Showing posts with label theology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label theology. Show all posts

Dr John Coulter ✍ As a born again Christian since January 1972, a theological issue I have often struggled to get my head around is the concept that killers, especially terrorist serial killers, will end up in heaven whereas many of their victims could be sent to hell because they were not ‘saved’, according to Scripture.

After all, one of the 10 Commandments given to Moses in the Old Testament is the Sixth - thou shalt not kill. These Commandments are the foundation stones of the Christian faith.

Then again, in the New Testament Gospel of St John, especially the text of Chapter 3 verse 16, states:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

This is the core of the doctrine of Salvation that if we accept Jesus into our hearts, it will guarantee that Christian a place in heaven, provided they have repented in the first place.

So does this gift apply to killers if they repent? According to Christian teaching it does. The benchmark for this contentious theological view is Christ’s crucifixion. Jesus was not crucified alone; two thieves were executed along with him.

One mocked him, and presumably ended up in hell. The other asked Christ to remember him when Jesus went to heaven. Christ’s response was that that thief would join him in heaven. In modern theology, this can often be referred to as a death-bed conversion.

Ironically, the Apostle Paul, who wrote many of the great chapters of the New Testament, before his road to Damascus conversion to Christianity, was known as Saul of Tarsus and was a hunter of Christians. Yet after Paul’s conversion, he spread the Gospel of Christianity before his own execution in around 64AD.

The real challenge for me as a working journalist for the past 46 years has been the New Testament book of Acts, and especially Acts Chapter 2 and verse 21: “And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” These were the words of St Peter himself quoting the words of the prophet Joel.

The issue if serial killers can get into heaven really raised its head substantially in 2007 when I was Northern Political Correspondent for the Irish Daily Star and wrote a piece to mark the 10th anniversary of the murder of loyalist godfather Billy Wright inside the Maze prison in December 1997 by the INLA.

Wright had been one of the founders of the breakaway dissident loyalist terror group, the Loyalist Volunteer Force.

At one time, Wright had been a senior figure in the Mid Ulster Brigade of the UVF, but had fallen out with the organisation’s Belfast leadership. As a dissident loyalist, Wright had also disagreed with the Combined Loyalist Military Command’s 1994 ceasefire.

A cleric who knew Wright said the loyalist terror boss had been a Christian until the Spring of 1986, when the latter become a backslider (a Christian term for someone who has been a born again believer, but has walked away from their faith).

As the 10th anniversary of Wright’s murder approached, the cleric told me in an interview for the Irish Daily Star: 

I believe Billy Wright is in heaven right now - perhaps even sat next to the ‘repentant thief’ who died on a cruel Roman cross next to Christ on the day of Crucifixion.

The report caused uproar, especially among the nationalist community, with one reaction piece having the headline: ‘That f**ker got what he deserved.’

My original interview with the cleric was also illustrated with a photo of Wright lying dead in the prison van where the INLA had ambushed him.

I have spoken to another evangelist who knew Wright from the terror boss’s days as a born again Christian and how they did evangelical outreach together in the Irish Republic.

Before he died in that prison van, did Wright have the chance to make his peace with God as stated in Act 2:21? Given the number of terrorist murders Wright was responsible for, how could he be in heaven? Was this a case of a death-bed type conversion?

While Wright’s killing was carried out by the INLA, it was the death of another former senior figure within that organisation that has posed the theological dilemma of a death-bed conversion by a serial killer.

I was working in the BBC Belfast newsroom on the night in February 1994 that former INLA Chief of Staff Dominic McGlinchey was shot dead in Drogheda.

According to one eye witness, McGlinchey’s last words were reported to be: “Jesus, Mary, help me.” This was from a terrorist serial killer personally responsible for the deaths of dozens of folk.

One question has bugged me ever since that night in the BBC when I heard what his final words were - under Acts 2:21, could McGlinchey have cried out to Jesus as he lay dying and earned himself a place in heaven in spite of the terrorist atrocities he inflicted on people during the Troubles?

There would be many families who lost loved ones to McGlinchey who - like the cleric’s comments on Billy Wright - would view the notion of the former PIRA and INLA terrorist in heaven as totally repulsive.

In both the McGlinchey and Wright cases, we shall never know the answer until all of us stand before God on Judgement Day.

The major theological problem with McGlinchey calling out to Jesus for help - did many or any of his victims have that chance? Put bluntly, how can McGlinchley be in heaven under Act 2:21, yet many of his victims end up in hell because they were not ‘saved’ or were given a chance to cry out to Jesus for help?

This remains a very difficult theological circle to square.
 
Follow Dr John Coulter on Twitter @JohnAHCoulter
Listen to commentator Dr John Coulter’s programme, Call In Coulter, every Saturday morning around 10.15 am on Belfast’s Christian radio station, Sunshine 1049 FM. Listen online.

Can Serial Killers End Up In Heaven?

Forgiveness – now that can be the elephant in the theological room at times in the Christian community. In his Fearless Flying Column today, political commentator Dr John Coulter recalls an awkward interview he did in which a cleric maintained why he believes murderers, including murdered loyalist terror boss Billy Wright – dubbed King Rat – are now in Heaven.

Billy Wright & Heaven