WHEN HEAVEN IS HELL

”To grow in faith is to deepen, extend, and perhaps revise our understanding of its meaning and to arrive at clearer means by which to state and act on our convictions”
                                                                                                 Stone and Duke

Why would a Church raise its musical melody to a point that it becomes a noise which adversely affects the ears of its members and the public? Why would a Minister of God vigorously preach about the things of God while doubting what he is preaching in his heart?

I’ve observed that many of us (Christians) are emotionally responsive to religious discussions, especially when the issue at hand appears to stifle our faith in God. But that’s just superficial. The case is beyond our emotional reactions. To put it bluntly, our resistance is as a result of fear and close-mindedness – a gross refusal to appreciate reality and possess a better understanding of our faith.

According to Wikipedia, Faith in Christianity “is based in and on the work and teachings of Jesus Christ”. It moves on to say that faith is not static, but it grows, flourishes in a bid to possess higher understanding of the object of our belief. Faith is not constructed through the mere transfer of doctrines and teachings. Our faith, as Christians, must cause us to learn, meditate, and grow on the things of God. It extends to investigating certain religious claims for our selves. Understanding is key to the development of our Faith.
In my life, I’ve come across Christians whose actions have been detrimental to humanity. And you would be shocked to know that they justify their actions with scriptures in the Bible. Their actions are not deliberate neither are they aware of their transgressions (I’m not being judgmental here). It all points to our understanding of our faith and perception of God.

Many Christians are backsliding not only because of negative circumstances but also because of the fact that they (we) get confused along the course to Heaven. Why? Because we were born and bred in Christianity in which Biblical doctrines was forced down into our throats. That’s perfectly excellent! But the problem started when we were told to shut up when we asked the tough questions (and get not answers, but clarifications).

For instance, imagine going on an evangelism and a stranger poses this question to you, “If God loves us and want us to get to heaven, why did He not place us in paradise (heaven) but rather brought us on earth to sin so that some of us would by hook or crook book appointments in hell?”. Your perfect answer to such question would be scriptural. We must bear in mind that the Unsaved is as familiar to the scripture as we do. This brings to mind the encounter between Jesus and Satan in the wilderness. Satan was scripturally knowledgeable as Christ but the exciting thing was that Christ understood the scripture better.

Fellow Christians, we have a responsibility to get a firm understanding of the Faith we live. That puts us in a better position to address and liberate the confusions from the minds of the unsaved. It starts by asking our own selves the tough questions concerning our religion. There is a need to understand our faith better so as to manifest the true nature of Christ.