Non-Christians enter into the Kingdom?

[wellwisher]

I would like to get opinions on how to interpret the Christian New Testament passage of Matthew 25:31-46. This is the parable of the sheep and goats. Here is a NIV copy of the text:

When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate the people one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on His right and the goats on His left. Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you took Me in, I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you looked after Me, I was in prison and you visited Me.’Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You something to drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? When did we see You sick or in prison and visit You?’And the King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.’Then He will say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave Me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, I was naked and you did not clothe Me, I was sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’And they too will reply, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You? ’Then the King will answer, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me.’ And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

The parable shows that on judgment day the people will be sorted and learn their fates. I notice the following. First the basis of the sorting is not based on any belief about who Jesus is. Rather it appears instead that the basis will be one of how charitable people are to one another. Which implies charity is more important than faith.

I would like to hear an exegesis of this parable from Christians or others. In particular as to whether this parable indicates that non-Christians have a portion in the world to come.

In my experience, there are good people and there are bad people in all countries, ethnicities, skin colors, religions, creeds, etc. There is no one category that is 100% good or 100% evil. Nancy Pelosi who was the Speaker of the House for many years, is Catholic. She was also an underhanded witch, who uses the system for her own wealth. I doubt she will get into Heaven, before Gandhi, who was not even Christian. Congressman Schiff is Jewish, but he does not get a free ride, since he is also pathological liar who helps run scams. He will see a different maker.

Romans 2:14, KJV: For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature, the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:

The law given by God was designed to nurture and create good people. In the quote above, even the Gentile; anyone not of the original creed, who naturally acts in accord with the law; does right, is counted the same, as if they are part of the clan. We all can be part of the clan of good people by our actions.

One of the modern problems of this divide of good and evil, is connected to relative morality, which tries to fuzzy the line between good and evil, usually in favor of evil. Mathew 25 uses the example of charity, from your own humble means. This is a clear example of a selfless person. Can anyone name me a creed that uses relative morality, then ends up with more good people, than it began with?

The Political Left gives to charities, but by using other people's money; tax dollars. This is not the same. as from your own resources. In my experience, relative morality is designed to end up with more selfish egos getting more credit, than they deserve. Those who lead the good astray, are the weeds that can spoil even a good crop.

Personally I would like to see the two political parties, each become internally divided into good and evil members. After the internal; split is complete, the good from both parties then unite and then the evil from both parties also unit, so the battle for the future, does not come down to a party, but a battle between good and evil.

Evil will start out strong, since it can lie and cheat, but Evil would loses in the end. The truth catches up to the lie and the liars lose their power. Since the time of evil is so short, it needs to confuse the dividing line of good and evil and lead the good astray, using relative good and relative evil. With that confused, they will make their club like a religion, with relative moral superiority; ends justifies the means. In the end times, it may not be clear who is going where, since the leaders and flock may not be on the correct side of the line, not knowing why?

Mathew 25:43-45
I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, I was naked and you did not clothe Me, I was sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’ 44And they too will reply, ‘Lord, whendid we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, anddid not minister to You?’ 45Then the King will answer, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me.’…

 

[Sand Dancer]

Love in your heart.
The desire of justice.
Altruism.

You should come here and teach the US Christians how to do it right.

 

[Sand Dancer]

I can and I don't want to be there. But if you look into the history of theocracies they are not pure Christian Kingdoms with Jesus as King.

If done right, it could be very lovely. Too bad it's not really ever been implemented well through history.

 

[Brian2]

If done right, it could be very lovely. Too bad it's not really ever been implemented well through history.

It always ends up with Christians forcing people to live and believe how and what the rulers say.
With the real theocracy with Jesus as King, only those who want to live that way will be there for a start. We will all know what God wants and will want to do it.

 

[Ebionite]

I would like to get opinions on how to interpret the Christian New Testament passage of Matthew 25:31-46. This is the parable of the sheep and goats. Here is a NIV copy of the text:

Zechariah 10-13 has some context for this.

Mine anger was kindled against the shepherds, and I punished the goats: for YHWH of armies hath visited his flock the house of Judah, and hath made them as his goodly horse in the battle.
Out of him came forth the corner, out of him the nail, out of him the battle bow, out of him every oppressor together.
Zechariah 10:3-4

 

[Hermit Philosopher]

I would like to get opinions on how to interpret the Christian New Testament passage of Matthew 25:31-46. This is the parable of the sheep and goats. Here is a NIV copy of the text:

When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate the people one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on His right and the goats on His left. Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you took Me in, I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you looked after Me, I was in prison and you visited Me.’Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You something to drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? When did we see You sick or in prison and visit You?’And the King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.’Then He will say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave Me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, I was naked and you did not clothe Me, I was sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’And they too will reply, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You? ’Then the King will answer, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me.’ And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

The parable shows that on judgment day the people will be sorted and learn their fates. I notice the following. First the basis of the sorting is not based on any belief about who Jesus is. Rather it appears instead that the basis will be one of how charitable people are to one another. Which implies charity is more important than faith.

I would like to hear an exegesis of this parable from Christians or others. In particular as to whether this parable indicates that non-Christians have a portion in the world to come.

Yes, it is not your religion that gets judged and accepted/rejected from the book of life and the kingdom that follows; it’s the effects that your use of free will had on the unfolding of life itself.

Humbly,
Hermit