God, Aliens, and Other Stuff

  Image by author using ChatGTP I strongly recommend that the reader visit Part 1 of this two-part series, but both posts can stand alone if need be. On the writing platform Medium in particular, there is a lot of “deconstructing”―people rethinking long-held beliefs and tenets, especially about fundamentalist Evangelical Christianity. I’ve been through that process myself, and I’m all for it―to a degree. I’m certainly not the theological fundamentalist that I used to be, but neither have I spun off into New Age or some vague new paradigm. Nor am I awash in doubts or new questions about the nature of God. The way I stay grounded in my faith is to see Jesus Christ as the Shepherd and the Gate to the sheepfold, just as he claimed to be. The sheepfold is the Kingdom. It’s within us, it’s where we want to be, it’s the place of safety and blessing, it’s the place where we have the guidance of the Kingdom to make the most of our lives and to get in tune with the music of heaven here ...

  Image by author using ChatGTP This post may seem dark and negative, but it ends on a positive note. In a Bible study some time ago, I expressed a concern for lost souls, saying, “I wish I could convince people that there’s a hell.” For decades, I have been hearing and reading about negative NDEs. Whether you believe in hell or not, if it’s real, you may experience the horror of dying and finding yourself there, which is absolutely the worst thing that could happen to any human being of any place or era. That person may wish they had never been born. The pastor countered with, “I would rather convince people that there is a loving God, full of mercy and grace, who would receive the sinner into His arms and change their life.” The pastor was absolutely right, of course, but so was I. If I gave you a $100 bill that was blank on one side, you wouldn’t be able to spend it. It takes the wisdom of the Holy Spirit to find a godly balance between the raw truth about hell and the Fathe...