There are two kinds of Christians in this world.
One kind is quick to believe ALL the Lord's promises.The other realizes he's got to work like the devil to make those promises come true.
Anyone can do it.
Anyone can make the promise of salvation come true.
But you gotta go it.
And you've got to be open-handed and kind with everyone.
But you gotta go it.
And you've got to be open-handed and kind with everyone.
You've got to quit the navel-gazing and turn outward - reach out to the other guy.
And you've got to reach out with prejudice or pre-judgment.
If you use your cuddly, self-confirming Jesus to confirm your prejudices - including your prejudgment of being "saved," you're not.
If you use Jesus like obese people wolf down fatty comfort food, you are not saved.
You have only succeeded in tricking yourself, the way Trump succeeds in believing his own lies... at least while they ooze from his lips.
What you're doing is "playing salvation assurance games" - trying to persuade yourself you "won't go to hell," and then being damn sure you know WHO IS GOING TO HELL.
And finally, the maraschino cherry: You behave in self-seeking ways (ways that are frequently cruel to others), and then, because you are so self-centered and self-seeking (almost always in pursuit of your own salvation assurance), you succeed, often as not, in making your own life a living hell.
You can't cuddle and caress some little shrine in the blackness of your heart where you have predetermined that all the people "who are deserving of salvation," along with all the "other" people -- mostly poor and dark skinned -- whom you comfortable deride as "the undeserving poor" - and therefore unworthy of salvation... or food stamps... or Medicaid... or any other socio-political benefit.
"Christian" "conservatives" - that same group of Christians whom James Talarico is bringing to light (most often referring to them as Christian nationalists) - are essentially fearful, indolent people. (Check out the etymology of the word, "indolent." https://share.google/aimode/RnFLhlNx4nRbVwju4)
These scared-shitless people want Salvation Assurance above all. It's the only way they can imagine having any peace of mind.
You can't cuddle and caress some little shrine in the blackness of your heart where you have predetermined that all the people "who are deserving of salvation," along with all the "other" people -- mostly poor and dark skinned -- whom you comfortable deride as "the undeserving poor" - and therefore unworthy of salvation... or food stamps... or Medicaid... or any other socio-political benefit.
"Christian" "conservatives" - that same group of Christians whom James Talarico is bringing to light (most often referring to them as Christian nationalists) - are essentially fearful, indolent people. (Check out the etymology of the word, "indolent." https://share.google/aimode/RnFLhlNx4nRbVwju4)
These scared-shitless people want Salvation Assurance above all. It's the only way they can imagine having any peace of mind.
They need to know - as the sine qua non of their existence - that they are saved, and cannot possibly get lost.
For them, lack of salvation assurance is its own kind of hell, perhaps worse than any hell God might dream up -- certainly not any hell that a God worthy-of-worship would design into "His" universe... a neverending torture-chamber-hell based on that "singularity" called The Lake of Unquenchable Fire.
Compendium Of Christianity Posts: Why "Conservative" "Christians" Are All Going To Hell (If There Is A Hell...Which I Don't Believe)
A characteristic of "Christians" who believe in Hell -- a place of eternal torture, without possibility of reform or surcease - that they cannot bear the thought that the God is not planning to send many, many -- probably most -- people to Hell.
I mean, "What the hell is that about?!?"
But back to the main event...
In criticizing the Pharisees - who were Jews of Jesus' own theological persuasion - Yeshua set forth Seven Woes, every one of which was a scathing critique of his own religious partisans.
Here is one of the Seven Woes:
Here is Wikipedia's article on all "Seven Woes."
These fearful, doubtful, punitive, and frequently cruel people have neatly convinced themselves - at a level far more animating than their commitment to the poor-and-disadvantaged, that their enduring work - their Divinely Ordained work - is to "save YOU," certain as they are that they are doing you a Great Favor by instilling their unspeakable, inconceivable fear of Hell into you... so that by virtue of saving others (i.e., making them just like you are), they will never be able to save themselves because, without your meddlesomeness, they will NEVER utter the magic formula that will save them: "I accept Lord Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior!"
Voila! Saved!
Why So Many People Never Feel Assured Of Their Own Personal Salvation
Short form of Rev. James Talarico's Sermon Against Christian Nationalism
Long Form of Rev. Talarico's Sermon Against Christian Nationalism As A Betrayal Of Jesus of Nazareth
