Letter to my wonderful English teacher part five

So there is more than what I said about salvation. I want to share where I may differ from mainstream Christianity, and in some ways my views may differ from what some members of the church believe. Some of this is my opinion and I cannot claim it all to be church doctrine. But its all what I believe, as far as I understand God and the scriptures. If you see any error, I welcome the correction.

Here is the rest of the scripture I quoted earlier: (then I will explain where I may feel differently from the mainstream in some of my views)

“16 And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?

17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.

18 He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,

19 Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

20 The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?

21 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.

22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.

23 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.

24 And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

25 When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved?

26 But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.

Okay here is where I may feel differently from others: From my experience(s) with God, I know that He is loving and merciful—much more so than anyone else—and certainly more than myself. In my studying of other religions, I came across people who believed in the Creator, but they called him by different names than we Christians do. Some of them had completely dedicated their lives to Him and kept all of the commandments, just like Christ had said was a pre-requisite for eternal life to this man—but they did not call themselves “Christians”. Some were Hindu, some were Buddhist others were Sikh or Islamic. I have spoken with so many people of so many religions and studied their religious books—I have heard a lot and met a lot of wonderful people who have dedicated their lives to their Creator.

One Hindu man, was told by a Christian that God would burn him in hellfire forever because he wasn’t a "Christian" by identity (though He did believe that Jesus was divine-- just in a different way). The Hindu man asked the Christian if he would ever burn his daughter in an oven—to which the Christian said “of course not!—I’m not a terrible Father, I love my daughter”, To which the Hindu replied: “Do you love your daughter more than God loves His children?” The Christian man replied, “No, of course not”, and the Hindu said—"well if you would never do such a thing because you love you Children, then how could you imagine that you Father could do such a thing if He is more loving that you?”. I think this is a valid question.

I believe in God-- in Christ, Jesus. And God has promised me Salvation—is this the same thing as promising all the rest of the world damnation and hell if they don’t believe in Jesus in the same way that I do? If someone else believes in God, but is from a part of the world that is not "Christian" by name, are they consigned to eternal fire, even if they keep the commandments and have all of their life, just as Jesus told the young rich man to do? All of these good people of other religions that I have met who have dedicated their lives to their Creator and keep all of the commandments with all of their heart? Is Christ just going to cast them into a pit of fire or cast them into outer darkness for ever?

The Leaders in the Church of Jesus Christ teach that salvation is only in and through Jesus Christ-- and that is what I have believed, but in my studying of people of other religions, I think that people have found the “person of Christ”, as their Creator by His Spirit, but without having our same stories and without the same name. Like that door analogy I was telling you-- A door is a door by its function, even if we call it another name. They believe in an omnipotent, omniscient, benevolent Creator—I know that this Creator is name Jesus, but they don’t know that name. They seek to do good for their Creator—they just call him a different name and have some different stories, but the person they are describing fits the description of God (whom I know to be Jesus Christ).

These are good people, who dedicate their lives to God. This is why I said that I felt that God was bigger than all religions, and that He finds His way into the hearts of good men and women, as they seek their Creator in humble prayer before Him and they keep the commandments.

This makes sense to me: I imagine that when these good people die, they will stand before their Creator—not knowing him to be Jesus Christ during their earthly lives. Then they will see the prints in His hands and feet and they will ask “My God, what are these prints in your hands and feet?” And God will say “I am Jesus Christ. I laid down my life for world. Come unto and receive of my Salvation; enter into the rest which I have prepared for thee”. Then they will bow down before the Lord and accept Him as their God-- their Savior. And they will know that the Benevolent, all-powerful Creator whom they always knew in their hearts was given a name, and it is Jesus Christ.

I imagine a hospital full of blind, deaf patients. They receive healing at the hands of their Doctor and other staff. Some of them suppose that their doctor must be a woman because of the gentleness of the touch. Others suppose it to be many people because of the efficiency and various tasks performed. Mankind, like blind and deaf patients may think God is one person or many, man or woman—or named Bob or Jesus—but the Healer of their souls will still hear their cries and answer them, just as a good doctor would not deny medical care to a person because someone thought they were two doctors or had their name or gender incorrect. If a good doctor would do this, how could we think that the master Healer would do differently?

This is what I believe from my personal experiences with Jesus. I don’t think He primarily cares if people get his name wrong or His gender wrong or think He is more than one person or anything else. I think He just loves us and answers prayers anyways, just as a good doctor would tend to a confused and disoriented patient.

So I believe that Jesus will save the people that may not know his name/pronunciation on this earth. I believe that He will save them because of His unfathomable love which manifests as tender mercy towards all mankind.

As it says in 1^st John, chapter 2 “And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” To me, this WHOLE WORLD means that it includes non-Christians (during their lifetime). Then He continues and agrees with what Jesus said to the rich young man “And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”

Again it comes back to keeping the commandments-- so, what about those people who said “Lord, Lord” and claimed to do a bunch of marvelous works, but the savior replied to them saying: “depart from me ye who work iniquity”. …That may not sound very loving… but I think that these people must be actually truly wicked people. Hypocrites—people who claim to follow Jesus and say “Lord, Lord” but do not keep His commandments and are in willful rebellion and unrepentant. Those who murder, and steal, and live a lie and commit adultery and work all manner of iniquity, while claiming to be “Religious”—but are non-repentant hypocrites.

And even if we break a commandment, we can repent—(turn away from the behavior), and God has promised to forgive us.

Someone who breaks the commandments is faced with hellfire (in truth all of us sin to some degree). Which I believe is not actually a physical fire, but that rather Gods presence is likened to a burning flame, that giveth light and warmth to the righteous but burns at the guilty conscience of those who chose to do wickedly, because they have a full awareness of all their sin and the consequence of it before their Creator, which awareness causes them emotional/spiritual pain; remorse of conscience and guilt. But even then, I believe that Christ is so merciful, that in this state, He still will offer to deliver them from what would otherwise be eternal torment of a soul that would otherwise be damned—and He still extends the hand of mercy towards them if they will accept Him as their Savior and turn away from their wickedness.

I cannot imagine it any other way, because of my personal experiences with the Infinite love of my Savior. Such a love is beyond comprehension. I cannot imagine a being of such love to not have his bowels of mercy to be overflowing and his hand of mercy not stretched out deeper than the wrongness of any sin at any point of suffering of his children.

So, what I am saying is that I believe that God will offer to save every last one of us. The only ones that he will not save are the ones who absolutely refuse to be saved. Who, like Lucifer, willfully reject Christs Salvation-- becoming the sons of perdition who would crucify Christ again, had they the opportunity. These only, who by choice remain in their own willful rebellion against all that is good, are the only ones who are cast into outer darkness with Satan and his hosts. That is what I believe. Maybe I am wrong, but from the Love that I have felt from God, I cannot imagine it any other way.

So then some people may ask, what is the point of something like baptism? Or anything else for that matter? If everyone be saved, then what is the point of being good and all of that?

Christ told a parable about people all being brought to labor in a vineyard from the first hour to the last, and at the end of the day, they all received the same wage—even those who were called in the last hour. And the ones called in the first hour complained because they worked all the day while the last worked only an hour. Christ responded with something to the effect of: “why murmer ye because I am merciful and good?”

I believe that we are all recipients of salvation if we will accept Christ as our Savior at some point in eternity. Such is the mercy and goodness of our Lord and Redeemer.

But is there more to the afterlife than Salvation from hellfire and damnation? What is this “treasure in heaven” that Christ spoke of to the young rich man?

Also in the parable of the sower, those who received the seed in good ground reap or brought forth fruit in three degrees: some thirty, some sixty and some an hundred. Similarly, in the parable of the talents, it is broken up into three degrees. And then when Paul was speaking to the people Corinth, he likened people being raised in the resurrection by degrees of glory—one like the sun; another like the moon, and another like the stars— as one star differeth from another in glory. Repeatedly the scriptures say that our Lord will render to every man according to his deeds and reward us according to our works. I think this is what the “treasure in heaven” is talking about when Christ spoke to the rich young man.

The thing is that I don’t “do good things” so that I will get rewarded for it—I just WANT to do good things because God has filled me with His love and I WANT to share it with others—even if there was absolutely no reward at all for it. I just want people to know how much Jesus loves them and I want to share that love that Jesus has shared with me—to others.

The rich young man was invited by Jesus to follow Jesus if he would be perfect and have these treasures in heaven. I think that Rich people do not inherit the kingdom of Heaven because they are not rich the moment they die—they leave all of their wealth behind and become as poor as the poorest—having nothing. Like a camel that passes through the eye of the needle, they remove all of their worldly wealth. But if they will abandon their worldly wealth in this life and follow Jesus, then they will acquire spiritual treasures in heaven. If it so be that we should labor all of our days, and bring but one soul unto Christ, how great shall be our joy with them in the kingdom of our Father. These spiritual treasures are the natural joyful consequences of following the teachings of Jesus Christ. Of embracing forgiveness, love, mercy, peace, and kindness and in doing good to all mankind. When we follow Christs teachings, we are filled with His love and with unspeakable joy, and this joy,-- although present with us during our earthly sojourn, is magnified in the presence of God—when we gain a perfect awareness of all of the consequences of all of our actions, and we get to see the fruits of the good we did while in this life, and our Redeemer says “well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter into the rest that is prepared for thee”-- what joy will fill our hearts!

So, this is how I feel. I think that we are punished by our sins and not for them. The natural consequence of sin is misery, guilt and suffering-- comparable to that of a flame, and this condition will continue into the next life unless we repent. Similarly, I think we are rewarded by our good works and not for them. The natural consequence of doing good is joy and love and peace that will last after this life is over and into eternity.

I believe that Jesus is the one who saves us from sin. He saves us by teaching us a higher way—that if we will have faith in Him, we will follow Him and repent, thus turning our hearts and actions towards God and walking in obedience to Him. He also forgives us and we are delivered from that analogous lake of fire and brimstone, with smoke that ascendeth up forever and ever and hath no end. If we will have Christ to be our Lord, and allow Him to reign in our lives, and repent of our sins, then we will be forgiven and washed clean in the blood of Lamb, as was symbolized by sacrifice anciently.

Just as the treasures in heaven were divided into three groups in parables (the parable of the sower and the talents) and also in the teachings of Paul comparing the degrees of Glory to the sun, moon and stars. So also joy and glory and state of the soul of man after the resurrection is often referred to in degrees of glory.

When Christ invited the rich young man to receive treasures in heaven for giving away what he had to the poor and following Jesus, He was offering a higher degree of joy and glory in the next life. In the church of Jesus Christ modernly, these three degrees are given names Celestial—comparable to the glory of the sun. Terrestrial comparable to the glory of the moon, and Telestial comparable to the glory of a star ("tele" meaning distant, or furthest away from God).

This differs a bit from what mainstream Christianity believes.

Here is a link to part six
https://truthprocess.blogspot.com/2020/04/letter-to-my-wonderful-english-teacher_59.html