Soul Cycle

Do you believe in Hell?

Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples approached him, saying, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field." He answered, "The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen! - Matt. 13:36-43

I wonder how many people these days believe in the afterlife.

Many cultures through the ages have had varying views about the life of the soul and what happens to it after our bodies die.

Many believe that the soul continues on.  Some have it enter a new body which may not be human, while others have it retire to an eternity of joy or pain.

What Jesus taught was actually quite scary, if you think about it.

He said that we cannot tell a person's fate by the way they live in this time.  You can be evil and avoid punishment your whole life.

The payment comes later in the afterlife.

We struggle with that, don't we?  We want those who are truly evil to feel the pain now, especially if they could go on and do more harm without being caught and imprisoned or killed.

But Jesus isn't talking about victims here.  He doesn't mention that the weeds can strangle the wheat and cause it to die.

That would complicate the parable message.  We are just asked to ignore that and think only of those who are sprinkled among us, who fail to love their neighbor, fail to help those in need, act in a greedy and destructive manner.

The killers among us are not mere weeds.  They are something else altogether.

So, in the life cycle of the soul, we believe we will wind up in that happy place and we can rest assured that those we feel are unworthy will not be joining us.

But we never know.

After all, Jesus also taught that we can change and repent at the last minute, after years of being a bad neighbor, and still be accepted into God's Kingdom.

We can be the late arrivals.

I don't think that means we should wait for the killers and evildoers to see the light.  I have a problem with that.  And I don't think I am the only one.

Jesus did warn against harming the little children, though, didn't he.

Maybe Jesus had other plans for those types of people.

More to come...