Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
Tomorrow, Nov. 1, many religious groups will celebrate All Saints’ Day, also called All Hallows Day, which falls in the middle of Allhallowtide, being preceded by Halloween (All Hallows Eve) and followed by All Souls’ Day.
As I understand it (and there’s a lot I don’t understand), All Saints’ Day commemorates the recognized saints — those who went straight to heaven because they led a completely righteous life while on earth. All Souls’ Day commemorates Christians who’ve died but haven’t gone to heaven because they had to expiate (atone for) sin while on earth. The possibility is accepted that billions of people already may be in heaven either because they lived righteously, unbeknownst to anyone but God, or because they finished serving in purgatory. Some people honor all deceased Christians, especially those who personally influenced them in Christian living.
God can do anything he wants, and he is the God of second chances (I’d say more like 490 chances each day [Matthew 18:21-22, KJV; 1 John 1:5-9]), but the 66 books of the Bible don’t even allude to a place of expiation for the less than perfectly righteous. The Bible does say, when Christians are absent from the body, they’re present with the Lord and that peace or punishment begins upon death and there’s no passing from one place to another (2 Corinthians 5:6-10; Philippians 1:21-26; Hebrews 9:27-28; Luke 16:19-26; 2 Peter 2:4-9).
Stating that only the perfectly righteous are saints who go straight to heaven is problematic because the Bible says none are righteous, for all have sinned, including Christians (Romans 3:10-12, 23; 1 John 1:10).
Additionally, all Christians, living or dead, are called saints (sanctified) in the Bible if they’ve strived to live righteously (2 Corinthians 1:1; Ephesians 1:1; Philippians 1:1; 4:21-22; 1 Corinthians 1:1-2). While Paul called the Corinthian Christians “saints/sanctified,” he also recognized their shortcomings in not acting very saintly (1 Corinthians 3:1-3; 5:1-5; 6:1-11). This is the same group to whom Paul wrote the statement about Christians being absent from the body and present with the Lord.
Now about All Souls’ Day (Nov. 1): Since there’s no purgatory, there’s no need to pray for the dead. In fact, there’s an example of the dead praying for us in Luke 16:27-31, where the rich man asked his brothers be warned to avoid the torment he was experiencing. Here’s the take-home on that: No matter where they are now, our dearly departed want us to go to heaven.
We cannot atone for our own sin, but God will take us straight to heaven if we allow his righteousness to come to us by following his plan for salvation and by Christian living — walking in the light so Jesus’ blood cleanses us from our sins in the here and now (Romans 3:21-26; Acts 2:38-39; 22:16; Galatians 3:26-29; 4:6). Upon our obedience in baptism, the spirit of Christ intercedes for us (Acts 5:32; Romans 8:12-27; 1 Timothy 2:5-6).
Are you a saint — washed in Jesus’ blood?
Leonard Lauriault writes about faith for the Quay County Sun. Contact him at [email protected]