If I made you sit through reading my attempt at a parable, then have a read of Pete Rollins’ – the man knows what he is doing!
Just as it was written by those prophets of old, the last days of the Earth overflowed with suffering and pain. In those dark days a huge pale horse rode through the Earth with Death upon its back and Hell in its wake. During this great tribulation the Earth was scorched with the fires of war, rivers ran red with blood, the soil withheld its fruit and disease descended like a mist. One by one all the nations of the Earth were brought to their knees.
At risk of “putting my nose out of joint”, can you help me with support for the following?
“It is done, I have separated the people born of my spirit from those who have turned from me. It is time now for us leave this place and take up residence in the Earth, for it is there that we shall find our people. The ones who would forsake heaven in order to embrace the earth. The few who would turn away from eternity itself to serve at the feet of a fragile, broken life that passes from existence in but an instant”.
“And so it was that God and the heavenly host left that place to dwell among those who had rooted themselves upon the earth. Quietly supporting the ones who had forsaken God for the world and thus who bore the mark God. The few who had discovered heaven in the very act of forsaking it.”
Matthew 25:31
But, I'm not backing the theology in Pete's parable 100% – because I'm not 100% sure I get it either. But I don't 100% get the parable I've posted above, and I think that it's vitally important to irritate at the points where I'm not sure. And religion that shelters us and separates us from the suffering of the world is absolutely the religion that Jesus rallied against, rather than supported. So I think we need to hear it.
yeah – I thought of that one but I couldn't wrestle these key phrases out of it.
“The ones who would forsake heaven in order to embrace the earth.”
“The few who would turn away from eternity itself to serve at the feet of a fragile, broken life that passes from existence in but an instant.”
“The few who had discovered heaven in the very act of forsaking it.”
I presume in, “Quietly supporting the ones who had forsaken God for the world and thus who bore the mark God” those that bore the mark of God are those doing the supporting not those that based on the other points even that's not clear.
Net – I don't want to be cynical but it smacks not of universalism.
To your point, if I'm embracing heaven or eternity I'm not embracing religion so that doesn't sync. I'm getting what he's trying to say and I'm bothered by what I'm guessing he is saying.
I was curious because I was in the process of posting about the second coming and one of the key characteristics is judgement. Your Scripture quote supports that while Rollins' seems counter to that.
I'd want to highlight the comment Pete made in response to similar concerns raised in the comments on his blog (and I'd have a read of all the comments, because I think that's always where the meat happens on blogs):
I do think that in some places Rollins' language borders on clumsiness, but I think his emphasis hits out against the prevailing extraction-based concept of heaven – and that's the heaven his few are “forsaking” and “turning away from”.
Thanks for engaging in this Rick – it would have been much easier to just write it (and me) off as universalist hogwash, but you haven't and that's been really good (for me anyway).
Thank – now I understand what he was driving at. I had not read all of the comments … to your point, that's often where the meat is but I've tended to avoid them because that's also where the sharks hang out also … I hate that stuff. Sounds like this is one I shouldn't have avoided.
peace.