A note from Pastor Mike

Just when I thought that this blog had a total readership of perhaps one or two hardy souls, along comes "Pastor Mike," who responded to my previous post about "the afterlife" ("Judgment day: no easy decisions here!"). I have no idea who this masochistic fellow is (he must be of that ilk if he's reading ContentiousIntrovert!), but I will paste in his response below, since it might otherwise get lost:

"Well David, I thought you were a learned man??? But your snide comments of God made me rethink my reality. To truly know God is to know that He is a God of love – He is the one and only true God. He does not judge man as our justice system would – He judged His Son on Calvary and Christ Jesus has paid the total debt for the sins of all humanity. The reason some do not enter into Paradise is not due to God! It is due to their lack of faith. It is only by faith in the Son that we are saved (Ephesians 2:8). So to make a short answer even shorter – all God does is look at the person – are they covered in the blood of the lamb? If so they are in – if not then not......there is no bubble. Remember God is love – He loves His creation so much that He will allow anyone not to love Him in return. If I do not believe that Jesus died for my sins.... my sin clings to me and I stand condemned but if I believe my sins are paid in full and I stand righteous and holy before the Father – because of Jesus. To Him be glory forever and ever! Amen. - Your fire and brimstone guy – Pastor Mike"

What to say? I've encountered a lot of sincere and very amiable people in my day, and Pastor Mike may qualify here. Having said that, I might respond in these ways:

1. I think that I am a reasonably learned man--certainly learned enough to know that the questions of human existence do not have simple, pat answers. Pastor Mike seems to believe otherwise, but what he offers is standard Christian dogma--no more and no less--grounded in a document, the Bible, which is thoroughly "human" in its origin. With all due respect, Mike, anyone who believes that the Bible is literally "true" has fallen way off the beam, and I think even most learned people in the field of religion know this all too well.

2. I take exception to the idea that my comments were "snide." I think what I was trying to say is that it's basically impossible to neatly divide the world into two groups: those who are "saved" and those who are not, and that even God would have some problems with such decisions.

3. I have no idea what it means to be "covered by the blood of the lamb"--well, metaphorically I do, but as a more practical and important matter, I don't know how anyone could clearly make such a determination. The beliefs, attitudes, and most importantly the behavior of humans is complex and multi-faceted and does not lend itself to a "yes or no" outcome. Whether Mike wants to believe it or not, there clearly is a "bubble"--if only the world could be neatly divided into the good guys and the bad guys! But dualistic thinking is not very good thinking.

4. The notion that "God is love" is always appealing, but God's notion of "love" (at least, as Pastor Mike formulates it) is rather perverse (and now I AM being snide). If heaven is only for the chosen few, then God is quite the SOB. God, apparently, loves us so much that He's willing to condemn us to an eternity of suffering if we don't do things just right--that's one deep and abiding love! To put it in Mike's terms, I've used the brain that God gave me, used it to the best of my ability, carefully weighed the evidence and the arguments, and concluded that most of Christian dogma is simply preposterous and that God probably does not exist. In good conscience, I could no more believe what Pastor Mike says than I could believe in the Tooth Fairy--and for that, presumably, God would punish me--not just when I die, but for the next several BILLION years. If Pastor Mike cannot see the disconnect there, he is deluding himself; such a stance toward humanity is just plain wrong.

5. One final irony: despite my raging skepticism, I believe in personal choice and being fully accountable for the choices that I make--that's Existentialism 101. In that respect, I have no "original sin," and if I do, Jesus certainly can't or shouldn't erase it for me--that's my obligation, not his. But, I am here to say that I'm completely comfortable with the choices that I have made in life--enough so, in fact, to believe that if there IS a God, and there IS an afterlife, that I have earned a spot there, regardless of whatever Christian dogma might claim. If God really knows me, he also knows I'm a decent guy--too decent to punish in the manner that narrow-minded Christians would propose.

Thanks for writing, Pastor Mike. God bless you, my man!

[P.S. - Pastor Mike has weighed in again about my rantings in the "comments" section after this post. To my hundreds of thousands of loyal readers: feel free to add your own thoughts!]