Dan Popp
Destined unequal
Red letters for red liars
By Dan Popp
He who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. — Hebrews 11:6b NASB
To say that God uses rewards and punishments is to say that God manages His creatures effectively. He knows that we respond to these things, and perhaps only to these things. But since His rewards and punishments will one day make all of us eternally unequal, it's also saying that God cannot be a Marxist. As every soccer mom and little league dad knows, keeping score means that there will be winners and losers. And God is the ultimate Scorekeeper.
The doctrine of a post-mortem judgment (by no means unique to Christianity) implies that inequality is the planned and proper destiny of mankind. And if God prefers justice to fairness, doesn't that mean socialists are warring against God when they commit injustices to achieve earthly parity — despite calling their injustices, "social justice?"
Keep in mind as we explore the inequality of heaven that, according to Marx and Engels, any inequality is evidence of exploitation. If you have something I don't, you have obviously sinned against me. No wonder Churchill called this "the gospel of ignorance, the creed of envy."
The most unequal outcomes of all are heaven and hell. Some will experience unending fellowship with God and the faithful, enjoying all that is good in a realm of light and satisfaction; others will experience something described as torturous burning, unquenchable thirst, noxious sulfur, a gnawing worm, utter darkness and isolation. These two extremes aren't exactly the one-size-fits-all utopia of the socialist.
But even those in heaven will vary in status. "There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead." — 1 Corinthians 15:41,42a
Though Dante's elaborate, multi-tiered system was imaginary, we do find scriptural hints that hell will be an unequal place as well. Some will be "beaten with many stripes, some with few." (Luke 12:47,48) So it seems that the Marxist will never achieve his egalitarian dream — not on earth, in heaven, nor even in hell!
Jesus often tried to prepare His followers for unequal rewards. "The last shall be first." "Some will receive thirty, some sixty, some one-hundred-fold." He drove home this point with a story we call the Parable of the Minas. You'll find it in Luke 19. As in the better-known Parable of The Talents the master entrusts various sums of money to his servants for them to invest (v.13) until he returns. When the day of reckoning arrives, a slave who has excelled is rewarded excellently, a slave who has done pretty well is rewarded pretty well, but a slave who hasn't obeyed instructions receives something unexpected:
Someone may object that the Lord wasn't talking about earthly money here. That's obvious, since the people and objects in a parable symbolize other things. But the money in your wallet or purse is a symbol, too — a symbol of wealth that you or someone created. Jesus taught us that there will be riches, or treasure, or wealth in heaven.
He said, "If therefore you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous mammon, who will entrust the true riches to you?" (Luke 16:11) He told a greedy young man to "sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me." (Matt. 19:21b) Christ blessed those who would endure persecution, "for your reward in heaven is great." (Matt. 5:12a) Whatever these celestial riches may be, they will not be distributed equally.
We can have no doubt that heaven is a perfect reflection of God's will, because Jesus taught us to pray, "Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven." And when we get a glimpse into heaven, we see that God's will is for some to have more riches/treasure/wealth than others.
Every time we turn around, Jesus isn't playing nice with the socialists. He's just not hip to the collectivist agenda. But Lord, you're taking the guy's only mina and giving it to the one who already has more than he needs?
Yep.
Whether or not "all men are created equal," we are destined unequal. The red liars may not like it, but Jesus could not have said it more plainly, more emphatically or more often.
Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done. — Jesus (Revelation 22:12)
© Dan Popp
June 28, 2010
He who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. — Hebrews 11:6b NASB
To say that God uses rewards and punishments is to say that God manages His creatures effectively. He knows that we respond to these things, and perhaps only to these things. But since His rewards and punishments will one day make all of us eternally unequal, it's also saying that God cannot be a Marxist. As every soccer mom and little league dad knows, keeping score means that there will be winners and losers. And God is the ultimate Scorekeeper.
The doctrine of a post-mortem judgment (by no means unique to Christianity) implies that inequality is the planned and proper destiny of mankind. And if God prefers justice to fairness, doesn't that mean socialists are warring against God when they commit injustices to achieve earthly parity — despite calling their injustices, "social justice?"
Keep in mind as we explore the inequality of heaven that, according to Marx and Engels, any inequality is evidence of exploitation. If you have something I don't, you have obviously sinned against me. No wonder Churchill called this "the gospel of ignorance, the creed of envy."
The most unequal outcomes of all are heaven and hell. Some will experience unending fellowship with God and the faithful, enjoying all that is good in a realm of light and satisfaction; others will experience something described as torturous burning, unquenchable thirst, noxious sulfur, a gnawing worm, utter darkness and isolation. These two extremes aren't exactly the one-size-fits-all utopia of the socialist.
But even those in heaven will vary in status. "There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead." — 1 Corinthians 15:41,42a
Though Dante's elaborate, multi-tiered system was imaginary, we do find scriptural hints that hell will be an unequal place as well. Some will be "beaten with many stripes, some with few." (Luke 12:47,48) So it seems that the Marxist will never achieve his egalitarian dream — not on earth, in heaven, nor even in hell!
Jesus often tried to prepare His followers for unequal rewards. "The last shall be first." "Some will receive thirty, some sixty, some one-hundred-fold." He drove home this point with a story we call the Parable of the Minas. You'll find it in Luke 19. As in the better-known Parable of The Talents the master entrusts various sums of money to his servants for them to invest (v.13) until he returns. When the day of reckoning arrives, a slave who has excelled is rewarded excellently, a slave who has done pretty well is rewarded pretty well, but a slave who hasn't obeyed instructions receives something unexpected:
-
"And [the master] said to the bystanders, 'Take the mina away from him, and give it to the one who has the ten minas.' And they said to him, 'Master, he has ten minas already!'
"I tell you, that to everyone who has shall more be given, but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away." — Luke 19:24-26
Someone may object that the Lord wasn't talking about earthly money here. That's obvious, since the people and objects in a parable symbolize other things. But the money in your wallet or purse is a symbol, too — a symbol of wealth that you or someone created. Jesus taught us that there will be riches, or treasure, or wealth in heaven.
He said, "If therefore you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous mammon, who will entrust the true riches to you?" (Luke 16:11) He told a greedy young man to "sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me." (Matt. 19:21b) Christ blessed those who would endure persecution, "for your reward in heaven is great." (Matt. 5:12a) Whatever these celestial riches may be, they will not be distributed equally.
We can have no doubt that heaven is a perfect reflection of God's will, because Jesus taught us to pray, "Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven." And when we get a glimpse into heaven, we see that God's will is for some to have more riches/treasure/wealth than others.
Every time we turn around, Jesus isn't playing nice with the socialists. He's just not hip to the collectivist agenda. But Lord, you're taking the guy's only mina and giving it to the one who already has more than he needs?
Yep.
Whether or not "all men are created equal," we are destined unequal. The red liars may not like it, but Jesus could not have said it more plainly, more emphatically or more often.
Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done. — Jesus (Revelation 22:12)
© Dan Popp
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