Author: David Ellis

Don: Jesus taught the principle that in judgment, grace triumphs over destruction. That is God’s way. Man’s way is the substitution of his own works, instead of accepting God’s grace; in part because we are suspicious of free gifts and undeserved forgiveness. Is grace really free, unencumbered, and available to all? Jesus said “Yes, but…”…

Don: A 2017 Pew poll of American belief found that 52 percent of Protestants believe that both good deeds and faith are needed for salvation. Two core principles of the 500-year-old Reformation seem to be eroding. Protestants, including Martin Luther, thought that salvation was obtained through faith alone—sola fide—and that Scripture alone had the authority…

Don: In our discussion to date, we seem to have arrived at six principles regarding judgment: There is a judgment, and everyone is subject to it. Judgment is counterintuitive—everyone is surprised by his or her judgment. There can be joy in judgment. Judgment is a divine, not a human, prerogative. Judgment is linked to how…

Jay: The parable of the Wheat and the Tares ends with a statement about judgment: (New King James Version:) Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat…

Don: There are two aspects to judgment: First an invitation to grace, and then a response to the invitation. The Book of Jonah tells us much about these aspects, if it is treated as allegory (its historical and scientific plausibility are often challenged). It shows us that God is the God of all Creation, that…

Don: We are struggling with the Christian concept of salvation through grace, and how it fits with the concept of divine judgment. On its own, judgment would be easy to understand, but not when grace is thrown into the mix. Some have expressed the thought that an enraged God (characterized as the “King” in the…

Don: The theme of judgment runs throughout the story told in John chapter 9: As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?” [Thus, the story begins with a question about judgment.] Jesus answered,…

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…