How can heaven be joyful unless God purges our knowledge of the eternally-tortured lost?

How can Christ be considered triumphant if the vast majority of humanity is not saved by His sacrifice?

I came to a solution for some of my concerns, which I’ve expressed in the post, “Whom Does God Love?“.

Some months ago a close friend introduced me to a solution for almost all of my other issues. After a lifetime of being taught that damnation was eternal, it was hard for me to consider an alternative. But several books later, I made the switch!

The website, Hope Beyond Hell, is the best single source for this amazing different (for most of us) view of life after death. I hope you’ll check it out for yourself.

If you’re looking for an alternative Christian biology textbook for yourself or your child, this could be just what you want. It’ll cost you less than a buck to find out!

I used to do a children’s object lesson during each morning service, and I was always on the hunt for fresh content. This site would have been a real help back then.

While waiting for my new toy to arrive, I Googled lots of links about the Kindle: tips and tricks, free and cheap books, etc. I ran across the 2011 E-Book Reading Challenge and decided to join in. I’ll be listing the books I read below this picture:

Book List

1. Common Sense, Thomas Paine: I don’t think I had ever read this document from U.S. Revolutionary times. I was impressed by the way Paine showed that kings are not God’s approved form of government. Payne would be dismayed by the beating that liberty has taken during the history of our country.

1. Spy Killer, L. Ron Hubbard: A pretty good bit of pulp fiction which takes place in WW2-era China. Almost all of the books I’ll be reading now will be freebies at Amazon.com.
2. Bob Moore: No Hero, Tom Andry: This story is about a fairly stereotypical private detective, but one who investigates superheroes. There’s some good human interest along with the weirdness.
   The Big Sleep, Raymond Chandler: I guess Chandler is the “father” of the hard-boiled detective genre. This is the first in his Philip Marlowe series. I might mention that my favorite fiction is that with professional detectives. Hercule Poirot is fine, but no Miss Marple, thank you.
3. Best Russian Short Stories: There’s a scholarly and interesting introduction to this collection, but I don’t know who wrote it.
4. Farewell, My Lovely, Raymond Chandler.
5. The High Window, Raymond Chandler. Yes, I like to read straight through an author’s works… at least the ones I want to read. Actually, I’m reading a Russian short story between each novel.
6. The Little Sister, Raymond Chandler.
7. The Long Goodbye, Raymond Chandler.
8. Playback, Raymond Chandler.
9. Trouble Is My Business, Raymond Chandler.
10. “The Simple Art of Murder” (Atlantic Monthly, December 1944). This is an essay dealing with the differences between “mystery” and “detective” fiction. I now realize why I prefer the latter to the former, because Chandler maintains that authors skilled at crafting a mystery with all its clues, false signals, and misleading suspects are seldom gifted at creating complex characters and real life situations.
11. Cranford, Elizabeth Gaskell. One of my favorite movies is Cranford, and the credits say it’s based on three novels. I tracked them down and plan to read the other two soon.
12. The n00b Warriors (Book One), Scott Douglas. Critics have said this book is “too violent,” but it is only so because war is too violent. This is about a U.S. civil war in the future in which video games and blogs play a big part. All of the government dishonesty, theft, slavery, and murder that accompanies every war is depicted graphically and without the candy coating usually given it by approved media. I’m looking forward to Book Two.
13. Imaginary Jesus, Matt Mikalatos, is a book that will be appreciated by Christians who are familiar with today’s Church. There is lots of humor, but the book has a serious message with some very moving parts. There’s not just one Imaginary Jesus; there are lots of them: Legalistic Jesus, King James Jesus, Meticulous Jesus, The-Future-Is-Unknowable Jesus…. Maybe you’ll find your Imaginary Jesus. And maybe you’ll find the real one.
14. Greatest Knight, Elizabeth Chadwick. Terrific historical fiction about William Marshall, an English knight under Kings Henry, Richard, and John. I don’t read much historical fiction, but I’m sure glad I read this one.
15. A Child al Confino, Eric Lamet. An excellent autobiography of a Jewish man who was a child during the World War II years. It follows his travels and life as his family flees the Nazis and then lives under fascist rule in Italy.
16. The People of the Mist, H. Rider Haggard. An African adventure with jewels, a dwarf, a giant crocodile, human sacrifice, and romance.
17. Deeper Water, Robert Whitlow. Two separate plots merge as a committed Christian young woman clerks in a law office and an old man struggles with the haunting memories of his past. One of the benefits of a Kindle that I’ve just come to appreciate is how the free books lead me to enjoy fiction I would have never found on library shelves.
18. Medicus, Ruth Downie. A physician for the Roman Empire stationed in Britain befriends an injured slave girl, leading to adventures in which very serious subjects are made palatable by well-written humor.
19. Protector, Laurel Downey. A gritty story about a Denver homicide detective, who had a horrible childhood, and a child she is protecting from her own horrible situation.
20. Medical Error, Richard Mabry. A surgeon in a teaching hospital has her identity stolen, and the situation escalates to where she is accused of drug dealing and murder.
21. Poke the Box, Seth Godin. A marketing genius turns motivational writer with this new book. It certainly has me champing at the bit to start something exciting.
22. Fortress on the Sun, Paul Cook. I don’t read much science fiction, but this was an excellent thriller about a prison colony on a space station immersed in the sun’s inferno.
23. Darcy’s Voyage, Kara Louse. Since I’m a fan of Pride and Prejudice (book and movie), I greatly enjoyed this new novel. The Amazon.com description inaccurately calls it a continuation of P&P, but it’s actually a different story with the same characters. Some events are repeated, as are some favorite lines of dialogue.
24. Murder in Passy, Cara Black. A detective story starring Parisian sleuth Aimee Leduc. One of a series. I had some trouble following the action, but that may be my own shortcoming.
25. You Can’t Stop Me, Max Allan Collins. A TV show with their own CSI team hunts a serial killer.
26. Detective, Parnell Hall. A detective who isn’t a “real” detective has to get real to solve a murder for which he feels responsible.
27. For the King’s Favor, Elizabeth Chadwick. Another great piece of historical fiction that brings alive England in the early times of Norman kings. Roger Bigod is a knight seeking to regain his patrimony. He marries one of the king’s mistresses… because he likes her… and this is their story.
28. The Immigrants, Howard Fast. A great novel mostly about the son of a French and Italian immigrant couple. He builds a great business empire, but the real attraction of the novel is the character development.
29. The End Is Now, Rob Stennett. It seems Goodland, Kansas has been selected by God for a test marketing of the rapture. As bizarre as that seems, this is an excellent book that shows good understanding of Christianity by the author and provides excellent character development as the Henderson family deals with the signs of the times.
30. The Tor, Liza Granville. A fantasy novel that was OK… actually it was probably excellent for people who enjoy the genre more than I do.
31. The Devil Can Wait, Marta Stephens. A serial killer story with some very different twists. I’m looking forward to more from this author.
32. Silenced Cry, Marta Stephens. Another winner. This one should be read before #33 to keep main character and homicide detective Sam Harper’s history correct.
33. The World From Rough Stones, Malcolm MacDonald. Two young married couples in an epic story of their relationships and their work in the embryonic railroad building in England.
34. The Sword, Bryan M. Litfin. The first book in a trilogy I plan to complete as it’s released. The novel takes place hundreds of years in the future when virus epidemics and nuclear war have just about wiped out the human species. The remnant that comes back has lost all technology and is now at about the level of English knighthood. They fight and hunt with bows & arrows, swords, and spears. Three false gods have replaced the true God, but the hero and heroine discover a Bible in which only the Old Testament survives. The re-discovery of God is intertwined with lots of love and adventure.
35. The Fall Guy, Simon Wood. A poor schmuck ricochets from one disaster to another, but it finally turns out well.
36. Elisha’s Bones by Don Hoesel. Elisha was one of the more colorful Old Testament prophets, and not all his miracles were praiseworthy. God’s hand was definitely on him, and that power extended even beyond Elisha’s death. A corpse that came in contact with his bones sprang to life, and it also provided the inspiration for this Indiana Jones-type novel. An archaeologist in search of Elisha’s bones has incredible adventures that span the globe. It was an exciting read.
37. A World I Never Made, James Lepore. An exciting and romantic novel that involves terrorists and revenge-seekers as a father searches for his daughter.
38. 11 Science Fiction Stories by Philip K. Dick. I saw a column that mentioned Dick’s skepticism about government, and since I share that attitude, I got this collection. A very enjoyable read.
39. Buddy Holly is Alive and Well on Ganymede, Bradley Denton. A very funny 1992 science fiction romp involving the resurrection of the rock star and his appearance on worldwide TV. I picked it up free for the Kindle somewhere, but I don’t see it on Amazon.com.
40. Spartacus: Rise Up From the Dust (Book One), Scott Douglas and Patrick Kelly. Good adventure about the teenage boy who becomes a servant to the famous Roman slave.
41. Disaster Status, Candace Calvert. An excellent Christian novel that mostly takes place in a hospital with all its drama possibilities explored. The hero is a fireman and the heroine an ER nurse.
42. A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World, Paul Miller. A good book on prayer.
43. You’ve Gone Too Far This Time, Sir!, Danny Bent. The author recounts his bicycle ride from England to India. It’s a fascinating story. He says he did it for charity and for spiritual enlightenment. Unfortunately, he did not discover the One who is Truth and Redemption.
44. The Code of the Lifemaker, James P. Hogan. A good science fiction novel only a bit into the future when a team of humans travel to Saturn’s moon Titan. Here they encounter a “species” of highly intelligent robots placed there by an alien civilization that has been since destroyed.
45. The Shop, J. Carson Black. An exciting thriller involving local police and a major coverup at the federal executive level.
46. Shoeless Joe, W.P. Kinsella. The movie “Field of Dreams” was based on this book. Some weird fantasy here, but very well written. I enjoyed it.
47. A Vote of Confidence, Robin Lee Hatcher. A very enjoyable love story about a young woman determined to remain a spinster and the usual rich, handsome, wonderful man.
48. The Penal Colony, Richard Herley. A gritty tale of an innocent man shipped off to one of England’s penal colonies.
49. There Must Be Murder, Margaret C. Sullivan. I must confess I got to Chapter 10 before I realized this was a continuation of Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey. It was a nice read, but not up to Austen’s level.
50. Crime Beat, Scott Nicholson. A short, but well-written novel about crime and crime reporting.
51. One Deadly Sister (Sandy Reid Mystery Series), Rod Hoisington. Good crime story about a sister who comes to the aid of her murder-charged brother.
52. Buried Secrets, R. Alan. A retired cop comes back to try to solve a 35-year-old double murder. I may have gotten this one from the publisher’s site: www.wildchildpublishing.com.
53. The Defector, Mark Chisnell. An exciting adventure thriller.
54. Education: Free and Compulsory, Murray N. Rothbard. A monograph on education from the great libertarian. Among other things, it contrasts the diversity of human learning with the regimentation of most schools.
55. Dinosaur Wars: Earthfall, Thomas Hopp. Dinosaurs have been extinct for millions of years E.T. (evolution time). But wait, they’ve been in suspended animation on the moon, and now they’re coming back! This was actually an exciting and well-written thriller.
56. Project Daedalus, Thomas Hoover. Enjoyable thriller about a space plane developed by the Soviets and Japanese. Good character development.
57. Bubba and the Dead Woman, C.L. Bevill. A good story about a country guy who is definitely not a bumpkin. Bubba is hard-pressed to prove he didn’t kill the dead woman.
58. The Dogs of Rome, Conor Fitzgerald. An American raised in Italy and now a police detective solves crime as well as some of his personal problems. A good read.
59. Still Life With Murder, P.B. Ryan. A smart young governess in post-Civil War Boston has a checkered past which she intends to put behind her.
60. Blood of My Brother, James Lepore. A gritty thriller about people threatened by government criminals (am I being redundant?).
61. The Scioneer, Peter Bouvier. Readers who know anything about DNA will have to suspend a lot of disbelief on this one. In spite of that, this futuristic thriller is a good read as the new drugs of choice are concocted from the DNA of other species.
62. A Dark Night’s Work, Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell. I learned to enjoy Gaskell’s work through the movie Wives and Daughters. The heroine in this book is leading an idyllic life until her father’s loss of temper brings devastation to everyone around him.
63. The Girl with the Long Green Heart by Lawrence Block. A terrific author with a gripping story about a con artist.
64. A Gathering of Diamonds, Eric Wilder. A good adventure is somewhat spoiled by a silly and lengthy description of a utopian commune hidden in the Arkansas mountains.
65. Fifth Avenue, Christopher Smith. Thriller involving two conglomerate tycoons, at least one of them crazy. Surprising body count including some of the main characters.
66. June Bug, Jess Lourey. Humorous mystery.
67. Einstein’s Shutter, Vincent Yanez. Memoir by outstanding writer, mostly about his life as a young man in New York City. Very humorous, with other emotions mixed in. His attempts to get to know God are sad.
68. Cotillion, Georgette Heyer. A delightful love story after the fashion of Jane Austen, whose works I also enjoy greatly.
69. Disturbed Earth, Reggie Nadelson. A powerful detective novel centers on the Russian immigrant community in Brooklyn. A long, well-written book.
70. A Little Death In Dixie by Lisa Turner. A Memphis, Tennessee, homicide detective struggles with a missing woman mystery as well as his own emotional turmoil. I really enjoyed this story.
71. Gods and Kings: Chronicles of the Kings #1,  Lynn Austin. Historical fiction about the Kingdom of Judah, based on the books Chronicles 1 and 2 from The Holy Bible. Good character development duriing exciting times, and I’m looking forward to the next four installments.
72. Blue Limbo, Terence M. Green.
73. Scared Stiff (Mattie Winston Mysteries), Annelise Ryan.
74. Outlaw Lawman, Paul Bagdon. A story about a good bad man.
75. The Girl in the Lighthouse, Roxane Tepfer Sanford.
76. My Heart Remembers, Kim Vogel Sawyer.
77. Her Last Letter, Nancy C. Johnson and Angie Designs.
78. Hostile Witness, Rebecca Forster.
79. Invisible, Lorena McCourtney.
80. Migration, Zoe Lee
81. Through Smoke, J.R. Tate
82. O Little Town: A Novel, Don Reid
83. Design on a Crime , Ginny Aiken
84. Getting Sassy, D.C. Brod
85. Sweet Masterpiece, Connie Shelton
86. The Last Call, George Wier
87. A Dangerous Woman, Debra Lee
88. Julius Katz Mysteries, Dave Zeltserman
89. Fool Me Twice, Paul Levine
90. Praise Jerusalem, Augusta Trobaugh
91. The Collectibles, James J. Kaufman
92. The Shopkeeper (A Steve Dancy Tale), James D. Best
93. The Grand Mirage, Darrell Delamaide
94. Sloane Hall (A Tale of Old Hollywood), Libby Sternberg

And that’s it for 2011!

Here’s what Rice posted on Facebook:

For those who care, and I understand if you don’t: Today I quit being a Christian. I’m out. I remain committed to Christ as always but not to being “Christian” or to being part of Christianity. It’s simply impossible for me to “belong” to this quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous group. For ten years, I’ve tried. I’ve failed. I’m an outsider. My conscience will allow nothing else.

As I said below, I quit being a Christian. I’m out. In the name of Christ, I refuse to be anti-gay. I refuse to be anti-feminist. I refuse to be anti-artificial birth control. I refuse to be anti-Democrat. I refuse to be anti-secular humanism. I refuse to be anti-science. I refuse to be anti-life. In the name of Christ, I quit Christianity and being Christian. Amen.

Do you agree that being a Christian means being all those “anti”s? That would make a good poll, I guess. Rice said her remarks were “For those who care, and I understand if you don’t.” With the same thought, here is my brief reaction to the Seven Anti’s:

1. Anti-gay: Christians do have a hard time “hating the sin, but loving the sinner” on this one. We tend to get the most indignant about sins that don’t tempt us.
2. Anti-feminist: One-word labels always fall short, don’t they? What does “feminist” mean? Respect for women as taught in the Scriptures? Male culture has certainly fallen short on this for a lot of history.
3. Anti-artificial birth control: We don’t have a “Thou shalt not…” on this one, so it’s no surprise there’s a wide spectrum in Christianity, all the way from complete anti- to complete pro-. The biblical connection to this issue is life, and since a new life begins at conception, I believe those methods that work before conception are acceptable and immoral those that act after.
4. Anti-Democrat: Since I’m a libertarian and consider both the Democrat and Republican Parties to be unattractive, I’ll let this one go.
5. Anti-secular humanism: I may have an inadequate understanding of this term, but I take it to mean the viewpoint that there is no supernatural realm and humans are the greatest. A Christian has to reject that.
6. Anti-science: This usually means rejecting evolution as a valid explanation for the history of the universe and the history of life. Since I spent a lot of years presenting the scientific evidence for that rejection, I guess Rice would consider me anti-science.
7. Anti-life: As might be obvious from my post, “Pro-Life? What Age Are We Talking About?,” I’d have to agree with Rice that many (most?) Christians are anti-life, when it comes to the life of American young adults and people of all ages in disfavored nations.

The day after Anne Rice posted the above quotation, she clarified with a strong Christian statement:

My faith in Christ is central to my life. My conversion from a pessimistic atheist lost in a world I didn’t understand, to an optimistic believer in a universe created and sustained by a loving God is crucial to me. But following Christ does not mean following His followers. Christ is infinitely more important than Christianity and always will be, no matter what Christianity is, has been, or might become.

It’s a shame she decided to pull out of organized Christianity because she differs with many of the members. Much better, it seems, would be to stay in there and seek to change those with whom you disagree. At least there, as opposed to the farce of national elections (whoops, my libertarianism started to leak in there), the individual’s voice can be heard.

Mathes’ question above reads like a powerful challenge, but actually it is rather trivial. It doesn’t matter who I would rather have. What matters is Who actually exists and Who is actually the Creator, Judge, and Redeemer.

There is a strain of idolatry in Christianity where we feel free to decide what qualities a god should have, and then we attribute those qualities to the God of Heaven, whether or not we have any Scriptural basis for them.

As an example, there is the oft-repeated claim that if I were the only person on earth, Christ would have still come and died for me. That sentiment seems very nice and godlike, but there is little, if any, support for it in God’s Word.

Even more commonly, we praise our Heavenly Father for all his omni‘s: omnipresence, omnipotence, omniscience… did I leave any out? And then there are the alls: all-loving, all-merciful, etc. Well, I suppose our Calvinist brothers wouldn’t include all-loving, because there is that matter of the non-elect. There is more or less Scriptural evidence for each of these, but we often do not allow ourselves to be limited by what Scripture teaches.

The essential point is that God is real, and He has real characteristics, whether or not they are all exactly as we think a god should be. All we know about God is what He has chosen to reveal to us, and we should be humble enough to worship Him for what He has told us about Himself and not make a "golden image" in our minds of what we would prefer.

"Just," not "Jesus," is the most often used word in most Christian prayers.

• We just want to praise You.
• We just thank you for…
• Just make this time together…
• Just bless our worship…

When did this useless word start to get so popular in public prayer? It’s useless because its removal does not change the sentences in which it occurs.

It sometimes seems that the longer a person has been a Christian, the less spontaeous and genuine become their public prayers. In a church where I was a member, a mature man came to Christ. His early prayers were rich in their heartfelt and artless nature; it was a blessing to be present when he prayed. Time passed, and now his prayers are a shopping list of familiar phrases:

• Father, we just… (beginning of most sentences)
• Lead, guide, and direct…
• Forgive us where we fail You.
• Hide our pastor behind the Cross.
• Bless the gift and the giver.

The Creator of the universe and the Savior of our souls deserves reverence when we address Him. Doesn’t He also deserve words from our hearts, rather than just our heads?

Many Christians who would gladly adopt the "pro-life" label seem to place a somewhat lower value on the lives of young adults, the ones who are sent to fight and die in war. They applaud the United States’ military incursions in other countries and consider the loss of young life a worthwhile price for whatever is being accomplished. Their prayers for the safety of military youth do not include the military youth of the invaded countries. Evidently, the value of U.S. life is considered higher than that of other ethnic or national groups.

I’ve not always been equally pro-life for all humans of whatever age or location, but I am now.

I think of all the senior adults in my church who seem to be just "marking time." Oh, they may be faithful churchgoers, prayer warriors, and enjoyers of family and social life. But their work is over, they’re retired from their jobs, they’ve raised their families. Other than attending church, their time is largely occupied with gardens and grandchildren. And if the answer to the above questions is "yes," then how young can you be when this happens?

I just turned 69 and am wondering if there are no more dragons to slay, no more mountains to climb. That age will probably seem ancient to you, based on the demographics of the blogosphere, but my ancestors have usually been active into their 80s and 90s. If I stay healthy, I have time for another decade of productive work. But does God have another work for me to do?

If you’ve read this far, I invite you to add your thoughts on this.

We see Christians suffering from the same illnesses, tragedies, and disappointments as non-Christians, and it doesn’t seem due to sin, lack of faith, or lack of prayer. Why is this? As I type this, my 90-year-old mother is slowly dying. She is suffering and getting little pleasure from life. Why doesn’t God take her home now? Why is it so hard for a young father to answer his child’s question, "Daddy, why did Mommy have to die?"

God’s original creation was "very good," but sin brought degradation to everything. All of God’s creatures, not just those who have rejected God, suffer from the effects that sin had on our world. This is the source of all the unpleasantness that we experience and see around us.

The Bible has many records of healings, resurrections, and the amassing of personal wealth, but when seen in the light of all of human experience, these occasions seem to be exceptional, rather than the norm. What is responsible for these rare interventions into the workings of a sin-damaged creation?

The miracles of Christ seem to have been aimed, not at human comfort, but at the establishment of his position as Messiah, Son of God. He didn’t raise everyone who died, he didn’t heal every sick person he saw, and he didn’t feed every hungry person in the world.

All of this seems to indicate a general principle of nonintervention: God does not intervene in natural events unless there is a spiritual victory to be won. He decides, based on His wisdom and goals, whether the victory is worth the intervention.