29 Nov
A new heart?
Okay, so Christians like to say that in order to get to heaven (or “get saved” as they call it) you have to “invite Jesus into your heart.”
Okay, so a happy and willing organ donor decides to invite Jesus into his heart. Woo-hoo… he’s saved. But in a tragic car accident, he loses his life, and his heart is transplanted to the town’s most obnoxious atheist.
So now is the atheist suddenly saved and bound for heaven, like it or not, just because he got a heart with Jesus included? And the Christian suddenly buried without a heart full of Jesus is going to end up in hell?
Religion is funny. Make fun of it all you can.
Well, if some Christian winds up with this atheist’s kidney someday, I bet s/he’s gonna be pissed!
It warms my heart to think my non-theist blood is happily coursing through the veins of someone who’d tell me to my face I am damned to hell. I guess giving *does* make the giver feel good.
November 29th, 2009 at 11:54 amAs my Methodist minister father (your great uncle) used to say: “Take back your heart! I ordered liver!”
November 29th, 2009 at 6:28 pmTaking the statement a bit literally, aren’t you?
November 29th, 2009 at 8:38 pm@Jarred:
Well, it’s not like the Christians don’t take things literally! hahaha
November 29th, 2009 at 8:58 pmIt’s not that uncommon to have the love of God “transplanted” into one via regeneration. All are atheists until regeneration takes place. Only then are you enabled to “invite Jesus into your heart.” I love Kinnexa’s “kidney” illustration!
November 29th, 2009 at 11:16 pmI think it is notable that Christians do not invite Jesus into their brains.
November 30th, 2009 at 12:07 am@Dez: - On the contrary. Please see the “renewing of your mind” passage” at Romans 12:1-2. Again, an invitation by one’s will is impossible; only by God working in an individual to bring “the heart” to repentance does one become a Christian.
November 30th, 2009 at 6:44 am@Steve #7 — but that only works under Calvinist theology.
Arminians reject absolute predestination, so free will is always available.
O’course both sides are merely wrangling with words, since none of it is actually really real, and both sides prey on ignorance and superstition.
November 30th, 2009 at 6:51 amDez: In some cultures, Christians invite Jesus into their throats. That’s because in those cultures, the throat is traditionally seen as the “center of human life,” much as the heart was seen as the “center of human life” in our culture at one time.
Which of course does raise a valid question. Our culture does tend to view the brain as the “center of human life” these days rather than the heart. So it’s a bit odd (well, except that Christianity isn’t very good at adapting to our culture) that the jargon hasn’t been appropriately updated.
December 19th, 2009 at 7:03 pm