Bad News and Good News

When a co-worker comes to work sick and coughs all over your world, it is only a matter of time before you get sick. That time is now. That 'you' is me. And that 'sick' feels like an acute sinus infection, though possibly just a bad cold.

Ugh.

But, even though I sit here and complain that I can't breathe through my nose, I know that its not so bad. The bad news is that a local family has it much worse than me....I truly feel for them. A distant acquaintance from high school died the day after Thanksgiving. He was a couple of years younger than me. In the news, it said he was taken from his home in an ambulance and died in the emergency room at 12:45pm...

Strange, the first thing that went through my mind was that he actually died in the daytime - in the full light of day. I guess in some unsupported stereotypical way I always associated the death of a young person with nighttime shenanigans on the highway - the witching hour or in a firey blaze between 1:00am-3:00am. A daytime passing of a youth. It seems so harsh. Daytime is for living, right? It is so true that ye know not the hour. While I didn't know him very well, I pray for him and his grieving family and friends.

In lieu of this tragic news, I think about what will be thought following this man's death. I think about the typical depressing Catholic eulogy. Eulogies tend to be really unsure about saying whether or not the departed is going to be with God. Many times it is a "pray for the soul of such and such that s/he may not experience everlasting torment" sort of thing.

I think it is an appropriate moment to say that since leaving the Catholic Church, I have found the actual Good News. It was always there, but it was shrouded in apostasy, in ill-translated scripture and in false dogma. A sheep in lion's clothing. The scriptures were originally written in Hebrew and Greek. God specifically chose these languages for their special nuances in the conveyance of his message. When the scriptures were translated into Latin, many very important words were mis-translated, some of which include the words 'eternity / eternal' and 'hell'. Replace these mistranslated words with the original ones (do your homework) and it entirely changes the terrifying biblical message most Christians are fed into actual GOOD NEWS...not Good News with severe stipulations.

The Concordant Literal New Testament is one of the bibles that retains the correct and original Greek translations. I recommend it to any thinking Christian. Forget the King James Version or the New International Version, etc, etc. When it comes to communications in any form, the orignal message is very important. And this is the message which has brought me much peace:

Jesus died for all mankind. All is of God and all will return to God. Salvation is the only outcome worthy of God. There is no salvation by self. A human cannot do what has already been done for them by Christ. Salvation occurred (notice past tense: occurred) through Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. It was the most powerful and loving gesture ever to be done for humankind and nothing we do (including works or even belief) can change the fact that through His grace we will all return to God.

This isn't just the Good News...it is the Best News.