirit really are beautiful things like peace, patience, kindness, joy, love, goodness, and not the ugly things that have come to characterize religion, or politics, for that matter. (If there is anything I have learned from liberals and conservatives, it's that you can have great answers and still be mean... and that just as important as being right is being nice.)
The Bible that I read says that God did not send Jesus to condemn the world but to save it... it was because "God so loved the world." That is the God I know, and I long for others to know. I did not choose to devote my life to Jesus because I was scared to death of hell or because I wanted crowns in heaven... but because he is good. For those of you who are on a sincere spiritual journey, I hope that you do not reject Christ because of Christians. We have always been a messed-up bunch, and somehow God has survived the embarrassing things we do in His name. At the core of our "Gospel" is the message that Jesus came "not [for] the healthy... but the sick." And if you choose Jesus, may it not be simply because of a fear of hell or hope for mansions in heaven.
Where I've had people complain about this is the last paragraph:
In closing, to those who have closed the door on religion — I was recently asked by a non-Christian friend if I thought he was going to hell. I said, "I hope not. It will be hard to enjoy heaven without you." If those of us who believe in God do not believe God's grace is big enough to save the whole world... well, we should at least pray that it is.
But, that's pretty much what one of my professors said in seminary -- "It may or may not be Christian to believe in universalism, that all persons are saved. But it is very Christian to pray that this will be the case." Or it's like a little skit I remember from youth group days that closed with Jesus up on the cross and asked, "When Christ is up on that cross, arms spread wide, who is it that he cannot embrace, who is outside of his saving arms?"
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