Escape from Ukraine and Russia – and myself

“No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And … that Son of Man must be lifted up, in order that everyone believing may have unending life in him. For God in that way loved the world, that he gave his only Son, in order that everyone believing into him may not self-destroy but have unending life. For God did not send his Son into the world in order to condemn the world, but in order that the world may be saved through him.” (John 3: 13)

Earth isn’t heaven. And heaven isn’t earth. Right? We are certainly being shown that earth isn’t heaven as we see the continuing and awful suffering, pain and destruction in the Ukraine. A recent internet contributor voiced what may be for us our mega concern at the moment. Nuclear warfare. That contributor was very clear that this would be self-destruction. Apparently, it’s not only the blast and not only the radiation which would be devastating. It’s also the decades of famine – the winter that would follow when high-altitude dust would blot out the sun and harvests would be no more. The argument runs that President Putin wouldn’t press the button because he would, in effect, self-destruct. I guess that, like me, you wish you could be sure about that. What about the Ukrainians and self-destruction? That’s worth more than a passing thought. Could those dear Ukrainians save themselves from destruction by capitulating to Putin? Yes, I suppose so. But there’s a problem with that. If they did give in, they would lose their own self-government. You could say that, if they saved their lives in that way, they would lose their lives.
One of the first-century AD eye-witnesses of Jesus of Nazareth – a man named John – wrote a small book about him. John recorded that, soon after he was called by Jesus to follow him, Jesus had a meeting with a senior member of the Jerusalem establishment.	.
Jesus spoke to this man – Nicodemus - about self-destruction. What do you think of this? Here (and above) are his words – “No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And that Son of Man must be lifted up, in order that everyone believing may have unending life in him. For God in that way loved the world, that he gave his only Son, in order that everyone believing into him may not self-destroy but have unending life. For God did not send his Son into the world in order to condemn the world, but in order that the world may be saved through him.” What do you think? Is there really a way to avoid self-destruction and to have, instead, unending life? Looked at alongside today’s news it seems Putin may not have a choice between the self-destruction of nuclear war and the destructive failure of his own self-aggrandisement. Both ways before him are self-destructive. Maybe too the dear Ukrainians, from the perspective of this world, have no choice but to give up on self-government or be destroyed. Both possibilities involve self-destruction.
This perspective of Jesus of Nazareth (in his own words above) is the perspective of the man who was executed as the vilest of criminals. He was lifted-up on that Roman cross as the worst of sinners and, in the view of the political and religious leaders of his own people-nation deserving hell.	.
But his was the perspective of the man who was prepared to endure that in order to bless those who had condemned him and put him there. He quietly let Nicodemus know that he came so as to make it clear to all human beings that there is a choice away from self-destruction – a choice which may be taken by everyone and which brings unending life. Earth isn’t heaven, is it? It seems earth is coming closer to being hell. Can we rise above it on our own? Or do we need a rescuer from self-destruction?

Sinner Syvret

Email this newsletter to a friend
*All mandatory fields must be filled in
Friend`s name
Friend`s email address *
Your name
Your email address *
Message

Send comment
*All mandatory fields must be filled in
Your name *
Your email address *
Your comment *