Back in the days of being a young Christian... when I was probably around 13 or 14, I was having a conversation with a friends mother. What she said has stuck with me since then, because at the time it was crushing. We were talking about my family's beliefs, and she said to me, "sometimes we just have to accept that some in our family are going to go to hell".
I've thought more about this recently with the loss of my grandmother 2 months ago. She was a wonderful woman whom I miss dearly. She was a catholic who went to mass at Christmas and maybe Easter, fostered children and volunteered at an op shop. This year, she even looked after her mother who was unwell, (and died a couple of months before nana) even though she was sick as well. Even though my nana considered herself a catholic and saved, even though she would have firmly believed she was going to heaven, there would be many Christians who would say she is in hell or on her way there.
I don't really know that much about what the Bible says about hell... but according to what my friends mother believed and told me when I was younger, my grandmother is somewhere suffering for all of eternity... and I just have to accept it as something that happens. I cant believe that, because grief is bad enough without thinking that instead of being at peace and out of pain, my nana is suffering at the hands of satan because she wasn't really following God, even though she believed she was. I can't believe that. It's all very well for someone who comes from a Christian family to think that because they don't really have to face the reality. But according to their beliefs, I'm destined to spend eternity with God, and everyone else from my family whom I love very much will spend eternity away from me and anything even the slightest bit good.
Its interesting that people will never even hint at any of this when someone actually dies. If its a Christian, people will talk about how they've gone home to be with their Saviour... but if they weren't considered to be a Christian, nobody will say anything about where they might be.
I will be doing more research on this... I'd like to know what the Bible says about it... and in the meantime I pray wherever my nana is now, it's better than what it was for her on earth these last couple of years.
3 comments:
For a long time i believed that you went to church, or you went to hell. It was just something that had to be done. I dont read the bible. When i was young, sure i read the bible once or twice, maybe studied a few passages more than others, thought i was a christian. and that i would go to heaven. Awhile ago i was talking to a friend. completely non christian, well against church and all that. And he said that if there was a god, then it wasnt the belief in him that would get you to heaven, it was your actions and attitudes that would. And in my opinion, thats somewhat true. Just because i dont go to church doesnt mean i'm not going to go to heaven. in the last few weeks my days have been filled with helping people i dont like, and giving advice to people who probably wont listen, and dont respect me, simply because i can see that they need the help.
If there is a God. Then surely he would be more compassionate than to send a genuinely awesome person to a genuinely awful place like that.
You're genuinely awesome :o)
I'm just trying to figure out whats true, or if I'm just choosing what to believe or not depending on my comfort.
I'm reading a book called Satan: a Biography (because I couldnt really find much on hell) which is raising some good points
The Christians of the first three to five centuries were primarily Universalists. They believed everyone would ultimately be reconciled to God through Christ. The church today has morphed into something that is more concerned with empire and control than the truth of God's overwhelming love. There is absolutely no reason for you to worry about your kind grandmother. You will see her again, as will we all!
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