In an Op-Ed piece in  last Sunday's New York Times, Bono, a devout man of faith, writes of Easter and the renewal  it brings.  He talks of the need for rebirth and the dying and living that is Easter. 

Writing about his faith he says

I come to lowly church halls and lofty cathedrals for what purpose? I search the Scriptures to what end? To check my head? My heart? No, my soul. For me these meditations are like a plumb line dropped by a master builder — to see if the walls are straight or crooked. I check my emotional life with music, my intellectual life with writing, but religion is where I soul-search.

But the central thesis of his column has little to do with his faith.  It has to do with doing right.  It has to do with taking care of the least on this earth:

So much of the discussion today is about value, not values. Aid well spent can be an example of both, values and value for money. Providing AIDS medication to just under four million people, putting in place modest measures to improve maternal health, eradicating killer pests like malaria and rotoviruses — all these provide a leg up on the climb to self-sufficiency, all these can help us make friends in a world quick to enmity. It’s not alms, it’s investment. It’s not charity, it’s justice.

Strangely, as we file out of the small stone church into the cruel sun, I think of Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, whose now combined fortune is dedicated to the fight against extreme poverty. Agnostics both, I believe. I think of Nelson Mandela, who has spent his life upholding the rights of others. A spiritual man — no doubt. Religious? I’m told he would not describe himself that way.

Not all soul music comes from the church.

Jesus, in Matthew 25 (in the parable of the sheep and goats), speaks of the final judgment, not in terms of those who know Him, but in terms of those reach out to others in their deepest hour of need.  Jesus says ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.' (Matthew 25:45,46)

If we're to believe Jesus words,  both Bono and Warren Buffett are righteous and saved.  This concept of salvation is for me, much more palatable than the notion that only those who accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior will be saved.  Forget those who are Muslim or Hindu or who have rejected the notion of Jesus as Messiah.  What about those who have never heard the Gospel?  Those who die never knowing the message of salvation?  I have never been able to reconcile this issue and no explanation has ever been sufficient. 

I know I'm not to question God, but it seems like horrible planning.  "For God So Loved the World, that He gave his Only Begotten Son"......except for those of you in New Guinea who never hear the Gospel, well, sorry about that.  See you in Hell. 

Comments

[Jenn]

I'm really sorry that your struggleing with all of this so much. It must be very uncomforting to have so much doubt.
I understand your point but I believe that a God who creates something as complex as the human eye, who thought up animals as diverse as a honey bee and a giraffe probably has an answer to your questions. You have to get to Heaven to find out and I believe that Jesus is the only way to salvation. He's the atonement for our sins.

[MaineMom]

Don't you love those "Christians" who point out how "uncomfortable" us non-Christians are??!

I LOVED this post and feel exactly the way you do on this matter. If you take the bible, and (figuratively) put it in a boil of water and simmer away all of the "nice" stuff, you are left with this: are you going to Heaven or are you going to Hell? Bottom line.

And unless you've accepted Jesus as your "Lord and Savior", you are taking the elevator down to the sauna. BUT friends! If you accept "Him" you get to take the escalator up to Heaven where....wait...what happens in Heaven? Do we have jobs? What do we do all day? Well, whatever...it's really, really nice. And don't worry about those friends/family that are downstairs. This is Heaven!! You won't even think about them.

PA-LEEZE! A man can come in and rape and kill my family and go to jail and "save" himself and he gets the all-inclusive vacation resort? If "God" wanted us all to serve "Him" and "accept" him, than why not just be a little bit more clear? Why the ambiguity? Then we wouldn't have thousands of other religions. And wars over religion. And millions dying over religion and war. Ugh.

Oh, and one more thing? Aren't we all "God's Children?" How come I hear people say, "He (God) gave up his only son?"

To me, Christianity is like a MLM scheme. Those involved shake their heads at those not involved; they can't believe how they can turn down something so good (like making $25,000/month!!). As if your life can't be "good" otherwise.

(Can you tell I'm fired up?)