Atheists can go to heaven according to Pope Francis! (Part Two)
Catholic Online stated a little while ago that Pope Francis based his homily on scripture from the gospel of Mark where Jesus disciples attempted to stop a person doing good because he was not part of Jesus’ posse. And in response Jesus told his disciples to leave that person alone. Jesus did the same when Mary (not his mother) a ‘sinner,’ did good and was humiliated by those around her for doing a good deed.
What does scripture have to say about this?
The bible tells us to love one and other, and treat others the way we would like to be treated ourselves.
When a lawyer asked Jesus who to consider as his neighbour, Jesus told the following parable.
About Being a Good Person
A lawyer asked Jesus, Is it possible to live forever? What do I need to do if I want to live forever?
And Jesus answered, What do you think? What does the law tell you?
The man replied, The law tells me to love Go(o)d with all my heart and soul and strength and mind and to love my neighbour as myself.
And Jesus said, Well done. If you do this, then you shall live.
Who Is My Neighbour?
Then the lawyer said to Jesus, Who is my neighbour?
And Jesus answered; a person was traveling from a town called Jerusalem to another town called Jericho. And as he was travelling, a bunch of thieves attacked him; they took his clothes and beat him up so bad that he nearly died.
And when this poor man was lying on the road, half dead, a priest saw him there and quickly walked across to the other side of the road pretending not to see the poor man.
A little bit later a minister/pastor (levite) did exactly the same thing. He also saw this poor man who desperately needed help and then this minister also walked over to the other side of the road continuing his journey, without helping the wounded man.
Religious People Did Not Help
So here were two religious people, possibly leaders of churches and neither one of them helped the person who had been beaten up and robbed by thieves.
But a man called a Samaritan (Keeper [of the Law*]) saw the man lying on the road and he felt sorry for him and went over to him. He cleaned up and covered his wounds and put him on his own animal to take him to a motel where the traveler continued to took care of this wounded man.
And the next day when he had to continue his journey the Samaritan went to the person in charge of the motel, gave him some money and said please look after this man. And if you have to spend more money than what I am giving you now, then next time when I visit I will pay this money back to you.
After Jesus told this story He asked the lawyer, There were three people who all passed this poor man on the road which had been beaten up and robbed of everything he had by thieves. Now which of the three do you think was acting like a good neighbour? Was that the priest or the minister who saw the man laying on the road but pretended not to see him and crossed the road so that they wouldn’t need to help him? Or was it the Samaritan who cleaned his wounds and took him to a motel to look after him and make sure that he would recover?
Who was the good neighbour?
And the lawyer who had asked Jesus the question about eternal life answered, The good neighbour was the kind man, the Samaritan, the law-keeper who took care of the poor fellow who had been robbed and beaten up.
And Jesus said, You are absolutely right. Now you go and do the same.
I love to hear a good Samaritan story.
Many Christians believe that unless one follows Jesus one has no chance to enter heaven. Is this true? Not according to the Pope. And not according to the parable about the Samaritan, where we are told that it is our actions that count and not our religion.
THANK YOU for sharing your feedback and good Samaritan stories with me in the comments below.
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REFERENCES for the good Samaritan story.
Jesus asked, What does the law tell you?
Which law was Jesus talking about? Jesus was referring to the Jewish Law which includes the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5. For the Jewish nation God’s law is the law.
Who was this Samaritan?*
The Samaritans (Hebrew: שומרונים Shomronim, Arabic: السامريون as-Sāmariyyūn) derive their name not from a geographical location, but rather from the Hebrew term שַמֶרִים, “Keepers [of the Law]” from David Noel Freedman, The Anchor Bible Dictionary, 5:941 (New York: Doubleday, 1996, c1992).
A modern day true Samaritan story is told by Arianna Huffington from the Huffington Post on 24.12.2010 where she reports that, This year’s It’s A Wonderful Life Award goes to Gregory Schauer, the unemployed man who demonstrated the true Christmas spirit by taking in a homeless woman and her three children for the holidays. Remarkably, when we contacted Greg to tell him about all the people who had written in offering to help him, he told us: “Please let them know that the best thing they can do is pass it on so to speak. Instead of sending me anything, call a shelter, sponsor a family for Christmas, give to the food pantries, spread the spirit of Christmas to as many people as they can.
God works in mysterious ways. Another modern day true Samaritan story is told by Victor Perez who says that a higher power was involved in the rescue of an abducted little girl.
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Australian translation from Matthew 6:24-34 reprinted with permission from BabesandLittleChildren copyright 2011
Also read:
Welcome – Welcome
Thank you and dedication – Thank you and dedication
Copyright and partners – Copyright and partners
Mimi’s Favourites – Mimi’s Favourites
About – About
Please don’t get me into trouble – Please don’t get me into trouble
Credentials
What are my qualifications for writing a book on how to live forever? That is an excellent question and in some way also quite irrelevant considering that the information presented in ‘LIVE FOREVER how-to’ is not mine. It would be called plagiarism if it wasn’t that the author of the main book encourages his readers to share. The compilation of Scripture verses in ‘LIVE FOREVER how-to’ are snippets of wisdom, collected straight from the source.
To put everyone’s mind at ease about my credentials and credibility I have the following to offer.
I read a lot and put what I read to good use.
Around ten years ago a cousin to whom I felt very close, came to tell me that he was going to live forever. He told me this just before he took his own life, a week later. His words prompted me to study living forever intensely for the next decade.
Over the last decade, I’ve read through the Bible most days to find the answers on to ‘how to live forever.’ That means that I roughly read around 1000 pages of the Bible, each year. I have distilled this information and intend to present this in an easy to read format of around 60 pages total, which can be casually meandered through within around ten minutes.
My background is varied and diverse.
I was raised a Catholic and married an atheist life saver as well as a Buddhist doctor, in that order and not at the same time. I grew up with brothers and sisters with wildly varying viewpoints and understandings of religion, the Bible, God and the church. My surroundings have been mainly secular inhabited by myriad good Samaritans. I have no hidden agenda nor a particular point to push across.
As a model I learned that imagery is deceptive. As a secretary I learned that serving the boss comes first and everything else comes second. As a practice manager and director of a medical company I learned about suffering and my capacity for motivating others. As a wife and mum I learned that in the end the only thing that matters is loving each other consistently and passionately.
I’m considered a heretic.
Contrary to what the Catholic church preaches, I believe that God’s Word is over and above church doctrine. Because I was raised a Catholic and have been baptised into the Catholic church, the fact that I have different beliefs to the Catholic church makes me a heretic according to the Catholic doctrine.
Being seen to be a heretic according to church authorities means that my readers don’t have to be concerned that I’ll be injecting any kind of Catholic or any other church doctrine into my writing.
I am familiar with and respect worldly as well as religious perspectives.
Prior to reading the Bible I studied mysticism, practiced New Age disciplines as well as Wicca, Dzog Chen Buddhism and have come to understand the concepts of nothingness, yogic and tantric practices, enlightenment and states of bliss. This means that I am familiar with all different kinds of viewpoints and, even though I no longer participate in any of them, I respect those.
I am not affiliated in any way with any man made religion or doctrine.
I am not affiliated with any church, denomination, synagogue, temple or any man made religion whatsoever. That means that my Scripture verses compilation is not coloured by any church or synagogue doctrine but is straight from the very source it came from; the Bible, God’s Word.
I am an ace at how not to’s.
No further comment here, other than that I reckon in a round about way that this at least should qualify me for RPR (Recognised Prior Learning).
I love reading the Bible.
I enjoy nothing better than applying Scripture truths to daily life in a simple straight forward and no nonsense way. My greatest joy comes from sharing the peace and happiness that The Word brings me. I am anything but flawless and the Bible tells me that people such as I are qualified to receive and pass on Good News.
I occasionally read the news.
Every now and then I comment on news worthy events as the editor at the Lord’s Pub.
My Godchild and children teach me lots all the time.
As a mum and Godmother I’m supposed to know about certain things to do with heaven, birds and bees and so on. You can find me sharing and musing about these imponderables on the Babes and Little Children site.
I’ve got a thing for Instrumentals and old fashioned Dixie swing.
I know, it’s random but in my spare time I write lyrics for the band People is Grass which lives at itunes.
I’m head over heels.
I’m head over heels with the main character of my favourite book. I know that doesn’t give me any brownie points, just wanted to share that with you.
I know a few things about living for ever.
Although being a keen Bible reader on its own doesn’t necessarily qualify anyone for anything in particular, in my case it means that at a minimum I can tell my readers
a. Where the concept of living forever came from and
b. how many times this is mentioned in the Bible,
c. by whom,
d. and in what context.
e. Some of the main eligibility requirements for eternal life.
That is more than the average person will be able to tell you.
That’s a start.
The following Scripture Verse sums it all up beautifully.
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Also read:
Welcome – Welcome
Thank you and dedication – Thank you and dedication
Copyright and partners – Copyright and partners
Mimi’s Favourites – Mimi’s Favourites
About – About
Please don’t get me into trouble – Please don’t get me into trouble
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WEBSITE – You can find my website at www.mimiemmanuel.com
ABOUT THIS BLOG – We’re researching the truth of living forever according to GOD’s Holy Word; Sola Scripture. Popular opinion tells us that everyone who ‘believes’ and has ‘faith’ will go to heaven. Is this true? I decided to ask the prophets about the truth of it all. To be one of the first people to receive a free kindle at my next book launch you can click here. You can find my current books here.
ABOUT THE CONTENT – All content on this website is copyrighted and you can read more about this here. Please also read the disclaimer about my authority and qualifications. Occasionally I partner with people because I like their products and you can read about that here.
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all rights reserved copyright myemmanuel 2018
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A lawyer asked Jesus, Is it possible to live forever? What do I need to do if I want to live forever?
And Jesus answered, What do you think? What does the law tell you?
And the man said, The law tells me to love God with all my heart and soul and strength and mind and to love my neighbour as myself.
And Jesus said, Well done. If you do this, then you shall live.
Who is my neighbour?
Then the lawyer said to Jesus, Who is my neighbour?
And Jesus answered; a person was traveling from a town called Jerusalem to another town called Jericho. And as he was traveling, a bunch of thieves attacked him; they took his clothes and beat him up so bad that he nearly died.
And when this poor man was laying on the road, half dead, a priest saw him there and quickly walked across to the other side of the road pretending not to see the poor man.
A little bit later a minister/pastor (levite) did exactly the same thing. He also saw this poor man who desperately needed help and then this minister also walked over to the other side of the road continuing his journey, without helping the wounded man.
So here were two religious people, possibly leaders of churches and neither one of them helped the person who had been beaten up and robbed by thieves.
But a man called a Samaritan saw the man laying on the road and he felt sorry for him and went over to him. He cleaned up and covered his wounds and put him on his own animal to take him to a motel where the traveler continued to took care of this wounded man.
And the next day when he had to continue his journey the Samaritan went to the person in charge of the motel, gave him some money and said please look after this man. And if you have to spend more money than what I am giving you now, then next time when I visit I will pay this money back to you.
After Jesus told this story He asked the lawyer, There were three people who all passed this poor man on the road which had been beaten up and robbed of everything he had by thieves. Now which of the three do you think was acting like a good neighbour? Was that the priest or the minister who saw the man laying on the road but pretended not to see him and crossed the road so that they wouldn’t need to help him? Or was it the Samaritan who cleaned his wounds and took him to a motel to look after him and make sure that he would recover?
Who was the good neighbour?
And the lawyer who had asked Jesus the question about eternal life answered, The good neighbour was the kind man, the Samaritan, who took care of the poor fellow who had been robbed and beaten up.
And Jesus said, You are absolutely right. Now you go and do the same.
all rights reserved copyright myemmanuel 2014 reprinted with permission
Australian version of the Good Samaritan story Luke 10:25-37