Showdown

There’s a story of a liberal Christian and a conservative Christian. They both felt their point of view was the best and that the other was missing the important issues. Nothing either said could change the other’s mind. One day they both died. The liberal went to heaven and said, “finally, the truth will be shown that I was right.” He settled into his mansion and then decided to check out the neighbors. He knocked on the door only to be totally shocked at who answered. It was the conservative. What’s he doing here and how could we be neighbors? They both went to God to see what was wrong and God said, “You’re both here because you accepted my grace and chose to live a life of love according to the knowledge that was given to you. Go in peace my children and enter in to the eternity that I have planned for you.”

There’s another story of a liberal Christian and a conservative Christian. They both felt their point of view was the best and that the other was missing the important issues. Nothing either said could change the other’s mind. One day they both died. The conservative went to hell and said, “where did I go wrong?” He wandered around and was surprised to see the liberal. I couldn’t have ended up the same place he did. They appealed to God and God said, “You’re both there because you failed to accept my grace and live a life of love according to the knowledge that was given to you.” With tears in his eyes he continued, “Enter in to the fires of eternal destruction.”

Hopefully the point of this parable is apparent beyond a discussion of heaven and hell. I have one more story. There are several ministry organizations on my college campus that for the longest time I have avoided because of things people in these groups have said about me and what I believe. I never knew what they did and I didn’t want to take the time to find out. Yesterday, a friend of mine invited me to go with one of these groups and so I said yes. They went to an apartment for the mentally and physically handicapped and put on a basic church service with lots of music and fellowship. The smiles on the faces of the residents said it all - This group was doing something awesome for the kingdom of God.

I discovered something that day. If you’re a liberal, I have some startling news. Sometimes conservatives are right and some of them are going to heaven, maybe even next door. If you’re a conservative, I have some startling news. Sometimes liberals are right and some of them are going to heaven, maybe even next door. People are always going to disagree but maybe I need to see if the disagreement is worth it. Sometimes it will be, but maybe sometimes God has a plan to break down some walls and do something amazing with ALL of us.