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Sermon on Eternal Life and Living Like Liberace With Your Mom and Her Friends Forever

By Nadia Bolz-Weber
Clock photo, ritarita / Shutterstock.com
Clock photo, ritarita / Shutterstock.com
Aug 13, 2012
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Jesus said to them, Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. - John 6:47-48

When I was in my 20s and totally out of control and pretty much estranged from my conservative Christian parents I used to joke about how my mom would try and guilt me into connecting with them more often by saying in her Kentucky accent “Nadia, the least you could do is come visit us more often … since we won’t be spending eternity together." Which made me wonder if the church she went to realized that the promise of spending eternity with my mom and her friends wasn’t exactly the best-selling point. At least not for a 21 year old.*

But that’s kind of what I was taught: that being a Christian was all about where you will spend eternity after you die – kind of like purchasing a life-insurance plan for the hereafter. And if you manage to be good enough here on earth then when you die you get to go to heaven and be like the spiritual 1 percent for eternity and live in big mansions with Jesus and wear awesome jewels and walk streets of gold.  

Which made it sound like eternal life is basically about getting to live like Liberace Forever.

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Clock photo, ritarita / Shutterstock.com
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