I still prefer to let God be God...not one of us here possesses even a glimmer of the profound depth of love or mercy that is God. Jesus didn't die on the cross so we could throw that in the unbeliever's face and banish him/her to hell forever according to our own narrow interpretation of "the rules". We have to read mercy and love into God's Word or else we have missed the message entirely. Unconditional love means that we ALL are loved simply because we exist, not because of what we do or believe. The doing and believing determine how we express our lives and purpose, but they do not affect God's love for us...it's already there, no matter what.

There are too many unanswered questions to automatically relegate non-believers to hell. There are too many people (and you don't have to look past your own neighborhood to find them) who live in oppressive hunger and poverty, and whose spirits are battered down by hatred and violence. They may never know Jesus or have the opportunity to believe in Him. But I firmly believe that the merciful Father I know and love will run out of the gates of Heaven to greet each and every one of them/us and hug us close to His heart and welcome us all Home. And whatever else has transpired on earth, our eyes will be opened and the veils torn apart and we will know Him as Home.

Not one of us knows the heart and situation of another person, or is in a position to even begin to judge another human being's relationship with God, either now or at the moment of death. Let's just let God be God and stop painting Him in the colour of our own feeble inability to love unconditionally. As much as I treasure and strive to live by the Bible, I refuse to use those scriptures to justify the eternal condemnation of another human being. The mind of God is so much wiser and compassionate than we could ever imagine. He will know the "why" of who we were and couldn't be here on earth. Let's leave it all in His hands and get on with the business of unconditionally loving others the way we're supposed to here and now.

The overriding message of the entire Bible is MERCY. Without love and mercy at the root of our being, our words are empty.