Belief — Blog — Glenn E. Pearson

During the summers between each of my college years, I worked as a counselor at the Dorothy P. Flint 4-H Camp in rural eastern Long Island. I loved that place, largely because of the great counselors on staff.

The fall after my first 4-H summer, I had the lifechanging experience of realizing that my stereotype of Christianity was all wrong. I thought you became a Christian by cleaning up your act and trying harder to be good. But I learned there’s nothing you can do to meet God’s standard of perfection. That’s pretty discouraging!

But there’s a good-news solution for this problem. Jesus died to take upon himself the penalty I deserve for falling short of God’s standards. That’s what Good Friday is all about! (By the way, I don’t even live up to my own standards.) Becoming a Christian involves acknowledging my sin, asking for the forgiveness Jesus offers, and inviting him to run things from now on.

Coming into that relationship with him was truly revolutionary, and I wanted all my 4-H friends to experience this too.

As it turns out, about the same time I became a Christian, Jerry, one of the other counselors, had also found a new belief system – the Bahá'í faith. Bahá'ís recognize the validity of nine different great world religions and believe the latest prophet of God was a man named Bahá'u'lláh, a 19th Century Iranian. Since I don’t have the space to discuss the considerable differences between Christianity and the Bahá'í faith, let me just say they are not compatible.

The first I ever heard of the Bahá'í faith was from Jerry, and I was intrigued to learn more, probably for two reasons. As a relatively new Christian, I wanted to make sure I had hitched my wagon to the right star. Plus, I wanted to learn more about Jerry’s new faith so I could help him understand that the Bahá'í faith and Christianity are irreconcilable. So, I did a fair amount of research into this group over the next few years.

But then something happened.

I heard through the grapevine that after a few years, Jerry had rethought his belief system and no longer followed the Bahá'í faith. In an instant, this faith became a total non-issue for me. The only reason I originally cared about it was so I could have more meaningful conversations with my friend, but now none of that mattered.

As I’ve thought about this experience, I realized it offers a tiny, tiny glimpse of what the future holds for Christians. Our would is plagued by the pandemic, death, poverty, war, racism, hatred, and a host of other tragedies. But we know that some day all this will end. Anyone who has trusted Jesus to forgive their sins can anticipate spending eternity with him in heaven. Of course, we can’t fully comprehend what that will be like. But the New Testament describes what it will be like in the new heaven and earth:

He will wipe every tear from [his people’s] eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away (Revelation 21:4).

I don’t want to minimize our current afflictions, but the implication of this truth is that, just like the Bahá'í faith became instantly irrelevant to me, all my problems – physical ailments, relational problems, financial woes, discouragement, the fear of death, and every other concern – will someday only be a distant memory. How awesome is that!

But I should point out that this future only applies to those who have trusted Jesus to forgive their sins. Although Jesus clearly and repeatedly offered incredible truths about God’s love, he also stressed that many are headed for a horrific future. Of Jesus’ 40 parables, 18 (or nearly half) clearly teach that some are destined for eternal separation from God. In fact, he seemed to go out of his way introduce the concept of hell right in the middle of his most uplifting messages. The sharp right turn is almost shocking, and some people try to explain away his teaching about God’s judgment. But keep in mind that it’s a pretty bad idea to reject what Jesus clearly taught.

I truly hope that you will experience the blessings of a tearless, painless future free from death and disease when the “big deals” of this life melt away. And Happy Easter!