Truth vs. Tradition

The thing about truth that is amazing is that truth is truth regardless of whether or not anyone believes it. Long before anyone believed that the world was round... it was. While others believed the moon was made of cheese... it wasn't. Truth is truth.

Somehow we have come to believe in the Christian faith that our belief in something is what determines the veracity of it. Unless you believe in Jesus you are not reconciled by Him. Unless you believe in Jesus you are not included in Him.

I recognize that is the traditional point of view but it is neither biblical or truth. In Acts 17:28, Paul, speaking to a group of Athenian pagans, tells them that in Christ they live and move and have their being." - They are already in Christ. In his letter to the Colossians, Paul states that ALL THINGS are held together IN Christ and that God was pleased to reconcile all things to Himself in Christ. He goes on to emphasize this point by declaring "whether things on earth or things in heaven" all have been restored to the Father in and through Jesus.

When you start with a faulty, traditional premise - only those in Christ get to heaven - to hear this news is to assume that the person is crossing over into the realm of heresy. "Universalism! Universalism!" they cry and begin to build the fires for the burning at the stake. Protect a tradition that is neither biblical or true.

Thomas Erskine in his essays on the "Unconditional Freeness of the Gospel" states:

"I think that a lot of the theoretical difficulty on this matter has arisen from the habit of considering heaven merely as a reward, and hell merely as a punishment. Pardon, or forgiveness, is viewed as the deliverance from hell, and the introduction into heaven."

also,

"Heaven then is the name for a character conformed to the will of God, and hell is the name for a character opposed to the will of God. The idea therefore of having heaven without holiness, is like the idea of having health without being well; it is a contradiction in terms."

and more,

"Christianity is like a divinely revealed medical treatment for diseased spirits. Heaven is the name for health in the soul, and hell is the name for disease. The design of Christianity is to produce heaven, and to destroy hell."

Finally,

"Forgiveness, or pardon, is not heaven any more than a medicine is health. Pardon is proclaimed freely and universally; it is perfectly gratuitous, unconditional and unlimited. But heaven is limited to those who are sanctified by the belief of the pardon."

The truest thing about us all is that we have been included in Jesus - always have, always will - and that when He died, we died (II Corinthians 5:14); and when He was raised up we were raised up (Ephesians 2:6).

When we come to know the truth we are set free (John 8:32) and heaven begins to be produced in our soul. To not believe the truth is to live in denial (and when has that ever worked?).

Walk in the truth of Jesus!

For further reading on Thomas Erskine go to this site.