My sister was talking to me about how it’s unfair that we are in poverty and there are rich people travelling around the world, doing whatever they want, just because they were born in that position of privilege.
She said she was talking to a rich friend and she felt this huge disconnect. Like, me and my sister, we’ve never left Canada at all. And our mother is an immigrant, so yeah she’s technically been outside of Canada, but that’s just to come into Canada.
She’s academically smart, but this rich person is also academically smart. And this rich friend of hers talks about how they travel all around the world, like to Cuba in Grade 7, and says that one of them is a billionaire.
A rich house, rich neighborhood, rich lifestyle. My sister was crying while talking to me because of the huge disconnect compared to our poor state. How can these rich people walk through downtown, see all the homeless people on the streets and continue to use their money only for their own benefit? It’s heartless. For me, I don’t care about having all of that wealth.
Proverbs 11:4 Wealth is worthless in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death.
· A day of wrath. Day, as in a limited time. The Lord is not angry forever, and eventually all will gain righteousness by faith in Christ and gain permanent life.
And to be honest, if I did have that sort of money, I would feel guilty about it, because I would be essentially sitting on it while so many people in the world are suffering. So, I was telling to my sister that, the real big bad enemy is not humans, though we are evil in our own way. The big bad enemy is the forces of evil, the force of inequality that sweeps through the world. There’s this… force of wickedness… that I can feel when I see the news, all the wars, famine, heartache, that’s the real enemy here, the concept of sin itself, death!
Ephesians 6:12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
But it’s interesting, because my sister said it felt strange talking to this rich person because they were always trying to pander to poor people, like somehow trying to convince people that they were poor when they were in fact rich? It’s like two people are running a race, the one with a boulder tied to their back is outrunning the one with a super boosting jetpack strapped onto them. The jetpack person has to admit that either a) they are not good at running or b) the jetpack is actually having a gravitational pull that’s pushing more weight behind them lol, like some sort of excuse. They might even say that all of their family members have boulders stuck to them, and even if we assume that’s true, those family members aren’t even in this race!
Let me illustrate with another scenario. Like, if someone has a traumatic backstory, I feel sorry for them, the Lord has mercy to them, to all people. But just because someone has trauma in the past does not make it okay to murder people. It’s never okay to murder people, it’s a sin!
Exodus 20:13 “You shall not murder.
Since she’s a Christian Universalist like myself, she’s aware that there’s a happy ending for everyone, a second life after this one so to speak. I told her that a Day with the Lord is like 100 years, as the Bible says.
Psalm 90:4 A thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night.
Even King Solomon, who was incredibly rich, was not clothed as beautiful as just the wild flowers.
Luke 12:27 “Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.
A single flower in Heaven will be more beautiful than the richest person in the world! And Heaven will be filled with fields upon fields of flowers, for every person who has ever existed to gaze at in awe!
For us who suffer right now, there is blessings afterwards. Because that suffering is what lead us to recognize our sins, that’s repentance. The suffering is what leads us to have faith alone in Christ to gain permanent life. For the rich people who have yet to believe in Christ to be made clean from there sins, there is Sheol/Hades for temporary punishment. Temporary because eventually they will be convinced to become believers in Christ to be permanently saved.
Isaiah 48:10 See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
I explained to her how we are like metal that’s put in a furnace. The suffering is the heat. Only when it’s put to a proper temperature can it be molded to a specific shape. Suffering is how we develop our character, our personality. Rich people who haven’t suffered enough are like babies, in a sense, they’ve yet to grow up. How does a smooth brain get smarter? It wrinkles. How does muscles form, by the tearing of skin. Our muscles fiber undergo trauma, and when they regrow, more muscle fiber is in their place.
To be honest, I find it sad when people have to suffer. Why does the world have to be like this? Since God is good, I know this is all in His Plan, for the best, but the Problem of Evil TM is certainly tricky. What’s my answer to it? I don’t know exactly for sure right now. I really really wish and hope for a world where there is no more suffering, eventually it will come. But, the truth is that, for some people, that suffering is necessary. The suffering that people experience now may be necessary for their growth.
Romans 5:3-4 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope.
But as Christian Universalists, all of us can recognize that suffering is meant to be correctional in nature. What’s the point of torturing someone endlessly? There’s nothing loving about that.
My sister was telling me how it’s sad that so many rich people are atheists. I told her it’s because many of them have yet to suffer in a way that leads to faith in Christ. They have yet to recognize their evil, the sin that exists in all of us, the truth. Eventually, they will understand, but many of them will suffer temporarily.
At least with agnostics, they admit that they don’t know and are open to searching for the truth. But atheists? And I say this as a former atheist. But it’s baffling how atheists can deny people hope, an anti-hope if you will. It’s crazy how I could believe in atheism in the past. Like what, as an atheist, would they go to a poor person suffering and tell them there’s no happy ending for them? That’s cruel! That there’s no hope, no joy? For us Christians, we spread the Gospel out of joy, but why do atheists spread their bad news? Truly, as long as there’s even one human who is still suffering, then the news is bad. There’s the terror of nihilism too, and I say this as a former Nihilist who studied Friedrich Nietzsche, who believe that absolutely everything in existence is meaningless. The truth is that God is Our Meaning to Life, because He is Life. Everything that’s not God is meaningless, but since God has existence, He is our meaning!
We were talking how, atheists like to use science to disprove Christianity. The big bang, evolution, dinosaurs. What do I think of those topics? Look, just as a catch all statement, God could have easily put in more scientific explanations, like more exact formulas in the Bible. I say more because there’s already a lot of science in the Bible. But what’s the point of having a bunch of like mathematical expressions by themselves? I mean, God uses math already to explain spiritual things. What’s the point of having just a book filled with physical knowledge, when the Lord gives us that alongside true spiritual wisdom!
Whether or not scientific concepts exist do not disprove the Bible. Science can happen outside of the Bible, the physical world, the focus of scripture is on the spiritual, things that are not seen.
And we talked about atheists. Honestly, the atheist’s world has the same negativity as the annihilationist’s world.
Because, under atheism, people can randomly gain consciousness, they suffer, and they die, net negative.
And for the Conditional Immortality believer, people suffer and the die, net negative.
Where’s the joy here? The mercy, the happiness? So what, under atheism, we’re just born just to die? What sort of cruel world is this? Hope does not put us to shame and I am convinced that Our Blessed hope will give a net positive to everyone as all will believe in Him to gain permanent life completely free of suffering in paradise.
She said she was talking to a rich friend and she felt this huge disconnect. Like, me and my sister, we’ve never left Canada at all. And our mother is an immigrant, so yeah she’s technically been outside of Canada, but that’s just to come into Canada.
She’s academically smart, but this rich person is also academically smart. And this rich friend of hers talks about how they travel all around the world, like to Cuba in Grade 7, and says that one of them is a billionaire.
A rich house, rich neighborhood, rich lifestyle. My sister was crying while talking to me because of the huge disconnect compared to our poor state. How can these rich people walk through downtown, see all the homeless people on the streets and continue to use their money only for their own benefit? It’s heartless. For me, I don’t care about having all of that wealth.
Proverbs 11:4 Wealth is worthless in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death.
· A day of wrath. Day, as in a limited time. The Lord is not angry forever, and eventually all will gain righteousness by faith in Christ and gain permanent life.
And to be honest, if I did have that sort of money, I would feel guilty about it, because I would be essentially sitting on it while so many people in the world are suffering. So, I was telling to my sister that, the real big bad enemy is not humans, though we are evil in our own way. The big bad enemy is the forces of evil, the force of inequality that sweeps through the world. There’s this… force of wickedness… that I can feel when I see the news, all the wars, famine, heartache, that’s the real enemy here, the concept of sin itself, death!
Ephesians 6:12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
But it’s interesting, because my sister said it felt strange talking to this rich person because they were always trying to pander to poor people, like somehow trying to convince people that they were poor when they were in fact rich? It’s like two people are running a race, the one with a boulder tied to their back is outrunning the one with a super boosting jetpack strapped onto them. The jetpack person has to admit that either a) they are not good at running or b) the jetpack is actually having a gravitational pull that’s pushing more weight behind them lol, like some sort of excuse. They might even say that all of their family members have boulders stuck to them, and even if we assume that’s true, those family members aren’t even in this race!
Let me illustrate with another scenario. Like, if someone has a traumatic backstory, I feel sorry for them, the Lord has mercy to them, to all people. But just because someone has trauma in the past does not make it okay to murder people. It’s never okay to murder people, it’s a sin!
Exodus 20:13 “You shall not murder.
Since she’s a Christian Universalist like myself, she’s aware that there’s a happy ending for everyone, a second life after this one so to speak. I told her that a Day with the Lord is like 100 years, as the Bible says.
Psalm 90:4 A thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night.
Even King Solomon, who was incredibly rich, was not clothed as beautiful as just the wild flowers.
Luke 12:27 “Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.
A single flower in Heaven will be more beautiful than the richest person in the world! And Heaven will be filled with fields upon fields of flowers, for every person who has ever existed to gaze at in awe!
For us who suffer right now, there is blessings afterwards. Because that suffering is what lead us to recognize our sins, that’s repentance. The suffering is what leads us to have faith alone in Christ to gain permanent life. For the rich people who have yet to believe in Christ to be made clean from there sins, there is Sheol/Hades for temporary punishment. Temporary because eventually they will be convinced to become believers in Christ to be permanently saved.
Isaiah 48:10 See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
I explained to her how we are like metal that’s put in a furnace. The suffering is the heat. Only when it’s put to a proper temperature can it be molded to a specific shape. Suffering is how we develop our character, our personality. Rich people who haven’t suffered enough are like babies, in a sense, they’ve yet to grow up. How does a smooth brain get smarter? It wrinkles. How does muscles form, by the tearing of skin. Our muscles fiber undergo trauma, and when they regrow, more muscle fiber is in their place.
To be honest, I find it sad when people have to suffer. Why does the world have to be like this? Since God is good, I know this is all in His Plan, for the best, but the Problem of Evil TM is certainly tricky. What’s my answer to it? I don’t know exactly for sure right now. I really really wish and hope for a world where there is no more suffering, eventually it will come. But, the truth is that, for some people, that suffering is necessary. The suffering that people experience now may be necessary for their growth.
Romans 5:3-4 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope.
But as Christian Universalists, all of us can recognize that suffering is meant to be correctional in nature. What’s the point of torturing someone endlessly? There’s nothing loving about that.
My sister was telling me how it’s sad that so many rich people are atheists. I told her it’s because many of them have yet to suffer in a way that leads to faith in Christ. They have yet to recognize their evil, the sin that exists in all of us, the truth. Eventually, they will understand, but many of them will suffer temporarily.
At least with agnostics, they admit that they don’t know and are open to searching for the truth. But atheists? And I say this as a former atheist. But it’s baffling how atheists can deny people hope, an anti-hope if you will. It’s crazy how I could believe in atheism in the past. Like what, as an atheist, would they go to a poor person suffering and tell them there’s no happy ending for them? That’s cruel! That there’s no hope, no joy? For us Christians, we spread the Gospel out of joy, but why do atheists spread their bad news? Truly, as long as there’s even one human who is still suffering, then the news is bad. There’s the terror of nihilism too, and I say this as a former Nihilist who studied Friedrich Nietzsche, who believe that absolutely everything in existence is meaningless. The truth is that God is Our Meaning to Life, because He is Life. Everything that’s not God is meaningless, but since God has existence, He is our meaning!
We were talking how, atheists like to use science to disprove Christianity. The big bang, evolution, dinosaurs. What do I think of those topics? Look, just as a catch all statement, God could have easily put in more scientific explanations, like more exact formulas in the Bible. I say more because there’s already a lot of science in the Bible. But what’s the point of having a bunch of like mathematical expressions by themselves? I mean, God uses math already to explain spiritual things. What’s the point of having just a book filled with physical knowledge, when the Lord gives us that alongside true spiritual wisdom!
Whether or not scientific concepts exist do not disprove the Bible. Science can happen outside of the Bible, the physical world, the focus of scripture is on the spiritual, things that are not seen.
And we talked about atheists. Honestly, the atheist’s world has the same negativity as the annihilationist’s world.
Because, under atheism, people can randomly gain consciousness, they suffer, and they die, net negative.
And for the Conditional Immortality believer, people suffer and the die, net negative.
Where’s the joy here? The mercy, the happiness? So what, under atheism, we’re just born just to die? What sort of cruel world is this? Hope does not put us to shame and I am convinced that Our Blessed hope will give a net positive to everyone as all will believe in Him to gain permanent life completely free of suffering in paradise.
