Author: David Ellis

Don: The concept of an afterlife is relatively easy to understand in most religions. But in Christianity, the issues of judgment—which rewards or punishes us with the afterlife we deserve—and grace, which only appears to reward, clouds the issue. Our binary concept of judgment—you are good or bad, a sheep or a goat, on the…

Don: All the great faiths seek to explain the afterlife. The prevailing notion is, and has long been, that this mortal life is not the end of the story; that something happens after death, and that what we do in this life affects what happens then. In the Parable of the Wedding Feast, which we…

Don: It seems that God’s plan was for Him and us to live together in harmonious unity. In the garden of Eden, the prohibition against eating the fruit of the tree of good and evil made it unnecessary for us to discriminate between good and bad, right and wrong. It was God’s divine prerogative to…

Don: Many people believe that the way we live today affects our future. Most religions link a life well lived to a future of contented opportunity, if not bliss. The concept goes by many names: Heaven, paradise, moksha, nirvana, Valhalla, the heavenly garden of Eden, and so on. For the most part, these places are…

Don: We’ve discussed two parables involving vineyards: One in which the vineyard workers were all paid the same wages regardless of how many hours they worked, and one in which the vineyard owner asked his two sons to go do some work in his vineyard (with one promising to do so but then reneging on…

Don: After the Pharisees demanded to know of Jesus the authority for His ministry, He recited a parable, now known as the parable of the Two Sons: “But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go work today in the vineyard.’ And he answered, ‘I…

Don: Where does religion come from? Do we need it, and if so, why? After His triumphal entrance into Jerusalem, His cleansing of the temple, and His instant withering of a barren fig tree, the Jewish religious authorities demanded that Jesus reveal the authority for His acts. As was so often the case, He answered…

Don: Humankind was created to be one with God and with each other. This was God’s original plan. But the Fall resulted in the breakup of that oneness. We became estranged from God and from one another. All religions are essentially trying to help us journey back to oneness with God, whether in the Christian…

Don: God’s original plan, it seems, was to be in constant, continual contact with humankind. In the garden of Eden, Adam and Eve walked and talked with Him. Even after the Fall from the garden, God maintained constant conversation with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Elijah, Elisha, and the other prophets. Throughout the theocracy—the period…