Rethinking Salvation
I am currently thinking through the implications of our usage of metaphors for the ignition point of life with God. So many of our metaphors make it sound as if our "salvation," is something we possess. But is it possible that phrases like "asking Jesus into my heart,” or "Jesus lives inside of me," or “being baptized into Jesus” are misleading when it comes to the nature of one’s salvation life? What if salvation is fundamentally relational—not possessional, as so many of our figures of speech imply? Think about the implications...
posted by Fred Peatross @ 3:23 PM
4 Comments:
Interesting thoughts, Fred. I've been thinking along the same lines for quite some time. The whole "ask Jesus into your heart" aspect of churchianity is pathetic. It is relational, I believe. Look at the relationship of Abraham and God for starters. There was no "asking" God to come into "my [Abraham's] heart." It was all about the relationship.
We could learn a lot from our Old Testament examples, IMHO.
Keep searching!
AC
What if it's both?
What if salvation is thought of primarily as a gift ... one that God gives to us; one that we give back to God in response?
Thinking of it that way helps me understand how it could both be given to my by grace through faith ... and still be something that I "work out."
Could it be true that - like love - salvation is something you can't have unless you give it to others?
and we could further this by asking, "what are we saved from, or saved into, or saved by...."
not to mention the idea of seeing salvation from purely a heaven/hell paridagm, but past,present,and future.
good stuff fred.
I don't know...I got dunked in a tank of water, I give him almost every Sunday morning of the year and sometimes Wednesday nights. I think he owes me.
:-)
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