Really, Do ALL Dogs Go To Heaven?
Two hour delay here this morning so everything was thrown way off schedule. The really GOOD part of that was that this morning (since I didn't check the radio before I got the girls up) we had two extra hours to play and be together. At one point we all snuggled on the couch and watched All Dogs Go To Heaven. Now, I'm not a huge fan of the movie, but it's fun enough and the girls like it...
So, there's a scene in the movie when Charlie gets to the "Hall of Judgment" and the girl dog that greets him says something like, "All dogs go to heaven because, unlike humans, dogs are loyal and never mean." (don't quote me, that was like seven hours ago or something...).
That got me thinking about a quote I used in my sermon yesterday.
Madeleine L'Engle said in a Cokesbury interview, "I think there are some people who are terribly afraid...afraid that they cannot control God, that God might love people they don't love, that God's love is too all-embracing, and that we don't have to earn it. All we have to do is say we are sorry and God throws a big party! That is frightening to some people. They seem to feel that they can't be happy in heaven unless hell is heavily populated. I don't really understand that.
How true that is. So many people are so quick to point out reasons that other people shouldn't be afforded grace - shouldn't go to heaven...reasons why hell should be heavily populated... It makes me crazy sometimes. And it comes from both sides of the theological fence... If you don't agree with my narrow/conservative/my-way-or-the-highway theology than you are going to hell... And the other side: if you HAVE a narrow/conservative/my-way-or-the-highway theology than you are going to hell...
Sigh...
There are people that I pray about their salvation - not because they are demonstrating to me that they aren't saved - but I pray that they will always trust God, always find God's grace and always try to live lives that reveal that grace to other people.
That's my prayer for Lori, the girls - my family - friends - folks at church - people on the prayer list. I AM concerned about their salvation - but not because I think they're not saved but because I so desire them to know the joy of salvation (many of them already do - I still pray for them).
I pray it for me, too... 'Cause I'm the one person in this world who I wonder about his salvation sometimes.
So I depend on...no, I dive into God's grace every day.
And I desperately need it every day.
And every day God is gracious...
Thank you, God...
So, there's a scene in the movie when Charlie gets to the "Hall of Judgment" and the girl dog that greets him says something like, "All dogs go to heaven because, unlike humans, dogs are loyal and never mean." (don't quote me, that was like seven hours ago or something...).
That got me thinking about a quote I used in my sermon yesterday.
Madeleine L'Engle said in a Cokesbury interview, "I think there are some people who are terribly afraid...afraid that they cannot control God, that God might love people they don't love, that God's love is too all-embracing, and that we don't have to earn it. All we have to do is say we are sorry and God throws a big party! That is frightening to some people. They seem to feel that they can't be happy in heaven unless hell is heavily populated. I don't really understand that.
How true that is. So many people are so quick to point out reasons that other people shouldn't be afforded grace - shouldn't go to heaven...reasons why hell should be heavily populated... It makes me crazy sometimes. And it comes from both sides of the theological fence... If you don't agree with my narrow/conservative/my-way-or-the-highway theology than you are going to hell... And the other side: if you HAVE a narrow/conservative/my-way-or-the-highway theology than you are going to hell...
Sigh...
There are people that I pray about their salvation - not because they are demonstrating to me that they aren't saved - but I pray that they will always trust God, always find God's grace and always try to live lives that reveal that grace to other people.
That's my prayer for Lori, the girls - my family - friends - folks at church - people on the prayer list. I AM concerned about their salvation - but not because I think they're not saved but because I so desire them to know the joy of salvation (many of them already do - I still pray for them).
I pray it for me, too... 'Cause I'm the one person in this world who I wonder about his salvation sometimes.
So I depend on...no, I dive into God's grace every day.
And I desperately need it every day.
And every day God is gracious...
Thank you, God...
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