Posted on 02/09/2014 7:01:10 AM PST by Kaslin
Old Russian folk tale which I also remember being the stone soup story although I may be getting them confused. Bitter old woman in a poor village, never did a decent thing in her life, recluse, miser. During a time of famine, a man goes out in the square in the dark and the cold and starts boiling water with a stone in it. Pretty soon people creep out of their huts (think the village in Babette’s Feast). They put maybe a mutton bone, or an old dried up potato or a pinch of salt. Finally the old woman comes out and begrudgingly throws an old dried up onion in there. The village had a big pot of soup to share. A few days later the old woman dies (not from eating the soup we hope) and as her soul is rocketing down to hell, she sees the stem of that onion and she grabs on to it and wow, gets up to heaven. Understand, even purgatory is heaven in a way because there is still a way to heaven. This is an old folk tale but I profoundly believe in hell but I also believe in God’s mercy. The Church can definitely say whether someone is a saint. She cannot definitely say whether someone went to hell. OK, maybe back in the old days a person wouldn’t be buried in hallowed ground if he/she committed suicide (read Hamlet) but it was not an official pronouncement of hell.
Also I’m an 8 year veteran of Al-Anon and I will tell you that it’s certainly not my job to judge this man. Thank God and I totally mean that respectfully.
Yep, because this example could also expand to alcoholics or anyone else with a substance abuse problem.
I have not one iota of a clue who this dude is who cared more about getting off than about his family and no, he doesn’t get a pass for entertaining us
Oh you must be part of this recent “don’t judge me” trend, good luck with that
no, you can tell what is in their hearts by the fruit of their actions
I think everyone who says, ‘You’re going to Hell!’ is going to get a little taste of it themselves.
“.. this example could also expand to alcoholics ... substance abuse problem”.
You are right and I will give a personal example. My late Uncle was very young when he was drafted in WWII. Some years later, he returned home an alcoholic. He remained an alcoholic until his death. My Father and brothers never turned their backs on him and to be honest.. he was the kindest, funniest yet haunted individual you would ever want to meet. I don’t know what he endured there because it was always spoken about in “hushed” words. Is he in hell? Will the homeless man/woman living on the streets addicted to alcohol/drugs also end up there? I don’t know but I pray not. I see a huge difference in hurting yourself vs hurting another individual. God is the ultimate judge and if you think about it.. that’s the way it should be. Only He knows what went on in someone’s life and if they are worthy of everlasting life. Only He knows our struggles mentally and physically. Only He can condemn. “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone”.
This is a keeper.
Does that include Elijah and the prophets? You are not right in your silliness
it is not the substance abuse per se that is the sin, the sin is in ignoring your children, being selfish and not putting your family ahead of your own needs, being part of a fiendish “entertainment” system that promotes evil, screwing everything that moves, now do you see the difference?
someone who is a harmless old drunk is not sinning in my book
LOL, sent that one to my son who plays among other instruments, the banjo. The other Gary Larson cartoon that applies to him is the one where the guy is walking through hell pushing a wheel barrow and whistling. One demon says to the other, “I just don’t think we’re getting through to him.”
Your's is a good theme, but the different one. This is more along the lines of don't be deceived, certain people don't inherit. The effeminate won't inherit, so maybe the rockers get a pass?
Substance abuse hurts everyone around the person. I agree. You and I are going to have to agree to disagree with respect to addiction. You see it as a choice and I see it as a disease. “Not putting your family ahead of your own needs”.. can include everyone from the career military man to the workaholic. Please NOTE: I am only stating that we cannot judge if a person enters heaven or not. Only God can do that. Only He truly knows the entire aspect of a person and his/her soul.
Yep, that must be it.
Please explain the silliness. My original point was that most who say another is going to Hell, is going to Hell oneself.
Of course this is the ultimate destination of liberal Protestantism.
As theologian Richard Niebuhr put it when speaking about the church in America, “A God without wrath brought men without sin into a Kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a Cross.”
IOW, if hell makes the pew sitters uncomfortable, just don't mention it anymore.
That's sort of like, we can't give people speeding tickets--only police can do that.
We really do not know where the man ended up. The thief on the cross had a last minute repentance and conversion, and Seymour may have also. With a name like Seymour, God knows he probably had lost and messed up parents!
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