Indian Christian: What matters is not the group, not the theology, but whether we live in Love and honesty; Final Judgement will be on whether we showed Love or not - Matthew 25 : 31-46
A correspondent who is an Indian Christian wrote me over email (and was OK with sharing; slightly edited), in response to my post - History of the main statement of belief as per doctrine adopted by vast majority of Christian churches - The Nicene Creed formalized in 325 AD and revised in 381 AD, https://ravisiyer.blogspot.com/2019/11/history-of-main-statement-of-belief-as.html, as follows :
The Final Judgement
I believe that it is not the group that we go to, nor is it the theology we believe in, but it matters more whether we live in Love and honesty.
It is not belief, nor faith alone, but God will judge us according to our actions, that is whether we showed Love or not. Mt 25 : 31-46.
It is wrongly interpreted that these verses support the existence of hell.
These verses are the most radical, and not emphasized enough. According to these verses even an atheist who shows love can go to heaven.
--- end correspondent response ---
Mt 25 : 31-46 is a reference to Matthew Chapter 25: Verses 31 to 46. The correspondent wrote (slightly edited) in a later mail, "I use GNT which means good news translation. It uses the words THE FINAL JUDGEMENT for Matthew 25 : 31 - 46." That GNT translation can be seen here: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+25%3A31-46&version=GNT.
The above link has copyrighted translation of the Matthew verses and so I am not using it on this post. Instead I have given below a public domain translation of it (WEB - World English Bible) from https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+25%3A31%E2%80%9346&version=WEB (Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sheep_and_the_Goats uses the above WEB version) :
Matthew 25:31-46
31 “But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. 32 Before him all the nations will be gathered, and he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will tell those on his right hand, ‘Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; 35 for I was hungry and you gave me food to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you took me in. 36 I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you a drink? 38 When did we see you as a stranger and take you in, or naked and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and come to you?’
40 “The King will answer them, ‘Most certainly I tell you, because you did it to one of the least of these my brothers,[a] you did it to me.’ 41 Then he will say also to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels; 42 for I was hungry, and you didn’t give me food to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink; 43 I was a stranger, and you didn’t take me in; naked, and you didn’t clothe me; sick, and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’
44 “Then they will also answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and didn’t help you?’
45 “Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Most certainly I tell you, because you didn’t do it to one of the least of these, you didn’t do it to me.’ 46 These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
Footnotes:
25:40 The word for “brothers” here may be also correctly translated “brothers and sisters” or “siblings.”
--- end Matthew 25 : 31-46 ---
I responded (slightly edited) to the correspondent, "Very interesting! Thanks for sharing your valuable view with me."
[I thank biblegateway.com and have presumed that they will not have any objections to me sharing the above extract(s) from their website on this post which is freely viewable by all, and does not have any financial profit motive whatsoever.]
The Final Judgement
I believe that it is not the group that we go to, nor is it the theology we believe in, but it matters more whether we live in Love and honesty.
It is not belief, nor faith alone, but God will judge us according to our actions, that is whether we showed Love or not. Mt 25 : 31-46.
It is wrongly interpreted that these verses support the existence of hell.
These verses are the most radical, and not emphasized enough. According to these verses even an atheist who shows love can go to heaven.
--- end correspondent response ---
Mt 25 : 31-46 is a reference to Matthew Chapter 25: Verses 31 to 46. The correspondent wrote (slightly edited) in a later mail, "I use GNT which means good news translation. It uses the words THE FINAL JUDGEMENT for Matthew 25 : 31 - 46." That GNT translation can be seen here: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+25%3A31-46&version=GNT.
The above link has copyrighted translation of the Matthew verses and so I am not using it on this post. Instead I have given below a public domain translation of it (WEB - World English Bible) from https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+25%3A31%E2%80%9346&version=WEB (Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sheep_and_the_Goats uses the above WEB version) :
Matthew 25:31-46
31 “But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. 32 Before him all the nations will be gathered, and he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will tell those on his right hand, ‘Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; 35 for I was hungry and you gave me food to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you took me in. 36 I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you a drink? 38 When did we see you as a stranger and take you in, or naked and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and come to you?’
40 “The King will answer them, ‘Most certainly I tell you, because you did it to one of the least of these my brothers,[a] you did it to me.’ 41 Then he will say also to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels; 42 for I was hungry, and you didn’t give me food to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink; 43 I was a stranger, and you didn’t take me in; naked, and you didn’t clothe me; sick, and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’
44 “Then they will also answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and didn’t help you?’
45 “Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Most certainly I tell you, because you didn’t do it to one of the least of these, you didn’t do it to me.’ 46 These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
Footnotes:
25:40 The word for “brothers” here may be also correctly translated “brothers and sisters” or “siblings.”
--- end Matthew 25 : 31-46 ---
I responded (slightly edited) to the correspondent, "Very interesting! Thanks for sharing your valuable view with me."
[I thank biblegateway.com and have presumed that they will not have any objections to me sharing the above extract(s) from their website on this post which is freely viewable by all, and does not have any financial profit motive whatsoever.]
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