Phoned my beloved father for a nice New Year(ish) chat and ended up being told that if I didn't adhere to his particular beliefs I would be going to hell. I told him I thought it was a bit much for a human to take on God's perspective, and that we shouldn't make judgments about the afterlife (if any)... he countered by explaining to me why St. Paul was wrong. I ended up feeling that hell was probably being harangued by anyone about their beliefs in an unsophisticated way while one listened patiently, not wishing to interrupt, in the hope it would come to an end eventually.
To me it seems self-evident that if there is a God God is something beyond our imagination... and that if God is love (and apparently Christianity is the only religion which asserts this) then this unimaginable love must encompass equally unimaginable grace and mercy and compassion and all the other good qualities that humans have in such relatively small measures...but because it is all unimaginable we petty humans cannot begin to understand how God judges - we are more or less agreed that ultimate judgement is God's remit - so we are not really in a position to start judging, especially on eschatological matters. In fact the bible is rather keen to tell us not to judge... and to attribute Justice as a divine quality which God comes top in.
However, by the end of my father's "concerned" lecture, I came to believe that I was probably going to hell - and that it was extremely wrong of me to doubt hell's existence since it is mentioned once or twice in the Bible. Pa was keen to explain how well he knew the Bible having read it every day for 30 years - "have you?" No, of course I haven't, I read scraps of it irregularly - and sometimes I read it for a few days running. I've read the whole thing once or twice, but while it's good to be reminded of certain passages, I'm not entirely sure how he has read it so often without noticing all those "judge not lest ye be judged" bits... but of course this is just the old "everyone has their own version of the Bible" observation. His is more judgemental than mine.
At the bottom of this is the fact that I'm a clearer thinker than him, he is slow to see inconsistencies and contradictions which I spot swiftly, so I cannot argue with him - it would be like setting dogs on a chained bear.
I do have a fairly clear commitment to God - the Christian version, and being told my faith isn't "right" because it's too liberal is just as offensive as being told it isn't right because he's not Catholic (this still rankles him apparently). Anyway, the upshot was that I sat patiently listening to him have a go at me, until he finally ran out of steam. To think that a few weeks ago I was thinking of trying to become his carer if necessary. I was thinking of that as he chugged on, wondering how often I could bear to hear him repeat the same messages. Yes I know we have to pray and thank God for healing, I know we have to cut off all ties with Masonic forebears and so on and so forth...yes, I have read the book about Visions, yes, I do know about near-death experiences. Oh Lord. So many problems in my life seem to be a result of boredom, which is partially connected with having a good memory. I have been hearing these particular ideas for at least 20 years... and despite all the evidence to the contrary - he still insists that everyone should have a long healthy life - unless they are terribly sinful (oh, so that was my mother's problem?) and full of unrepentence... honestly, sometimes I think he missed a trick in not becoming a tv evangelist. He is delighted to have found a passage in Genesis about people living to 120 (his new target)...this tied up with the dodgy passage about the "sons of God" getting jiggy with mortal women...so I'm not sure if that's one of the most reliable bits of the Bible - but to Bibliolators all bits of the bible are valid - even when they contradict each other.
To me it seems self-evident that if there is a God God is something beyond our imagination... and that if God is love (and apparently Christianity is the only religion which asserts this) then this unimaginable love must encompass equally unimaginable grace and mercy and compassion and all the other good qualities that humans have in such relatively small measures...but because it is all unimaginable we petty humans cannot begin to understand how God judges - we are more or less agreed that ultimate judgement is God's remit - so we are not really in a position to start judging, especially on eschatological matters. In fact the bible is rather keen to tell us not to judge... and to attribute Justice as a divine quality which God comes top in.
However, by the end of my father's "concerned" lecture, I came to believe that I was probably going to hell - and that it was extremely wrong of me to doubt hell's existence since it is mentioned once or twice in the Bible. Pa was keen to explain how well he knew the Bible having read it every day for 30 years - "have you?" No, of course I haven't, I read scraps of it irregularly - and sometimes I read it for a few days running. I've read the whole thing once or twice, but while it's good to be reminded of certain passages, I'm not entirely sure how he has read it so often without noticing all those "judge not lest ye be judged" bits... but of course this is just the old "everyone has their own version of the Bible" observation. His is more judgemental than mine.
At the bottom of this is the fact that I'm a clearer thinker than him, he is slow to see inconsistencies and contradictions which I spot swiftly, so I cannot argue with him - it would be like setting dogs on a chained bear.
I do have a fairly clear commitment to God - the Christian version, and being told my faith isn't "right" because it's too liberal is just as offensive as being told it isn't right because he's not Catholic (this still rankles him apparently). Anyway, the upshot was that I sat patiently listening to him have a go at me, until he finally ran out of steam. To think that a few weeks ago I was thinking of trying to become his carer if necessary. I was thinking of that as he chugged on, wondering how often I could bear to hear him repeat the same messages. Yes I know we have to pray and thank God for healing, I know we have to cut off all ties with Masonic forebears and so on and so forth...yes, I have read the book about Visions, yes, I do know about near-death experiences. Oh Lord. So many problems in my life seem to be a result of boredom, which is partially connected with having a good memory. I have been hearing these particular ideas for at least 20 years... and despite all the evidence to the contrary - he still insists that everyone should have a long healthy life - unless they are terribly sinful (oh, so that was my mother's problem?) and full of unrepentence... honestly, sometimes I think he missed a trick in not becoming a tv evangelist. He is delighted to have found a passage in Genesis about people living to 120 (his new target)...this tied up with the dodgy passage about the "sons of God" getting jiggy with mortal women...so I'm not sure if that's one of the most reliable bits of the Bible - but to Bibliolators all bits of the bible are valid - even when they contradict each other.
No comments:
Post a Comment