So, it's not the first time I've been damned, but again yesterday I was told that I am going to hell, only this time by a family member. It seems hard for Christians to say this as the past few times this has come up it's been presented as more of a logic problem: If one doesn't profess faith in Jesus as the divine savior, then one will go to hell. Therefore, I will go to hell because I don't profess Jesus as my divine savior.
She was curious about UUs but was not reassured by anything I had to say because it was so far from the "truth." There was no arguing this point, because in the absence of reason she did not own this truth; it belonged to God.
Like most of us, I don't like to be told I'm wrong, and even though I did not believe it and was slightly offended by it, I walked away feeling some deep compassion for this Christian who lives in a narrow world that does not include much of the rest of her family.
I wonder if it feels like saving yourself during a tsunami while watching the rest of your family drown? Will she find peace in the end that she did everything she could to try to save us, or will she know in her heart that she could have done more? What a terrible burden and reckoning.
She added later that she loved me anyway. I imagine she is praying for me as I speak. I think I should pray for her, as well.
Sometimes for Christian like this there is great grief at funerals as they asssume the departed has gone to hell.
ReplyDeleteSometimes there is great grief at funerals for individuals like this as they have assumed that the departed has gone to hell.
ReplyDeleteHow sad.
ReplyDeleteDo we do the same things that Christians do, presume our answers are the correct ones?
ReplyDeleteI'm not asking this to suggest that the experience of being told you're going to hell for not theologically agreeing with the person who is telling you your fate is anything short of obnoxious and offensive, because it is both. I have been catching myself in the same arrogance of "I have the answer and it is not yours" in thought if not words. It's hard.
I think it would be hard to live that life, if one is a compassionate, purpose driven person. Your perspective is thought provoking.