SCATTERED THOUGHTS

Every major religion claims that there is eternal life, or with some beliefs, you come back or are reborn as something else depending on how you lived your life. This is what confuses me about the death penalty. The typical argument is that we should not be taking a life for a life. I can understand that, and I would guess that you have to ask yourself what gives you the right to take someone else’s life? Of course, if it were your loved one that had been killed by someone, the answer would be easy. Or would it? Killing another human being in a fit of rage is one thing. It doesn't make it right and I can’t imagine however how much rage you would have to muster in order to actual do this. I would think that it would happen either accidentally, or without real intent. I think that it is only in the movies that you see the “you deserved that” sort of violence. But to send another human being to their death? I just can’t see the justification. I know that many will argue the point, and everyone has an opinion, but at least you know mine. Along with this, my thoughts are provoked by death. The Bible tells us that we have eternal life. Jesus tells us that He is going to prepare us a place in Heaven. He says that there are many mansions

John 14:2-3 We are told that heaven is a real place
John 1:32; 6:33; Acts 1:2 the streets are lined with gold
Rev. 21:19-21 and the beauty is beyond our understanding.

What a human way to look at things. I have thought about heaven for a long time and always wondered what it is like. Is it a place? Is it a different dimension?

The reason I pose these questions is that the bible tells us that Heaven is a place. If you have ever read the Bible (and you should even if you don't believe) you see that Jesus spoke in parables and His stories were examples of how one should live their life. I think that using a parable is a great method of telling stories because people will relate to the character and usually compare themselves and thus, normally, get the message that the storyteller intends. So here is the question; Would you give up your life, your possessions, your husband or wife, or your children if I came along and said that I would give you a million dollars? A billion dollars? Have you ever thought about what you could do with a billion dollars? If I lost everything on earth that I loved, would this make me happy? Would this be a place that I would what to spend eternity? But if I knew I would be able to be with my loved ones for eternity, would I be interested? If I knew that I was about to die, and lose everything that I had ever loved or cared about, and a man came into the room and said, “I will die in your place so you can live forever.” Would I trade places with him? If it came to pass, and you left with your loved ones by your side, would you be grateful to this man? Would you mourn his death? If he said, “before I go, promise me that you will love one another and remember me always” would you? If he asked you to forgive as he forgave you, could you be a forgiving? Could you allow a fellow human being to die without first telling him the gospel of Jesus Christ and what He did for humanity. He died in your place so you could spend your life on earth and in heaven with your loved ones. He said that “I take the sins of the world.”

He not only died so you could live, He died so that all could live. Forever. Although it sounds so simple. “He did in our place so that we may have everlasting life.” I heard an interpretation the other day which really made me think about the Cross. God sent Jesus to us to save us. God created everything, including us. The truth of the matter however was that we were given our own will and allowed to choose, and with that we were headed for hell. God told us that we would have an eternal life, but apparently most of us were ignoring Him. With that God had to fix things. Being omnipotent He does not make mistakes, so it wasn’t He that needed to correct anything. Basically, and I mean this is basic; He sent His Son to us to receive the wrath of God. He sent Jesus to us so He could focus all of His wrath to One who had not sinned. The death of Jesus was all part of the plan and Jesus (the Holy One) knew it was inevitable but perhaps during this process Jesus (the man) was having some trouble with this. I think the hardest part for the common person to understand is that Jesus and God are the same. So basically God sent Himself to take His wrath. Confused? I’ll bet. The bottom line is this however. God had to pour out his anger and wrath on a single entity that was pure. Thus Jesus said “I take the sins of the world.” Humans being humans had not been pure since Adam and Eve. (Yes, and for you discoverers, thinkers, and inquisitors out there, I know about the other stories about Adam and Eve and the Sumerian text and the Mesopotamian background and such, however the light that I am referring to is the text of the Christian Bible.) Then Adam and Eve made the wrong decision (free will and choice) only to find out that their Creator was upset.

So out of the Garden and into the real world. Simple story - this continued for a long time with everyone having kids and growing up. There was of course, religion and this part gets real confusing but the simple explanation is that man, left on his own, is a mess and can't figure out anything. God knew this, and had to fix it. Think about it. If your child was headed down the wrong path toward death and destruction what would you do? I will bet you would do everything in your power to turn them around. There were all types of “gods’, but there were also the Jews, and others that believed all kinds of stuff. I can’t really imagine it, but God was looking at this, being patience and working on a way to resolve all of this chaos. He needed to be able to take all of this away and give us a choice. Since apparently we didn’t understand what He meant in the first place, remember we demonstrated this by creating our own gods and goddesses, false images, and then the religion of the day seemed more aligned with laws rather than saving lives along with having strict rules about money, and where it was spent. Apparently we had some issues with translating scripture. At this point in the story, I’m thinking that I am beginning to aggravate some people. Anyhow, God knew that he had to fix things so He needed to come down and pull all of this sin out of us and once again, provide us with a path for salvation. The only way that this could happen is to provide a sacrifice of one that was totally pure but no one existed. Only Jesus was pure and had not sinned. Again, that was the plan. So, move forward to the cross. Here is Jesus, man and Christ. The Messiah. God is really upset with us, and I mean wrath type upset. He had some choices to make. For one, He could just smite us and start over. He could make us disappear. After all He is God and can do exactly what He wants. Now think about this. If you make something, create something, using your own hands and right at the last stroke you damage it. You made a mistake, so you start over. Does God make mistakes? Nope! God makes it right. So, He sends his Son down to earth to talk to us face to face. Jesus starts explaining all the things we are doing incorrectly, and not like God intended it to be. Once Jesus has told us these things, He explains that the only way to eternity is through Him. For He that knows Me knows my Father. I am the Way, the Truth, and the Light. Now that all of that is done, and my intent is not to trivialize this, but to simplify, God uses Jesus to focus His wrath. Rather than destroy us, God focuses all of His rage and fury to One person that does not deserve anything but praise. God sacrifices His Son for us rather than destroying us. Why? It is simple. Would you destroy your creation if you knew that there was a chance that it could be fixed? Would you destroy your children if they made a mistake? You would do everything in your power to see that they would live, just like God did for us. Jesus the man died, and 3 days later God brought Him back. Jesus the Spirit never died. On the cross Jesus said, Father, why do you forsake me? That was the human part I suppose, but at the end He said “It is done.” What does that mean? I think it means just what it says. The sin has been removed, the ultimate sacrifice has been made, and we - if we choose - will live in eternity as God intended