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Question To Ponder

Posted Jun 21 2011 by Jonathan Brink in , with 18 Comments

A Buddhist, a Muslim, an Atheist, a Homosexual, and a Christian all die on the same day.  They stand before God on judgment day.  God reveals the truth of His love to each, giving them the fullest awareness of what Jesus did on the cross. Each one chooses to accept that reality seeing it as the love of God.

Which one goes to heaven?

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About the Author

Jonathan BrinkI am an business development and communications consultant. I am also the senior editor and publisher for Civitas Press. I recently published, Discovering The God Imagination: Reconstructing A Whole, New Christianity. (Civitas, 2011)View all posts by Jonathan Brink →

  • David

    If they are not only aware but believe in their hearts then they all get in.u00a0u00a0 Now thats a pretty bold position for me to take but based upon the circumstance you lay out I could just as easily sayu00a0as the scripture tells us that every knee shall bow before Jesus.u00a0 The traditional thought is more related to John 14:6 and although they may become aware thats not necessarily a ticket in at the point they see and understand before a Holy God.nnBut thats all God’su00a0judgement and choice not ours.u00a0 So having said all that it’s up to God.u00a0 u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0

    • http://jonathanbrink.com Jonathan Brink

      David, why is that a bold statement for you to make?u00a0

      • David

        Well it sounds like I really agree with your statement that each one sees the new reality sort of speak.u00a0u00a0 Most times I understand what your saying and agree with the spirit and intent if not the specifics.u00a0 Here I may just embrace the thought.u00a0 nnBTW, I too thought it may be a joke when I first stated reading it. Almost disappointed me.nn

        • http://jonathanbrink.com Jonathan Brink

          Here’s the tension in the question. The evangelical understanding is limited to this life. Josh Mueller pointed out that the parable of the 10 virgins suggests that once we die it’s too late.u00a0 nnYet, it seems obvious to me that a loving God would offer the compelling evidence at any time. (the gates are always open).u00a0 It’s more of a thought experiment.

          • Anonymous

            I really don’t think that the scripture gives us an end of the *world* [kosmos] picture. What it speaks on eschatologically is the end of the *age.* The end of the age is more connected to the end of one covenant and the beginning of a new one. To use a modern legal term…. Israel had a drop dead date. There was a fixed date set for the judgment of Jerusalem and the temple. This would be the end of the *old age* and the full consummation of a *new age.* Very similar to the age that ended in Noah’s time. Abraham and his covenant had begun the present age as it was called in the new testament. Christ inaugurated a new age. In my view, we now stand on the cusp of yet another age… an age in which we will fully grasp redemption and grace.

          • David

            I can’t buy that, as then all will be in.u00a0 The theif on the Cross is an example of what you say, but then didn’t he understand who Jesus was ?u00a0 Thus was expressing faith in Jesus at the time.u00a0 Issue is if he did not express that faith then what ?u00a0 nnSo taking your perspective we have no need for hell, condemnation or any judgement and all get in because people will realise the who and what of Jesusu00a0at the time they see God for the first time!u00a0 I don’t think so jonathan. u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0

          • Anonymous

            The ten virgin parable is *not* about the end of the world. It is written specifically to the end of the age. Again, there is a very solid hermeneutic that looks at hell differently than current orthodoxy. It is au00a0consistentu00a0hermeneutic that actually deals with the biblical data *better* than the one accepted by orthodoxy. While I admit that one can read scripture as you do… I adamantly suggest that it is not the only way and even not the best way.

          • Anonymous

            Here is an equally valid way to look at the day of the Lordu00a0http://paradigmshift-jmac.blogspot.com/2011/06/day-of-lord.html

          • http://jonathanbrink.com Jonathan Brink

            David, I get fairly clearly that you don’t think so.u00a0 But I would ask something after they way you responded.u00a0 Do you need hell and condemnation? Does Jesus simply serve as a get out of hell free card?nnWe haven’t had this conversation yet, but it is in my book, so you’ll know what I’m talking about.u00a0 To me there is only one true state of being, which is kairos. The duality of heaven and earth are not part of God’s original construct, and in essence there is not here and there.u00a0 There is only Kingdom.u00a0 nnHell is the perception of separation that we create when we can’t accept grace, when we ignore, reject, or hide from God’s love. It happens in the present because there is only the present.u00a0 We don’t need the ultimate judgment to usher in a state of hell. Yet even in our hell, there is no place that God isn’t.u00a0 nnAnd I know your first thought is rushing to those verses that talk about a literal hell.u00a0 I get that they are there.u00a0 But consider that they are restorative, only if there is an end to the suffering.u00a0 Otherwise, God is no better than Hitler or Pol Pot.u00a0 Justice is not served by an infinite suffering.nnShifting hell from a future eternal suffering to a present one changed everything for me, to see the suffering Jesus was trying to end here and now.

          • David

            Lots to ponder here Jonathan as always.u00a0 Yes I have often thought about the issue of infinite suffering and what good is there in that !u00a0 None from what my gut tells me.u00a0 nnAt times I feel so inadequate to search the meaning of some scripture so i’m torn from the plain language of some scripture and yet what Iu00a0see in so many of the restorative scriptures as well.u00a0 nnHope you know I don’t need a hell or condemnationu00a0and by no means does Jesus represent a get of hell free card.u00a0 I don’t see that anywhere in scripture at all.u00a0 nnThanks for your insights Jonathan.u00a0 Even if some hurt my head at times as well as my heart!u00a0

          • http://jonathanbrink.com Jonathan Brink

            David, you said, “Hope you know I don’t need a hell or condemnation and by no means does Jesus represent a get of hell free card.” Then I would have to ask why it was such a central part of your last response.u00a0 It’s obviously of some importance in your framework.u00a0 Help me understand that.

          • David

            I have to say that faith in Jesus and our Loving father is what counts to me.u00a0 Not that I prayed one day;… a sinners prayer.u00a0 u00a0I may have over stated the hell and condemnation issue, but the reason for me, in Scripture it appears a lot.u00a0 There is Jesus vs demons, Satan in the garden..(how weird was that ?)u00a0 Satan attacking Job (with God’s blessings, which is also weird to me).u00a0u00a0writtings of Paul, talk of judgement, and in The Revelation, the lake of fire …Ugh.u00a0 So yah I have to say there’s much in scripture about the dark side!u00a0 nnI don’t want there to be a hell but I think there is.u00a0 There was a song in the 60′s or early 70′s, don’t recall the band or singer at the moment butu00a0oneu00a0of the lines went ” I know there is no heaven, but I pray there is no Hell.”u00a0 nnJonathan, I guess it’s my background and teachings I’ve heard over the years has more of an influence on me than I want to admit to myself.u00a0u00a0

  • Anonymous

    The first sentence sounds like an opening sentence to a real funny joke. :)

    • http://jonathanbrink.com Jonathan Brink

      I thought of writing it as a joke Joe, but I just couldn’t make it work.

    • http://jonathanbrink.com Jonathan Brink

      I thought of writing it as a joke Joe, but I just couldn’t make it work.

  • http://openmindedconversations.blogspot.com/ jshmueller

    The commonu00a0view that anybody who chooses to accept God’s love in Christ “too late” will not be accepted is based on texts like Matthew 25.u00a0 The urgency the parable of the ten virgins expresses to be ready BEFORE the arrival of the bridegroom is often understood to say that the final judgement does not offer second chances but instead determines eternal acceptance or eternal rejection based on the choices made in THIS life because the offer of grace is only available before we die physically.nnPersonally, I cannot reconcile this interpretation with the unconditional, unchangable and eternal character of the love of God described elsewhere that desires everyone to come to a knowledge of the truth and be saved, and that rejects no one that desires to come to Him.u00a0 The question remains what the temporal urgency and the “locked door” in the parable is all about then.u00a0 Does Jesus’ response “I don’t know you!”u00a0suggest an “expiry date” on grace?I don’t think so and here are the reasons why:nn1. The parable is not about believers and unbelievers but a group that already knowsu00a0the bridegroomu00a0and has made the choice to attend the wedding.nn2. The readiness described here in terms of having enough oil seems to be referring to a maintained inner connection to Christ.u00a0 In other words, “running out of oil” does not refer to “running out of time while God is willing to love you” but the inherent dangers of remaining a follower in name only without actually taking the relationship seriously.u00a0 It is in fact a choice that reveals the LACK of an awareness of what God’s love is all about and accordingly a rejection of what Christ desires.u00a0 Judgment reveals this choice and the absence of a trueu00a0embrace of God’s love.u00a0 The urgency of the parableu00a0is directed at those WHO ALREADY ARE FOLLOWING that they would understand the dynamic character of relationship and would continue to choose to remain in Christ and His love.

    • http://jonathanbrink.com Jonathan Brink

      I love it.u00a0 And I agree with your assessment. Once and done seems counter to the nature of a loving God who is seeking to restore, not reject.

      • David

        It seems then what you and Josh have discribed in terms if the question is a type of universalism.u00a0 Unless I’m looking at it a bit differently.u00a0 I assume then Josh the only one to make it in then would be the Christian ?u00a0 If not then they all would ?u00a0 And if so then everyone makes it in and there is no hell, no condemnation, no reason to embrace faith as such in Jesus….?

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