Becoming "Christians" in order to get to heaven without becoming Disciples can be really dangerous - who says that Heaven is a kind of transcendent "nice, air-conditioned luxury hotel with unlimited room service and spectacular amenities for eternity"?Wow - and again: that's why we are told to make disciples and not "Christians".
If God is a consuming Fire, Heaven could be hotter than hell; how can anyone survive Heaven, if he / she has not been a disciple here - which means a learner how to live in the Kingdom-among-us-now ?
How happy would some fearful, bitter, lust-ridden or hate-filled "Christians" be if they would be forced to live forever in the unrestrained fullness of the reality of God, not protected by the merciful time-space continuum we live in now?
"There is a widespread notion that just passing through death transforms human character", writes Willard (The Divine Conspiracy, p.331). "Discipleship is not needed. Just believe enough to "just make it".... But what if death only forever fixes us as the kind of person we are at death? What would one do in heaven with a debauched character or a hate-filled heart?"
The fires in Heaven may be hotter than those in the other place.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Tuesday with Jesus #9
Reinhold reminds us [with great thanks to Dallas Willard]:
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