I somehow recoiled from the whole idea of watching the memorial set up for Michael Jackson in Staples Centre, Los Angeles, California.
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But for the sake of my wife who – more so than me (I fed myself with AC/DC & Iron Maiden which are bad in an altogether other category…) – grew up with this music we turned on the live broadcast. As my initial gut feeling was it wasn’t pretty to say the least, but first some background:
Apparently Michael had converted to being a Muslim and had a Jehovah’s Witness burial. Slightly puzzling one might say, with the added dubious reports of the man’s private life.
In the world’s history there has probably been only one funeral that eclipses Michael’s and that is the one held for Lady Diana. Funny enough both of them were flawed in the same way, in both occasions the people that were been buried were declared saints based on some of their good deeds totally neglecting their other actions. The Christian theology of human depravity and the need for salvation doesn’t surface in these sessions of glorifying the deceased.
What a distorted image of Christianity is portrayed to unbelievers, nominal Christians or the representatives of other religions when the bishop of the Church of England blesses the deceased totally ignoring the immoral life she led or that prominent (in the world’s eyes) representatives of Christianity talk about Michael being in a better place? No one actually knows where these two individuals will spend their eternity, but to portray them as great individuals who automatically gain salvation is a stretch of imagination, to say the least.
In the process cheap cialis of various tablets, purified water is used and then the material is heated as well as renewable energy loan guarantees mentioned above.
Think of the effect this has on the three groups mentioned earlier. Unbelievers and members of other faiths chuckle at Christians and their weak commitment to their own faith and nominal Christians think that this is the standard they need to live by in order to inherit life eternal.
One might ask; where is a Christian voice declaring sin as sin instead of whitewashing the wrongdoings of men and dishing out a diluted gospel?
The final straw that brought me to write this was the song “Heal the World” – or actually the symbols displayed in the background of the stage which were from most of the world religions – which gave the impression that any faith will save, totally neglecting the fact that Jesus states “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”. The name used for this heresy is syncretism which has been rampant in the world just about as long as Christianity has.
The song “Heal the World” is a theme song to the actions men take to restore the planet we live on. These actions have a couple of weakness in them. Firstly, they do not include God in any way what so ever and secondly, they hinge on the notion that this is the only earth we will ever inhabit and we are in a hurry to mend the wrong man has done to it. The Bible however clearly states that all people that ever lived are resurrected and judged either to life eternal or eternal damnation, the whole universe as we know it will be wiped away and a new one created which will be inhabited by the people inheriting life eternal.
