Is this world the closest you’ll get to hell or heaven?
July 23rd 2009
For Christians, their time on this world is the closest thing to hell that they will ever have to experience.
For those that don’t know Jesus, their time on this world is the closest thing to heaven that they will ever get to experience.
Whenever someone mentioned faith or God or Jesus to me before I was a Christian my kneejerk reaction was for my defences to go up and to not listen to anything that person had to say. I was a man of fact and science and to hear some nonsense about a God you can’t see or hear made me laugh.
I was arrogant and I was a fool.
I can admit that now because God did not give up on me despite how much I had given up on him.
I’m not going to go into the things that changed my thinking here (if you want to know more you can read my testimony). All I will say is don’t be an arrogant fool like I was.
Suppose for a second that God is real. If that was the case and you don’t understand who Jesus was and what he did 2000 years ago then you are in a whole heap of trouble!
While things may seem fine now, when you die then you run out of opportunities to find out and you have to go to what the bible calls hell for eternity. That may sound harsh and mean but I’m not God and I haven’t set out how things work.
Of course if God isn’t real and all of us Christians are just wackos then you have nothing to worry about. But don’t you think it is the wise and intelligent thing to do a little bit of investigation before you discard something potentially so important?
Think of it this way: It is election time and you have always voted Labour because that was how you were brought up and you come from a long line of Labour voters. Do you really think you should carry on voting Labour blindly for the rest of your life or should you at least listen to what the other political parties have to say before making your mind up?
Starting on Sunday 20th September my church is running another Alpha Course. For one night every week you can come along and enjoy a meal, hear a short talk on some of the basics of Christianity and (this is the best part) get involved in discussions afterwards where you can raise all your questions and be as honest and critical as you like! The course is not about converting people, it is just about giving you the opportunity to make your own mind up based on the facts of Christianity.
If the thought of a course is off-putting then just come along to the Alpha Supper on Sunday 13th September where you get fed a proper three course meal, enjoy some great company (I’ll be there!) and hear a very short talk about what the course is about.
If you are curious and want to know more check out the church website and register your interest.