A GOSPEL OF SIN MANAGEMENT: I Just Wanna Go to Heaven

Okay, for a little variety, I figured I'd put the picture on the right, and make it bigger. How's that for creativity?

More from Willard regarding what some have termed 'Vampire Christianity,' a thought taken from one of Willard's footnotes. And, yes, even the footnotes in Willard are worthing reading.

If you ask anyone from the 74% of Americans who say they have made a commitment to Jesus Christ what the Christian gospel is, you will probably be told that Jesus died to pay for our sins [emphasis added], and that, if we will only believe this, we will go to heaven when we die.

In this way, what is only one theory of the "atonement" is made out to be the whole of the essential message of Jesus [emphasis added]. To continue with theological language for the moment, justification has taken the place of regeneration, or new life. Being let off the divine hook replaces possession of a divine life "from above." For all the talk about the "new birth" among conservative Christians, there is almost a total lack of understanding of what that new birth is in practical terms... (p.42).

Before I quote further, check out Willard's picture. It's important that you realize he's pretty normal looking, not at all a radical. In fact, he is what some might consider an oxymoron: a Southern Baptist philosopher who happens to teach philosophy at the University of Southern California.

In his footnote to regeneration, he writes this [apologies for the 'insider language']:

Actually, this replacement [of justification for regeneration] has its background "an absorption of Christology [study of Jesus] into Soteriology [study of salvation]," in the language of Karl Barth. There is an entire loss of any Christological concern in the occupation with my own salvation [emphasis added] or that of society...."Gospels of Sin Management" presume a Christ with no serious work other than redeeming humankind. On the right [conservatism], t hey foster "vampire Christians" who only want a little blood for their sins but nothing more to do with Jesus until heaven, when they have to associate with him. On the left, they foster the Pharaseeism of a more or less brutal social self-righteousness.'

The bottom line? Jesus intends that the space between 'trusting Jesus' and 'entering glory"  be filled with ever-increasing Christlikeness reflected in all areas of our living. This change can come only as the space between our ears is renewed and transformed on a daily basis (Romans 12:2).