Conversion part 1
This one might seem a little weird coming from a pastor. A preacher. A blogger. A podcaster. But I'm not trying to convince anybody of anything. I'm not trying to push my beliefs on anybody. I know there is a theology out there that says "If you don't believe the right thing in the right way--say the right words--then you get to spend eternity in a fiery prison when you die." But that's not my theology. I believe, "We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord" (2 Corinthians 5:8) Absent from the body... present with the Lord. I don't understand how God lives in you... until you die. And then He separates from you and throws you into "hell." And I don't understand how, if sinners are the ones who "go to hell" and God has forgiven our sins, and taken away the sin of the world, and removed our sins from us as far as the East is from the West... I don't understand how anybody could get there in the first place, if it even existed. And, again, I know that comes back to the idea--that I don't agree with--that you have to do something in order to be saved. Or that you have to do something in order to be forgiven. The emphasis is never on us and what we do or don't do. The emphasis is on what Jesus did 2,000 years ago on the cross. His death on the cross was the second death. And, according to Revelation 20:14, "...death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death." Jesus's death on the cross was the death OF death. And "hell," or hades, the place of the dead, was no longer needed. The lake of fire, by the way, is God. He is the consuming fire. But I said all that to say this: Your salvation doesn't depend on me. So I don't need to convince you of anything. That's why, for the most part, I try to focus on practical things. On things that help us while we're here, present in the body. So we can experience the days of heaven on earth. Because heaven is not just somewhere you go when you die. It's where you went when Jesus died. It's where you are right now. You are in heaven because heaven is in you. Jesus didn't come so that we might have a fun afterlife. He came that we might have life, and that more abundantly! He came that we might experience His abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life as HE lives His own life in us, and through us, and as us. He came that we might experience and enjoy His life by being still and knowing that He is God. Knowing that God is love. Letting the love that's inside us come out by knowing and believing that it's in there. That's the focus of my ministry; trying to help people see WHO they are, WHERE they are, and WHY they're here. Which is also why I wrote the Answer Trilogy of books--"Identity Crisis," "Six Steps to the Throne," and "EPIC." Those questions need answers. But I'm not going to push them on you. One of my favorite Bible verses of all time is Mark 6:11 in the Message Bible, "If you're not welcomed, not listened to, quietly withdraw. Don't make a scene. Shrug your shoulders and be on your way." I'm not going to fight with you. Or argue with you. If you're not picking up what I'm laying down... That's ok. You don't have to. I'm simply going to do the best I can to say what I believe God is saying to me. If you're not into it... okey dokey. I'll shurg my shoulders and move on. No worries. God bless and I love you anyway.