Political Clips

Years ago I worked at a hotel. The owners of the hotel were very nice people. They had two children named Amy and Rashan. They were around 9 and 7 years old, respectively. I would help Amy and Rashan with their homework on slow nights. I got to know both of them very well. They were smart, well behaved children. Their family was Hindu.

Somewhere along the line I came up with the following scenario. What if Amy grew up to be her generations Mother Theresa. What if she devoted her life to helping the poor? What if she gave up all her worldly possessions and focused on nothing but helping the less fortunate? Would she go to heaven? After all, she wasn't a Christian.

I asked two pastors this question. The first was the pastor of a Disciples of Christ church I had gone to for as long as I could remember. The second was the pastor of my future-wife's Lutheran church.

Both gave me the same answer. Amy, even if she did nothing but help God's children her entire life, would burn in hell. Of course, they sugar coated their answer -- it wasn't that harsh -- but it was essentially what they were saying.

I think it is all determined on how you read and interpret the Bible. You can read the Bible and focus on the "eye for an eye" verses (Exodus 21:23-27) or you can read the Bible and focus on the "turn the other cheek" verses (Luke 6:27-31).

You can focus on verses that suggest you will not go to heaven if you do not worship the right god (John 14:6). Or you can focus on verses that suggest all that really matters is how you treat others (Matthew 7:12).

I choose to focus on people's actions and their good deeds. I do not focus on what they call themselves or what church they attend. After all, God created all of us -- even Muslims.

I think that God is less interested in who you worship and is more interested in how you treat his creations. I could be wrong though. Who knows, maybe he is an ego-centric God that needs to be worshiped to feel good about himself. But I doubt it. He is probably a loving God that wants all of his children to be treated with respect.