Why is accepting that Jesus is the Saviour of Mankind so painful for most Christians?

A good friend and colleague of mine, a wonderful Minister of the Gospel, remarked to me about how he struggled with the concept of Christian Universalism!

He could not see the inclusion of all mankind into the finished work of the Cross of Jesus Christ.. Or understand the extension of God’s Grace and Love,to ultimately include all of mankind in the reconciliation wrought by Christ. This idea made him feel uneasy, as it obviously contradicted the way we all have been conditioned to believe within modern evangelical Western Christianity.
This concept of the inclusion of mankind within the Corporate Christ, the Representative of all mankind, by the sovereign eternal decision of  the Triune Godhead, independent of human merit, human choice or man’s opinion on the mater, literally goes against the grain of our general Christian mentality.
The mater of ‘inclusion and exclusion’ has been both endemic and systemic in human consciousness since the first Adam darkened man’s spiritual awareness and understanding with his  erroneous judgement on the nature of God, based, on the a false premise, the illusion of separation.

.....a respectable ecclesiastical ladder, but ......

With ‘separation from God’ and the ‘knowledge of good and evil’ becoming the very taproot of man’s mentality, the inevitable fruit of ‘exclusion and inclusion’ has in fact motivated and shaped the very history of mankind and undergirds all levels of human existence, including politics, economics,religion, education.
This very notion  has in fact even shaped, distorted and marred the very image of the Triune God in our human consciousness, and and has even become the very underbelly of our perception of Christ and the Gospel!

ancient, forgotten, despised...but original!

Transitioning in our religious reasoning, from this unconscious mode of existing and of being in the world, with its conditioned response, to a different and apparently contradictory way of thinking, is not an easy journey.
I can describe it this way;
Assuming that for all your Christian life,you have been religious climbing a  ladder leaning against the wall of Life!,  A nice and modern ladder. A very popular ladder, known and approved by all good men, indeed an honourable ladder! This ladder even boasts the stamp of approval of your local church, you denomination, and is often endorsed by the most famous TV preachers.
Your climb up this ladder has been a most memorable journey of discovery! You are so grateful!
The journey upwards has brought you many answers, and much personal satisfaction! You enjoyed the camaraderie, support and admiration of many fellow climbers. The climb filled your life with significance and  purpose and gave your life a sense of meaning and destiny
Unfortunately, upon reaching the top of the ladder it became obvious that this particular ladder does not reach all the way to the top! Although it is a beautiful ladder, one that really ‘good’ people seem to approve of, a very safe ladder, and easy to climb it, disappointingly, only goes half way up.
Then, after much head scratching, you notice, some distance away, just out of reach, there is another ladder! However, this is an ancient ladder, no longer a popular ladder,despite the  fact that it is the original ladder, it is forgotten and has even become despised and rejected.Yet this old ladder reaches all the way to the top!
After many attempts at taking a short cut to reach this older ladder, by either climbing or jumping across, in desperation, you eventually give up! The gap poses to be just to wide, and  you are so high up your ladder, that the potential fall just to dangerous.
In fact, the only way to get over onto the original ladder, is first be willing to climb down in order to start at the bottom again!
There seems to be no other way to actually reach the top!
Yet, this is indeed a hard thing for us humans to do.
Like a PC. our religious minds have been formatted to  operate in a certain way. Unlike re-formatting a computer, changing our deeply engrained beliefs does not come easily. It often means having to give up valuable and precious ‘stored data’ that we really don’t want to loose!

.....theology of separation!

Our contemporary Christian mindset has thus been traditionally shaped by a theology of ‘sin and salvation’ and the option of ’heaven and  hell’. Our Theology about the ‘Trinity and Humanity’ found its point of departure in the study of Anthropology, with the demise of man into sin , and not in Eternity, in the eternal council of the Trinity.
Therefore we have been conditioned to read and interpret the Scriptures in a particular way, and have developed a ‘scotoma or ’blind spots to everything that does not validate our preconceived notions. We cannot help but read into the Scriptures our passed down collective body of popular Christian doctrine and dogma with all its man made assumptions and pre-suppositions.

...you never knew if you were going to make it to heaven!

Our entire religious mindset has been shaped, and all our human doctrines built around an erroneous assumption of  the ‘separation’ between man and God.
The Holy Spirit is today untwisting from the influence of Greek mythology, Hebrew thought, Christian tradition and and centuries of unbelief, superstition and western intellectualism , the original Gospel and Wisdom of God.
The Bible is a progressive revelation  about Who Jesus Christ really is, and what the Trinity has done ‘to’ mankind through His Incarnation as the Son of God leading up to His Glorification as the Son of Man.

...the Lamb slain, from before the foundation of the world!

Its  about  removing from the mind of man the erroneous perception of the ‘separatist’ nature of the Trinity and restoring an appropriate understanding and appreciation for the ’relational’ nature of the Triune Godhead as the very spiritual genesis of mankind.
Its about revealing the wonderful Mystery of God, namely Christ,  in His Glorious Cosmic and Majestic Universal capacity as Supreme Lord of All Creation, the very Source, Agent and Fulfilment of All……The Alpha and The Omega!

Rate This