Looking back

i realize it may not seem like much of a big deal to most people, but to me, this is really up there.

yesterday i taught on matthew 7:13-14…

Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.  But narrow is the gate and difficult the road that leads to life, and there are few who find it. 

seems pretty straightforward, but there’s something about how this passage is always used that troubles me.  i grew up with the image of saint peter poised at the pearly gates (comic book style), waiting to ask each pilgrim an important question to determine whether or not entrance into heaven would be granted.

from where i see it, this caricature comes from the blending of three different passages in the bible.  the first is in matthew 16:13-20.  this the section where the catholic church builds their doctrine of the pope…and where peter gets the job as the heavenly doorman.  check out verse 19:

I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

here is not the time or place to talk about the pope and catholic church’s historic (mis) interpretation of these words of jesus, but let’s just say  we wouldn’t be doing church the way we do today if martin luther hadn’t dared to challenge the church status quo nearly 500 years ago!

also, a few words out of john’s picturesque dream in the book of revelation paint a picture of what “gates of heaven” might look like:

The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, transparent as glass.  Revelation 21:21

now, you combine those two verses with the passage out of matthew and you get a story passed down through the ages…one that’s been told and retold to children in sunday school and bible classes for hundreds of years.  and one that influences our interpretation and application of the bible…and the continued development of key bible doctrine…to this day.

like i said yesterday, i believe in heaven and hell.  but i refuse to let my understanding be dictated by cartoon images, church tradition or doctrinal loyalties.  just sayin’…   and i refuse to apply meaning to a bible passage that just isn’t warranted.  like yesterday.

when jesus said there are two gates…one wide and one narrow…he was not talking about those being the entrances to heaven and hell.  they are the doors to the roads we walk.  they are not the entrances to the end.  rather, they are the entrances to the beginning of our journeys.

it may seem small to you, but this is huge to me.  i spent most of my life being part of church families that were overly preoccupied with the question of who’s going to heaven or hell after death, and not focused enough on the question of what kind of life is truly pleasing to God here in the land of the living.

that’s all changed.

#hell #doctrine #journey #heaven #bible