The Modern Jesus
Matthew 25:41,46 Then he will say to those on his left, “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” … And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. (ESV)
We’ve been thinking this week about why the basic tenets and beliefs of Christianity are so deeply offensive to the contemporary, secular mindset. And one of the reasons revolves around people’s understanding of who this Jesus really is, and what He really said.
Here’s how it goes. When Christianity says, “Here are the things in the Bible that God says are right and wrong,” the modern secular mind responds with, “Who are you to tell me what’s right and wrong?”
And when we continue with “Those who continue doing wrong will spend eternity separated from God, in a place called hell,” they respond with is, “How dare you!?”, even though those same people don’t even believe in God and the devil, or heaven and hell.
“Besides,” they argue, “isn’t your God a God of love? Didn’t this Jesus whom you believe in love and accept everyone? You Christians are just a bunch of hypocrites!” And therein lies the problem – because the modern Jesus is not the biblical Jesus. Who people want Jesus to be, here in the 21st Century, is not who Jesus really is. He’s not the Jesus revealed to us in the Word of God.
That Jesus preached rather a lot about heaven and hell; about sin and righteousness. Here’s just one instance.
Matthew 25:41,46 Then he will say to those on his left, “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” … And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. (ESV)
God is a God, yes … of love, but also of justice – just as you’d expect. Let’s stop trying to reinvent Him.
That’s His Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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Donna Eiler
So much of the world doesn’t get this! Their “God of love” let’s them do whatever they want without consequence ...
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So much of the world doesn’t get this! Their “God of love” let’s them do whatever they want without consequence and be ok with it. Sadly some of my family members are caught in this. We need revival, first in the church, then in our messed up world.