Thanks, PS. > They like to pretend that this is just a matter of fools deluding themselves into believing what they wish were true. Ah yes, the old 'wishful thinking' gambit. Really, it relies on a gross caricature picked out of a basket of false teachings, namely what we associate with prosperity gospel and southern evangelical protestants. It has always struck me with the most profound irony that anyone would refer to true belief in what the Bible actually says as 'wishful thinking'. There was a movie from the late 90s called *Stigmata* with Gabe Byrne and Patricia Arquette (Frankie) that featured a quote which has always stuck with me. At one point after first receiving the stigmata and doing some research into medieval Christianity, Frankie is talking to her friends (a bunch of 20-somethings) and she says, >“You know what's scarier than not believing in God? Believing in him. I mean, really believing in him. It's a fucking terrifying thought.” This is patently true. *Really* believing in God does not amount merely to wishful thinking, but a confrontation with something utterly terrifying. It amounts to this: at the moment of death, existence *does not stop*. It goes on, forever in fact. And the actions/choices/beliefs that one assumes in this life will impact your eternity irrevocably. That death *is not an extermination* but *a door*, before and after which you are accountable to your creator who holds any and all potential for the experience of love, beauty, and order. There are a lot of Christians who imply they've confronted this, but it's doubtful if there are many that *truly confront it*. In one sense, there is a way in which it is beyond understanding, i.e. our thoughts struggle to grip with the idea that there is no extermination. I have always believed (and wrote at length about it once) that the fundamental death fear which the existentialists emphasized does not actually derive from our fear of ending, but of not ending. Wishful thinking? There was a reason Paul said to the church in Philippi (and which was echoed by Kierkegaard): "work out your own salvation in *fear and trembling*." God is the source of all which is Good, and the part which causes us to tremble is the word *all*. It means *all*. Therefore, implied by Paul's statement is that failure to work out one's salvation is just to be liberated into the timeless separation from the possibility of Good. The Christian does wish. We wish for salvation, but beyond what the term 'wish' connotes we encounter the grace of the sacrifice of the Son of God which *is* salvation, such that wishing is transmuted to faith. But never is there a point at which the seriousness of ultimate reality is not there, where the gravity of man's fallen nature is not lurking. The Christian which sees his situation as one of mere prayer and prosperity, who sees only the loving aspect of the Father, and not His wrath, has missed the significance of Christendom entirely. As Frankie said: "...really believing in him. It's a fucking terrifying thought." @KingOfWhiteAmerica @jewsbadnews