[Bill,
December 26, 2007]
So ...
A couple of weeks back, I had a mystical experience. It's difficult to talk about, because like all mystical experiences, it's virtually impossible to put into words. The words end up sounding obvious on one hand, and on the other, by the time one explains all the implications, the experience is diluted.
But without the implications, it sounds ... well, obvious on one hand and capable of misleading people on the other. It's also not a complete thing — God doesn't go around telling us everything. It's not a new Revelation to Bill. That's why I haven't talked about it with anyone. Plus, there's always the danger that this wasn't a mystical experience, but something that came from me.
But I don't want to not record it, either. Already the memory is seeping away from me. The good news: What I experienced is entirely Orthodox and does not in any way comprise anything new.
So what happened? I was praying in a chapel, and looking up at the cross, and what seemed to communicate to me, at the simplest, most direct level, was this: Jesus said on the cross that He died for all. For all.
This doesn't mean I'm espousing universal salvation, or eliminating it as a possibility, either.
I'm only saying that what seemed to be communicated is Christ knows everyone, loves everyone, longs for everyone, and died for everyone — for each individual soul. It also seemed to communicate, at the same time, that the Church has a central role in God's plan. But that's all I got.
The implications are not — God's done the work of salvation, thus let's do our own thing and pay the piper later. (I am very susceptible to this temptation.) And it doesn't mean that this salvation-and-atonement thing is some kind of game. It means that God longs for, and loves, and died for, everyone.
Perhaps it was a private correction to me — because I can be very individualistic in my faith, and to think — well, as long as I get to Heaven, good enough; the rest were warned and ignored the warnings, and besides, some of those people were pretty lousy to me and deserve what's coming to them. But Jesus seemed to be saying — not yes or no to any of that, but seemed to cut through that whole paradigm and remind me that His sacrifice was for all, that His love is for all, and that He loved all of us so much that He died in our place ... and also that the Church has a central place in His plan.
So that's what happened. Hope it does you some good.
But without the implications, it sounds ... well, obvious on one hand and capable of misleading people on the other. It's also not a complete thing — God doesn't go around telling us everything. It's not a new Revelation to Bill. That's why I haven't talked about it with anyone. Plus, there's always the danger that this wasn't a mystical experience, but something that came from me.
But I don't want to not record it, either. Already the memory is seeping away from me. The good news: What I experienced is entirely Orthodox and does not in any way comprise anything new.
So what happened? I was praying in a chapel, and looking up at the cross, and what seemed to communicate to me, at the simplest, most direct level, was this: Jesus said on the cross that He died for all. For all.
This doesn't mean I'm espousing universal salvation, or eliminating it as a possibility, either.
I'm only saying that what seemed to be communicated is Christ knows everyone, loves everyone, longs for everyone, and died for everyone — for each individual soul. It also seemed to communicate, at the same time, that the Church has a central role in God's plan. But that's all I got.
The implications are not — God's done the work of salvation, thus let's do our own thing and pay the piper later. (I am very susceptible to this temptation.) And it doesn't mean that this salvation-and-atonement thing is some kind of game. It means that God longs for, and loves, and died for, everyone.
Perhaps it was a private correction to me — because I can be very individualistic in my faith, and to think — well, as long as I get to Heaven, good enough; the rest were warned and ignored the warnings, and besides, some of those people were pretty lousy to me and deserve what's coming to them. But Jesus seemed to be saying — not yes or no to any of that, but seemed to cut through that whole paradigm and remind me that His sacrifice was for all, that His love is for all, and that He loved all of us so much that He died in our place ... and also that the Church has a central place in His plan.
So that's what happened. Hope it does you some good.