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parthens
101 posts Location:
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03/25/2014 22:22In hell, for as long as it takes"If you venture upon the quiet surface of error and are in sympathy with error, what is there to disturb the waters? What is there to strip off error's disguise? If you launch your bark upon the ever-agitated but healthful waters of truth, you will encounter storms. Your good will be evil spoken of. This is the cross. Take it up and bear it, for through it you win and wear the crown." {SH, 9]
At very end of Rev. Glenn Kratzer's wonderful chapter "The Law of Right Feeling" from his book Dominion Within, he quotes the following from Henry Drummond's essay, "Pax Vobiscum":
“Jesus’ life, outwardly, was one of the most troubled lives that was ever lived. Tempest and tumult, tumult and tempest, — the waves breaking over it all the time. But the inner life was a sea of glass. The great calm was always there. At any moment you might have gone to Him and found rest.” Rev. Kratzer then concludes: "We should, and can, attain this 'sea of glass' for ourselves."
In "Pax Vobiscum," Henry Drummond expands on the spiritual meaning of the word "rest": "Two painters each painted a picture to illustrate his conception of rest. The first chose for his scene a still, lone lake among the far-off mountains. The second threw on his canvas a thundering waterfall, with a fragile birch-tree bending over the foam; at the fork of a branch, almost wet with the cataract's spray, a robin sat on its nest. The first was only Stagnation; the last was Rest. For in Rest there are always two elements -- tranquility and energy; silence and turbulence; creation and destruction; fearlessness and fearfulness. This it was in Christ" (p. 39). Here Mr. Drummond echoes Mrs. Eddy's vitally important concept of God "resting in action" (SH 519).
Recently, at a major seminary a candidate was asked to respond to a routine, no-brainer theological question during an oral examination required for ordination: where is Jesus now? The correct answer is of course supposed to be, "He ascended to heaven, and is now seated at the right hand of God," but the candidate answered instead, "Jesus is -- right now -- in hell." This answer surprised his examiners and they asked for an explanation. The candidate then replied, "Well, hasn't Jesus always been in hell? He's there, right now, as always, more than ever, ministering to people who have created hellish circumstances for themselves . . . and he will stay right there in hell for as long as it takes, even if it takes forever, to pull every last person out of there."
Edited by parthens - 03/25/2014 22:38
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Andrew
1128 posts Location:
n.a. |
03/26/2014 08:14Re: In hell, for as long as it takes"Well, hasn't Jesus always been in hell? He's there, right now, as always, more than ever, ministering to people who have created hellish circumstances for themselves . . . and he will stay right there in hell for as long as it takes, even if it takes forever, to pull every last person out of there."
While I love the point of your comment parthens, I would not want to leave such a picture as true - Jesus in hell. In the textbook, Mrs. Eddy refers to Jesus' mission. "He did life's work aright not only in justice to himself, but in mercy to mortals,— to show them how to do theirs, but not to do it for them nor to relieve them of a single responsibility."SH You might say that the seminarian was more accurately referring to Christ: "The divine manifestation of God, which comes to the flesh to destroy incarnate error."SH It is for each of us to express this Christ in order to fulfill our divine destiny. Jesus never did it for us!!
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parthens
101 posts Location:
n.a. |
03/26/2014 09:49Re: In hell, for as long as it takesYou are so right! The seminarian was unaware of the distinction between Jesus and the Christ, but was trying to emphasize to his examiners that his intention in becoming a minster was not to live a life of easy religiosity, and his extreme statement reminds me very much of the vision of William Booth (http://www.whatsaiththescripture.com/Stories/A.Vision.of.the.Lost.html), founder of the Salvation Army, whom Mrs. Eddy admired in spite of theological differences, which closes: "You must do it! You cannot hold back. You have enjoyed yourself in Christianity long enough. You have had pleasant feelings, pleasant songs, pleasant meetings, pleasant prospects. There has been much of human happiness, much clapping of hands and shouting of praises - very much of heaven on earth." But now you must find "your heaven in going into the very jaws of hell to rescue" the perishing -- living in, yet not of, this world.
Edited by parthens - 03/27/2014 14:03
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MaryBeth
795 posts Location:
n.a. Editor
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03/27/2014 07:12Re: In hell, for as long as it takesI can understand why Mrs. Eddy would have approved of that quote by William Booth! She also states in Science and Health, "Jesus experienced few of the pleasures of the physical senses, but his sufferings were the fruits of other people's sins, not his own. The eternal Christ, his spiritual selfhood, never suffered."
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jacob45
370 posts Location:
puerto limon
Costa Rica |
03/27/2014 10:44Re: In hell, for as long as it takesYes, I can see how Jesus is not in hell, but the eternal Christ-activity is right there where it is most needed.
I experienced this in my life. My wife, who is a Christian now, had a drinking problem, and I was very unhappy. I started to think about divorce. Then I watched a movie called: "Dreams that may come," by Robin Williams, and in the story he had to go from heaven to hell, to visit his wife, who had committed suicide. Then the angel who guided him told him to leave her, and go back to heaven, and he said, No, she needs me here, I will stay in hell if that is what it takes.
And this love was the saving power to lift her out of this hell.
So, I understood that divorce was not an option. Abiding in the divine Consciousness, Truth and Love, is our only protection against principalities, against powers, against the rules of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Eph. 6:12.
I am pretty convinced that there are spiritual, negative, and powerful influences attacking us all the time. We cannot go it alone, but need God´s help in this warfare. Latest lesson I learned.
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Susanne
174 posts Location:
United States |
03/28/2014 09:32Re: In hell, for as long as it takesThis is a very thought-provoking thread, thank you! (By the way, that film is titled "What Dreams May Come." I had never heard of it.)
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