ChristianBurger
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- Oct 15, 2010
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The (un)Fairness of the Salvation Plan
My background: Graduate of Word of Life Bible institute (with honors!), Graduate of Liberty University with a degree in Business (definitely not honors here). Became a believer at age 16, and have a long history of both living and breathing Christ ...every minute of my day .... and living quite far from God in any capacity. I've known both sides intimately.
I fear that I am going to open a can of worms with this issue but to this day, my faith has suffered a great deal because I feel it is both (1) The biggest "Elephant in the Room" with christianity and at the same time (2) The most unanswered question in Christianity. This question alone hinders me from fully believing that what we think we know today, is 100% accurate.
Simply put, I left the United States for the first time in my life, in 2004. My choice of location was Tokyo Japan. As I left the wonderful USA filled with its Church's and Chapels and Cathedrals and Crosses and Fishie emblems on backs of cars .... I also left the rude... grumpy, miserable people behind the counter at Los Angeles International Airport ... getting cut off in my car on the way there by a guy who flipped me the bird while honking, and had a rude shuttle driver grumble something in my general direction when I missed my stop. As I left the USA, this was the Judeo Christian influenced world that I left.
When I got off the plane in Japan, I saw another universe. There was not a single church, as far as the eye can see. The girl behind the counter was courteous and displayed a genuine smile, with genuine patience, and genuine concern (lets call it Love) for my issues. When there was a speech barrier, she worked with me and did not show an ounce of impatience or frustration. As I disembarked the plane I was met by 3 stewardesses with gleaming smiles, bowing and welcoming me to Japan. All my interactions from the airport to the taxi driver who was humble and laughing the entire ride, to the hotel front desk who shared kind words - to someone diving for the elevator door to save it for me as it shut, almost getting their hand smashed in the closing doors .... my impression of Japan was .... wow.
And Jesus was nowhere to be found.
This continued for my entire stay. Nearly 2 weeks I walked the streets, met new friends, and interacted with people who were more kind, more loving, more generous, and more real than any group of people I had met in the United States. And there wasn't a Christian in sight. Even in Church's I had attended there was more dissention, selfishness, anger, jealousies, and condemnation than I was seeing in this completely "Godless" country called Japan.
And that's when it hit me...
For the first time in my life, the claim that happiness "only" comes from a relationship with God - seemed to be in question. The claim that love "only" comes from the christian Holy Spirit endwelling believers in the Judeo Christian God - seemed to be improbable. I had always been taught that humans were by default "evil". That a facade can be put on by anyone - even an athiest - but that this person is a liar ... and a fraud ... and that inside themselves turmoil lives and hatred and rebellion against God is what they are truly made of. That they may have a smile for a short time, but that if its not powered by belief in Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit, it is nothing more than a short lived masquerade.
All of this seemed utterly absurd to me. Especially as I thought back to the United States, full of arrogant, pushy, miserable people who hated their jobs, treated customers like objects, and operated almost exclusively on selfishness. That to me was the end result of hundreds of years of Christian Influence? Fascinating I thought ... thats what happens in a Judeo Christian country? Spoiled, selfish brats everywhere? hmmm....
And then I started to look around me in Japan. I realized Japan has over 127 million people. And the vast majority have no clue what Salvation is. Christianity to them is a trendy "cross" hanging from their neck with no meaning, and Christmas is a trendy holiday they love to participate in purely because its "American".
127 Million people, on their way to the fiery pits of hell. And why? Because of where they were coincidentally born. Yep. That's right. Were you born in a village in the mountains of Japan, the chances that you would currently be a bible believing born again christian are nearly "nill" ... and that is a simple fact. And every one of those people, including that beautiful little girl with the gleaming eyes looking up at me, and the kind 78 year old japanese woman who actually helped *me* across the street when I was lost downtown ... those two .... may they burn in hell ....... ??? Apparently so.
127 Million people on their way to hell. And guess what. That's not all.
Lets look at the numbers:
2.1 Billion people claim to be Christians. Think about how many people you know who claim to be a Christian? Lets say you go to work one day, and there are 200 people in your building. Based on my experience, about 150 of them would claim to be Christians. The others would be Indian, Arabic, and other nationalities claiming other religions. Of that 150 "christians" exactly how many of them do you really think are Christians? Based on my experience, less than 20% actually even know what Salvation means. Whats required. And have learned and believed it to a point of "Saving Grace". So 20% of 150 people who claim to be christians. Agreed? What is 20% of 2.1 billion? That's 420 million people. In the world. Who *probably* are Bible believing ... Born Again .... Holy Spirit endwelt ... Christians on their way to ..... Heaven.
420 million people .... in this world ..... are going to heaven .... really?
Out of .... well lets see:
Islam: 1.5 billion
Secular/Nonreligious/Agnostic/Atheist: 1.1 billion
Hinduism: 900 million
Chinese traditional religion: 394 million
Buddhism: 376 million
primal-indigenous: 300 million
African Traditional & Diasporic: 100 million
Sikhism: 23 million
Juche: 19 million
Spiritism: 15 million
Judaism: 14 million
Baha'i: 7 million
Jainism: 4.2 million
Shinto: 4 million
Cao Dai: 4 million
Zoroastrianism: 2.6 million
Tenrikyo: 2 million
Neo-Paganism: 1 million
Unitarian-Universalism: 800 thousand
Rastafarianism: 600 thousand
Scientology: 500 thousand
420 Million people are going to heaven, out of nearly 7 Billion people.
And do you realize that 90% of those 420 million people were born ... you guessed it .... in Judeo Christian locations? With Judeo Christian influence?
So in my book - 6% of the worlds population has any clue what christianity is *truly* all about. 6% of the worlds population has any chance of going to heaven and "knowing God" according to the Bible.
94% of the worlds population is viewed as "deserving of burning in hell and eternal separation from God".
The minute you step outside the bounds of this country you start to realize how incredibly small our faith truly is on the world scene. I am not saying that numbers equal "rightness", but doesn't it bother you that your faith has declared that 96% of the worlds population is on their way to hell? Doesn't it bother you to know that a huge majority of those people were never exposed to the story of salvation like you and I were? They didnt grow up going to church like you and I did. They dont have access to church as an adult like the rest of you do. They havent heard the story 50 times before finally understanding and believing it like I did. They had zilch. Nothing. Nada.
Missions. Go into all the world. Alright. So a group of 10 youth spends 12 months trying to raise $5,000 so they can fly to a foreign country and talk to village people about Jesus. And after all that time and effort, they come home talking about 1 or 2 who became believers.
Great. 2 people. What about the other 6.5 billion?
There is something wrong with this picture. There is something wrong with the theology which paints this picture. Are we truly to believe that God is sending nearly, literally, everyone to Hell based almost entirely on where they happened to be born???? I can't stomach that.
And before you say "Everyone has a chance to choose or reject Jesus" Thats my entire point. No ... 90% of the worlds population never even hears the salvation message. Even to this day. And definitely not to an extent that its understandable, with personal counseling afterwards.
This isnt an issue of "rejecting jesus and therefore deserving of hell". I guess that is my point. And I have a real problem believing anymore that all those beautiful people are just "evil" sinners deserving of hell because they happened to grow up in Kyoto instead of Ohio. Something is missing here. Something is wrong with our theology.
Thanks for letting me vent....
My background: Graduate of Word of Life Bible institute (with honors!), Graduate of Liberty University with a degree in Business (definitely not honors here). Became a believer at age 16, and have a long history of both living and breathing Christ ...every minute of my day .... and living quite far from God in any capacity. I've known both sides intimately.
I fear that I am going to open a can of worms with this issue but to this day, my faith has suffered a great deal because I feel it is both (1) The biggest "Elephant in the Room" with christianity and at the same time (2) The most unanswered question in Christianity. This question alone hinders me from fully believing that what we think we know today, is 100% accurate.
Simply put, I left the United States for the first time in my life, in 2004. My choice of location was Tokyo Japan. As I left the wonderful USA filled with its Church's and Chapels and Cathedrals and Crosses and Fishie emblems on backs of cars .... I also left the rude... grumpy, miserable people behind the counter at Los Angeles International Airport ... getting cut off in my car on the way there by a guy who flipped me the bird while honking, and had a rude shuttle driver grumble something in my general direction when I missed my stop. As I left the USA, this was the Judeo Christian influenced world that I left.
When I got off the plane in Japan, I saw another universe. There was not a single church, as far as the eye can see. The girl behind the counter was courteous and displayed a genuine smile, with genuine patience, and genuine concern (lets call it Love) for my issues. When there was a speech barrier, she worked with me and did not show an ounce of impatience or frustration. As I disembarked the plane I was met by 3 stewardesses with gleaming smiles, bowing and welcoming me to Japan. All my interactions from the airport to the taxi driver who was humble and laughing the entire ride, to the hotel front desk who shared kind words - to someone diving for the elevator door to save it for me as it shut, almost getting their hand smashed in the closing doors .... my impression of Japan was .... wow.
And Jesus was nowhere to be found.
This continued for my entire stay. Nearly 2 weeks I walked the streets, met new friends, and interacted with people who were more kind, more loving, more generous, and more real than any group of people I had met in the United States. And there wasn't a Christian in sight. Even in Church's I had attended there was more dissention, selfishness, anger, jealousies, and condemnation than I was seeing in this completely "Godless" country called Japan.
And that's when it hit me...
For the first time in my life, the claim that happiness "only" comes from a relationship with God - seemed to be in question. The claim that love "only" comes from the christian Holy Spirit endwelling believers in the Judeo Christian God - seemed to be improbable. I had always been taught that humans were by default "evil". That a facade can be put on by anyone - even an athiest - but that this person is a liar ... and a fraud ... and that inside themselves turmoil lives and hatred and rebellion against God is what they are truly made of. That they may have a smile for a short time, but that if its not powered by belief in Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit, it is nothing more than a short lived masquerade.
All of this seemed utterly absurd to me. Especially as I thought back to the United States, full of arrogant, pushy, miserable people who hated their jobs, treated customers like objects, and operated almost exclusively on selfishness. That to me was the end result of hundreds of years of Christian Influence? Fascinating I thought ... thats what happens in a Judeo Christian country? Spoiled, selfish brats everywhere? hmmm....
And then I started to look around me in Japan. I realized Japan has over 127 million people. And the vast majority have no clue what Salvation is. Christianity to them is a trendy "cross" hanging from their neck with no meaning, and Christmas is a trendy holiday they love to participate in purely because its "American".
127 Million people, on their way to the fiery pits of hell. And why? Because of where they were coincidentally born. Yep. That's right. Were you born in a village in the mountains of Japan, the chances that you would currently be a bible believing born again christian are nearly "nill" ... and that is a simple fact. And every one of those people, including that beautiful little girl with the gleaming eyes looking up at me, and the kind 78 year old japanese woman who actually helped *me* across the street when I was lost downtown ... those two .... may they burn in hell ....... ??? Apparently so.
127 Million people on their way to hell. And guess what. That's not all.
Lets look at the numbers:
2.1 Billion people claim to be Christians. Think about how many people you know who claim to be a Christian? Lets say you go to work one day, and there are 200 people in your building. Based on my experience, about 150 of them would claim to be Christians. The others would be Indian, Arabic, and other nationalities claiming other religions. Of that 150 "christians" exactly how many of them do you really think are Christians? Based on my experience, less than 20% actually even know what Salvation means. Whats required. And have learned and believed it to a point of "Saving Grace". So 20% of 150 people who claim to be christians. Agreed? What is 20% of 2.1 billion? That's 420 million people. In the world. Who *probably* are Bible believing ... Born Again .... Holy Spirit endwelt ... Christians on their way to ..... Heaven.
420 million people .... in this world ..... are going to heaven .... really?
Out of .... well lets see:
Islam: 1.5 billion
Secular/Nonreligious/Agnostic/Atheist: 1.1 billion
Hinduism: 900 million
Chinese traditional religion: 394 million
Buddhism: 376 million
primal-indigenous: 300 million
African Traditional & Diasporic: 100 million
Sikhism: 23 million
Juche: 19 million
Spiritism: 15 million
Judaism: 14 million
Baha'i: 7 million
Jainism: 4.2 million
Shinto: 4 million
Cao Dai: 4 million
Zoroastrianism: 2.6 million
Tenrikyo: 2 million
Neo-Paganism: 1 million
Unitarian-Universalism: 800 thousand
Rastafarianism: 600 thousand
Scientology: 500 thousand
420 Million people are going to heaven, out of nearly 7 Billion people.
And do you realize that 90% of those 420 million people were born ... you guessed it .... in Judeo Christian locations? With Judeo Christian influence?
So in my book - 6% of the worlds population has any clue what christianity is *truly* all about. 6% of the worlds population has any chance of going to heaven and "knowing God" according to the Bible.
94% of the worlds population is viewed as "deserving of burning in hell and eternal separation from God".
The minute you step outside the bounds of this country you start to realize how incredibly small our faith truly is on the world scene. I am not saying that numbers equal "rightness", but doesn't it bother you that your faith has declared that 96% of the worlds population is on their way to hell? Doesn't it bother you to know that a huge majority of those people were never exposed to the story of salvation like you and I were? They didnt grow up going to church like you and I did. They dont have access to church as an adult like the rest of you do. They havent heard the story 50 times before finally understanding and believing it like I did. They had zilch. Nothing. Nada.
Missions. Go into all the world. Alright. So a group of 10 youth spends 12 months trying to raise $5,000 so they can fly to a foreign country and talk to village people about Jesus. And after all that time and effort, they come home talking about 1 or 2 who became believers.
Great. 2 people. What about the other 6.5 billion?
There is something wrong with this picture. There is something wrong with the theology which paints this picture. Are we truly to believe that God is sending nearly, literally, everyone to Hell based almost entirely on where they happened to be born???? I can't stomach that.
And before you say "Everyone has a chance to choose or reject Jesus" Thats my entire point. No ... 90% of the worlds population never even hears the salvation message. Even to this day. And definitely not to an extent that its understandable, with personal counseling afterwards.
This isnt an issue of "rejecting jesus and therefore deserving of hell". I guess that is my point. And I have a real problem believing anymore that all those beautiful people are just "evil" sinners deserving of hell because they happened to grow up in Kyoto instead of Ohio. Something is missing here. Something is wrong with our theology.
Thanks for letting me vent....
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