Obviously I'm far from a thumper.... so I'm just repeating (paraphrasing) some words I heard last night...
.... but I latch on to things like this.
I mean if Jesus said this.....
"I can only offer salvation to the sinners...
....not the righteous."
Pretty deep as these things go.
Good words.
Great words really.
If you didn't catch it, read it again.
Did he really say that?
I'd like a verse/chapter/line # .... etc
But they are great words.
This is probably a reference to "i came not to call the righteous but sinners" ...and means the same thing.
But because this is among the red letters of the neo-Jewish understanding of how to negotiate with God (the "new testament") , we only have about a 5% chance Jesus actually said it.
To know if he said anything, you would first need to know what his message was, without reference to anything in the combined "testament" collection. You could increase the 5% by interpreting some phrases to line up with the main message that you already know, as so many words give themselves to opposing interpretations.
In this case, it could mean that anyone not counting themselves as "sinners" cannot be helped.
Of course, "sinners" is itself open to interpretation.
This is similar to the call, "Come to me ye who are weary". Those who are not weary cannot be helped, and wont even hear the call. Its also similar to when Jesus healed a blind man only to be faulted by those who could "see". Claiming they could 'see', Jesus scolded them, telling them they were still blind, and worse, blind leading the blind.
So its about attitude. Only those who are weary enough to admit they cant "see"...who are humble enough to admit the may need some help...unsure enough of what they "know" to become a student...clueless enough to be ready for a paradigm shift... only these can be helped..and only these will even hear an offer to be helped.
So for example, anyone who claims to know Jesus message, but who does not really know it, these are the so-called "righteous". They cant be helped and could never be saved. Using this example again, a "sinner" is someone who can admit he is ignorant of Jesus message, and is ready to learn.
The Pharisees were already "righteous" because they thought they knew all that was needed to be known about "God" and were not weary of pretending to know, as if they could "see".
A "sinner" admits he does not know due to general ignorance, ignorance itself being "sin". The Pharisees claimed to not have any ignorance about "God". Only the "sinners" can be taught anything NEW about Good.
Today, there are the neo-Pharisees who claim not to have any ignorance about Jesus and his NEW teachings about a NEW Good. This includes almost all "Christians" and almost all Muslims. Almost everyone descending from one of the Abrahamic faith cultures cannot be taught anything new, having confused faith versus knowledge. These are the "righteous" who already "know" whatever they believe.
The
agnostic is closer to salvation than most of the worlds believers, because s/he does not make claims on knowing anything. Even better if they seriously doubt they know anything. This admission is absolutely a necessary prerequisite to ones ability to be helped by anything Jesus actually said about Good. Ones salvation depends on this.
The reason for this is because you could not be having the experience of being a human being (the experience of hell) without first having conflated faith and knowledge...claiming to "know" what is immpossible to know. This is the essence of "sin". For this reason, the knowledge Jesus brings about Good WILL ALWAYS BE COMPLETELY BEYOND ANYONE'S CURRENT SCOPE OF IMAGINATION. That is to say, it will always challenge your current world view, and require a total paradigm shift from the status quo way of thinking.
In the above context, a future in hell simply means: If you always think the way you've always thought, you'll always get what you always got.
The "righteous" do not need to alter or change or "repent" of anything they have ever thought about Good. They are "right", and will be 'right" till the day they die.
Therefore, i do not expect many, if any, 'Christians" to agree with this interpretation. I dont expect them to be weary enough to be ready enough to learn anything that is actually NEW about Good (for they already "know" all the old things about "God").
Only the
agnostic (one who admits he doesn't know) is ready to listen when the offer (call) comes.
