We Focus On Our Divisions

Reverend,

Which verse says we will be judged by our love? I'll save you some time in looking, because no verses say that!

"All who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law."
- Romans 2:12

You will be judged by the law, sins done in darkness will be brought to the light. Everytime you have misrepresented God's name to the detriment of someones' soul, everytime you make a god in your image who judges in love, in order to cover the sins of lust, hatred, murder, adultery, coveting, lying, and stealing, you have transgressed the law. You are storing up wrath for yourself on the Day of Judgment.

"He will judge the world in righteousness..."
-Psalm 96:13

When your righteousness is found lacking, you will be punished for your lawlessness. All liars will have their place in the lake of fire, no idolater will see the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus Christ paid your fine, His righteousness can be attributed to you. You broke the law and Jesus took the punishment.

You will be judged in righteousness, we know how you're going to do on that day, because all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

But if you'll repent, and place your faith in Christ's atoning work, you will be born-into the family of God and Christ's righteousness will clothe you.

"I have put on righteousness, and my judgement will be as a king."
-Job 29:14

What Could Possibly Divide Us? Our God, Maybe?

Muslims believe they have the Only true God. Mormons do too. And Catholics. and Protestant Evangelicals.

Could such beliefs lead people to be antagonistic to those whose God is Wrong?

What a novel idea.

Rev Cooper, "As religious people, we must ask ourselves why our identities are so often constructed in opposition to "the other."" you ask.

It's real simple. Just take the upcoming election for easy example. There can be but one winner yet there are many contenders for the throne.

Who will run, be in charge of the kingdom of God while we wait for Jesus to return? Why that's just an election isn't it? The election of the pope that is. Elections of the pope used to be handled the same way as the election of kings, kinda democratic like - the one who is most ruthless, hateful, cruel and prepared to damn his fellow man to an early hell won.

Democracy is a new idea. http://www.hoax-buster.org/sellyoursoul has the story of the oldest election on record. That was when Lucifer contested someone for the office of God. The one that holds the office of God is God - like the one who holds the office of president is president.

So lead you flock on to hell. When there are enough people in hell Lucifer can raise an even bigger army, attack heaven again and this time maybe he'll win, like Nixon. It's rumored there's a fire extinguisher in heaven.

It's all about the office of God. We know the one who holds it is God. That's "why our identities are so often constructed in opposition to "the other."" We are attributing supernatural powers on much less than supernatural people, his holiness, Billy and Patty for examples - all holders of the office of God. Yet there is but one God. Frustrating, no?

Is the supernatural powerful? How powerful is it?

The Rector Says: "I would say that we will in the end be judged by the love we are able to show others."

An emphasis on love is something that many religions have in common and it is a good thing.

The most important command Jesus said was to love the Lord your God. The Rector says we will "in the end" be judged by our love for others and this is a revision to human works. How much love is required to be worthy of a favorable judgment? Can anyone say that they have loved enough? How do you know that you have loved in a way that would actually be acceptable to a holy God? You don't.

Love must be something we should all aspire to have in great quantities. Love as much as possible but please remember that if God, in the end, judged you soley on the quantity and quality of your love you are in deep trouble. We can try to get to God on our own through love and by attempting to love good enough to satisfy God. Or we can come to God on His terms which are a lot easier to meet than the standard of love or any other standard before a perfect and holy God.

John 3:18-21

He who believes in him (Jesus) is not condemned; he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does what is true comes to the light, that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been wrought in God.

Recently, I've been reading the book of Acts and it amazes me that although the believers were strangers to one another, they came together like family. Of course, my analytical mind went toward the most logical explanation, which is Christians were minorities, so they stuck together. However, the bible teaches us that the power of the Holy Spirit brought them together to perform one mission - spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. They had different personalities, but one goal. Different cultures, but one goal. Different languages, but one goal.

The early church did face many conflicts due to their differences, but the apostle Paul constantly tried to assure them that they should not measure their contribution to the mission by human standards. Instead, Paul encouraged believers to be lead by the power of the Holy Spirit, who sets us free from the bondage of endless rules - rules that ultimately divide us. I think we can overcome division by focusing on our mission.