Rejecting Genocide

'Tis a few minutes past midnight in my abode.

I wonder what time it REAL-ly is?

I recently received an email in which the author stated there was a REAL day Jesus Christ was born, and in the future there is a REAL day when he will return (the author's caps, not mine), and that there is a real day coming when people who reject Jesus Christ will be thrown into the wine press of God's wrath and their blood will be as deep as to a horse's bridle for 200 miles.

I had a mental image of a river of red. Then the thought, "Is not that a type of genocide?" On the coattails of that thought, an image from the cover of the book "Martin Luther: Hitler's Spiritual Ancestor" popped into my head.

I simply no longer believe that God is a God of wrath. Neither do I want to worship such an entity.

It is not a balanced weight of justice to spill blood based on the rejection of a "loving" savior. What is loving about that kind of justice? (Perhaps part of the rationalization for a belief in that type of so-called justice comes in one's definition of what it means to reject Jesus Christ.)

I rejected the idea of a burning hell when I was 18 years old. Why would any entity of Love torment someone and do it forever?

The Way International taught/teaches annihilation of the rejectors, a 2nd and final death. At the time I found The Way (at 18 years old), I could swallow a belief in annihilation much more easily than eternal torment.

Immediately after I exited The Way (after 28 years of being a loyal true believer), I was reading the book of Romans. I became engrossed with the Amplified Bible's translation of Roman 5, verses 15 through 19. I thought about those verses for months, rolling them over and over in my mind, trying to grasp and comprehend, at least a little, the expanse of grace. How humankind cannot work one little iota for God's acceptance; that it is totally and completely free? To me, even believing came in the category of works. Believing was the price; didn't I have to "do" something (ie: believe) to gain God's acceptance?

Those verses in Romans in the Amplified Bible state that the effect of what Jesus Christ accomplished can't even be compared to the fall of mankind? How could that be? I believed that "the fall" affected every thing on earth: tainted the blood of man; affected the earth itself - the soil, the air, the content; brought death and shame and evil. So whatever it was that Jesus Christ accomplished, couldn't even be compared with the effects of that contamination? It would have to be so big, so large, so expansive...like beyond and outside our minds to even begin to comprehend. And it wouldn't be based on any works? Not even believing? Could it be that big? What about believing on the Lord Jesus Christ?

About 3 months into my almost daily pondering of this HUGE idea, I met someone online (and then in person) that introduced me to Christian Universalism (CU). I spent the next 10 months or so reading and reading and reading. The approach of the CU interpretation to the scriptures made more sense to me than any eternal damnation, whether that damnation be a forever-burning torment or an annihilation into non-existence and/or never having existed. (Neither of those is just or loving, imo.)

I resonated much with Dr. Tom Talbott's various essays and his book "The Inescapable Love of God."

I slowly gave up the belief of annihilation and accepted the possibility of reconciliation for all.

And alas, I have continued to read various angles regarding various takes on the God debate, and the various takes on various "holy" books.

If there is a REAL time when eternal justice is handed out, I reckon we will all find out about it. There isn't a whole lot of control I (or anyone else) has over such a time. If there is such a time, I imagine we will all be in for some surprises.

I sure hope those surprises don't involve genocide and if so, that I'm counted with the rejectors.

Amen...for a few thoughts on this final day of 2010.