Pope Francis

God is the same yesterday, today and forever; He has been around forever. Think about that for a moment. 

 

I don't think our minds can actually comprehend that concept. God has always been. He is not limited by time. Our universe is more than 16 billion years old, and continuing to expand at an astonishing rate. Even that blows my mind.

The Third Vatican Council concluded recently (the second was in 1962) with Pope Francis making a statement which has literally rocked the Catholic world (click the link on 'His words'). His words have highlighted that God is love, BUT more than that, he encouraged all faiths to look beyond their dogma and doctrine and see God for who He is.

One thing that has always baffled me is that if Christ called us to 'make disciples' and 'preach the good news' then He left the salvation of the planet up to us, and surely that would not be wise. He called us to reach His children, each and everyone of them. And regrettably, thus far, us Christians have done a poor job. This means that billions have never heard of the gospel, and billions living today may not hear it as they were born in cultures that are actively adverse to Christianity, or they have a different religious upbringing.

So I've often wondered, and asked God, whether there is something more to salvation. Whether God, who loves each of us unconditionally, regardless, has another way to bring us into His presence when we die. He IS God. He IS eternal. His thoughts are higher and better than our own.

He knows our upbringing, and the culture or environment that we were born into; He knows the opportunities Christians have had to bring the 'good news' and whether they were able to effectively communicate His truth, or whether they disobeyed or failed to look beyond their judgment of those they were reaching. If the salvation of the world is left entirely up to us Christians to preach and walk in love and light and hope, then few of the percentage of the worlds population will be 'saved'. 

I'm not discounting Christ's words that ANYONE who calls upon His name shall be saved, but the message that Pope Francis is conveying is of a greater depth and compassion than I have ever heard from a Catholic Pope. His words may not be entirely accurate (I don't know), BUT his words contain truth. The truth of Gods love; the truth of Gods compassion, and that we, His children, should desire to love God and love one another in the same way.

The early Christian church separated into many factions almost immediately after Christ's ascension, and there are multiple 'flavours' of Christianity.  There are also many religions. These different flavour's of Christianity and religious faiths all appear to have common elements.  If God, in His infinite nature, cannot even vaguely be understood my humanity, then of course multiple cultures will have seen different facets of Him.

Christ has set me free.  He came to preach the good news, restore sight to the blind, set the captives free (Isaiah 61).  I have been healed from Schizophrenia & infertility, to name a few.  Christ came to point us back to the Father, to reveal God's true nature.  Think on that for a moment.  

So, I pray that Pope Francis' words speak life and hope and truth into the greater Church.